Actual Helmet Description

[NT80]

I don't think it's that hard to come up with a design, logo, nickname and stick with it.

Not hard at all, but very lame to just throw North Texas on it and that's it. You think nobody knew who Southlake Carroll was in the playoffs and media photos because they had a Dragon on the helmet and didn't have SOUTHLAKE CARROLL on their helmets???? NO

[NT80]

Just say NO to North Texas on the helmet! I might could live with the white shell (although the SLC references will be everywhere from media and opponents) but put some imagination into the thing.

Edited April 12, 2007 by NT80

[meangreendork]

You're telling me we should stick with a block lettering of North Texas just so people know who we are? Are you kidding me!? Your logic doesn't make any sense... if we never use the SOW logo it doesn't matter if it's 10 or 30 years the general population will have no idea what it is and who it represents. If you don't like the eagle as our logo, that's fine your entitled to your opinion, but don't say we're using an athletic font because people can't recognize us.

Doesn't UNT have one of the best visual art programs in the nation? What about advertising and comm. design? Wow, spelling out the school name really represents the universities creative and artistic side.

Calm down, killer, and pay attention. If you read my post, you'd see that I don't like the athletic font on the helmet and that the way they have it arranged (in one line, not two stacked lines) it's hard to read. If they'd spread it to two lines, it'd give them more space to make the letters larger. In other words, the school could use the SOW alone, but odds are, they won't, and this's probably why.

Again, I don't like that athletic font, as a matter of fact (ask Bryan316) I actually prefer the SOW. And yeah, we do have a great SOVA, but the school admin went to the professors of that program (good decision) and combined them with some other random admin (probably not a good decision) and made the logo. What we have now is a combination of good designers dealing with certain people who shouldn't have say in creative process, but that's how client/designer relationships are sometimes.

Let me explain the whole logo+lettermark -> logo only thing to you.

The Philly Eagle is the Philly Eagle because its all over hats and jackets and TV and print all over the nation. It's also been like that for years to the point I don't need to be told that Eagle is for that team.

Nike had the same thing with their logo. Nowadays, all you need is the "swoosh" and you know what it's all about, but back about 20-30 years, it was Nike + Swoosh or Nike by itself. In the last 10 years, Nike's gotten such a strong brand that they can just use an arbitrary swoosh and people know what it means.

You don't need to have "Texas" or "UT" to recognize the longhorn. We've seen it so often and in that color that we know what it is right off the bat.

The current USAF logo (sharp wings with the star in the middle) only means USAF to us because we see it in commercials attached to the USAF, and even then, it took a few years of serious exposure for most people to draw the connection.

Point is this:

The SOW, by itself isn't well known yet. However, if you look at ESPN broadcasts and all that, they combine it with the athletic font, making that connection between SOW and the font "north texas". You can do that for something on screen or in publications and all that. But on football helmets, it's a little harder to make the combined mark visible since there's not much space on the helmets and helmet logos tend to look kinda small, especially from our current stands (if you're a visiting spectator) and especially from a TV camera.

Give the public time to see the athletic font + SOW or just the athletic font, and they'll quickly get to the point where Auburn, UT, and the really huge schools are- where they recognize the school by simple symbol. A great number of companies create multiple marks for different purposes and different stages in the lifespan of a mark.

Even with a really creative logo, recognition isn't instantaneous. It takes time to really make that image sink into people's heads. You build something really cool like the eagle so that it's different enough from all the other image-only logos that you don't mistake it for anything else. Combined with a lettermark, now you have the image-only logo and the place/company/school to refer the image-only mark to. After some time, you can pull the lettermark and have the SOW.

Back when there was the other thread with Smitty's helmets, I really liked the look of the SOW helmets; the SOW is strong, modern, simple, and distinct. It's a great image-only logo, but it doesn't mean anything without words to associate it with. I want the SOW logo on the helmet because of all of that. I hope that we make that the permanent helmet logo after a few years.

Edited April 12, 2007 by meangreendork

[UNTLifer]

Reverse the colors on the SOW hat.. Also I was referring to the hat I usually wear which has the SOW in white on a green background.

Still don't see it, especially when the NT hat says North Texas on the back. I have the same hat and have never been asked if I was an Philly fan. Now, there was a former NT hat in forest green with the eagle head logo that was similar.

[DeepGreen]

Why not, at the very least, have SOW in background as a 20% screen. Then have the stacked North Texas over SOW. As the years go by and the world associates North Texas and SOW, remove the verviage and leave just the Son Of Worm.

Smitty, can you give it a shot?

Edited April 12, 2007 by DeepGreen

[Mean'n'Green07]

Calm down, killer, and pay attention.

I like that new nick name I understand what you're saying, and I agree 100% with the interlocking NT point you brought up- we're not going to use it and unfortunatly it isn't part of our new branding scheme. But, if the athletic department thinks the SOW will get more recognized from script on the helmet, I strongly disagree. I don't think the average sports fan, who might see one NT game a year on tv, will ever associate a script with the SOW logo.

If the athletic department wanted to get transitioned into using the SOW, why didn't the put it as the midfield logo during the Troy game that was nationally televised at fouts? I just have a feeling the new white helmet will be around for 2 years and we'll change to something else in the near future, further confusing people. Do it the right way now, and we won't have to fix it in the future.

[Guest ike]

how about leaving the block letterson the helmet and placing SOW on the shoulders of the jerseys.... akin to the Boston College(?) jerseys.

Eventually they can be switched.

Or place SOW on the helmet now and place UNT onthe shoulders...

[kj86]

Still don't see it, especially when the NT hat says North Texas on the back. I have the same hat and have never been asked if I was an Philly fan. Now, there was a former NT hat in forest green with the eagle head logo that was similar.

Is someone trying to say that SOW looks similar to the Philly logo? Uh, not even close. One is just an eagle head and the other is a whole eagle. Even if the colors were identical, they wouldn't look similar.

By the way, white helmets with text on them suck. The double-whammy...WHITE AND TEXT. Say it ain't so.

[Daddy Dumpsalot]

I like our new logo a lot. It's like night and day between our last logo. For some reason when I saw that I thought of Hockey, not sure why. IMO I'm down for just a plain white helmet with a big green stripe down the center.

[PlummMeanGreen]

This is a good hot stove topic but it can't and won't go anywhere.

Look at the number of helmet changes in the stable old Big XII over the last 40 or so years:

Baylor 13

Colorado 13

Iowa State 14

Kansas 14

Kansas State 14

Missouri 7

Nebraska 7

Oklahoma 5

Oklahoma State 11

Texas 6

Texas A&M 9

Texas Tech 9

Over roughly the same period of time North Texas has changed their helmets 10 times. It's not the end of the world and we'll survive it. I like the fact that we don't keep one style forever because times, people and philosophies change. It would be great if everyone accepted the same values but that's not reality. You can't get near unanimity on free love, motherhood, or nickel beer, much less helmets and uniforms.

the most stable helmet and uniform that I can think of is Penn State. I've grown so tired of the same thing year after year that I'm ready for Joe Pa to retire and get someone in there who will stir the pot a little.

For the record, my personal preference would be the SOW logo with an interlocked NT in the newly adopted font style. I'm okay with white or green but the white helmet with green lettering is easier to see on TV.

Hey, it could be worse. We could be stuck with Oregon Duck style uniforms and Cincinnati Bengal type helmets. Now that would really get me up in arms.

Very informative, sensible and realistic post, Jack, and............

.............probably a good reason we all should move on from this sujbect and all of us hope & pray that a Big Donor will soon be on our horizon to help our alma mater get the ball rolling on construction of a new, true, bonafide NCAA D1-A (properly sized) football stadium at the Mean Green Village.

I think very few (probably none) on this forum are going to be asked their opinion(s) on what we would all trip over each other to get to DFW/Denton area retail outlets as far as purchasing new UNT brandings of NT gear/sports wear, etc, that we would all say:

"Now this is outstanding, creative, extremely well-designed and thouroughly thought-out sports gear here that I don't mind laying down a hundred bucks to purchase and wear proudly."

In fact, how many times recently have we had threads on GMG.com of which any semblance of what one might call a majority were all on the same page with sincere excitement as to what our most recent and now our present UNT leaders have really gone outside the usual box in Denton to come up with that we all think is pretty darn cool and would be extremely marketable to more than just those of us on GoMeanGreen.com?

THINK BIG <>*<> BUILD BIGGER!

Edited April 12, 2007 by PlummMeanGreen

[ntsumgspe]

IMO I'm down for just a plain white helmet with a big green stripe down the center.

You've got to be kidding. Since we are the MEAN GREEN, how about a GREEN helmet with a white stripe ?

GO MEAN GREEN !!!

[Zeke]

I used to get worked up over this. When I finally came to the realization that my school is incompetent when it comes to things such as a helmet design, I gave up the fight.

[GreenBat]

I used to get worked up over this. When I finally came to the realization that my school is incompetent when it comes to things such as a helmet design, I gave up the fight.

DITTO!!!!!!!!

[FirefightnRick]

1. The NT Exes logo: Best look so far, but drop it already people, it aint never gonna happen. They were approached about it, and said no. If you still want it, offer them money.

The NT Exes has always offered their logo to the AD department but just as talks were headed that way the university's branding folks at the URCM department stepped in and intervened back in '05. We can only hope that has started to change a bit now by seeing it's use on the current lettermen's jackets.

The logo wasn't part of the new branding because it was already included in the University of North Texas CLC word marks before the new stuff came out in April of '05 and it remains as such today. The Exes has control of it but maintains that they/we have always offered it to the AD department for use. RV wanted an interlinked NT all along but there were issues to work out. As it turned out, instead of it being on the helmets as a majority of the fans I talk with want, it ended up on the lettermen's jacket. I still don't understand what the hold up is on it, probably a multitude of reasons?

Rick

Edited April 13, 2007 by FirefightnRick

[NT80]

RV wanted an interlinked NT all along but there were issues to work out. As it turned out, instead of it being on the helmets as a majority of the fans I talk with want, it ended up on the lettermen's jacket. I still don't understand what the hold up is on it, probably a multitude of reasons?

Rick

Reason: Lee Jackson wanted UNT on the helmet, not just NT.

[FirefightnRick]

Reason: Lee Jackson wanted UNT on the helmet, not just NT.

Maybe. I do know one thing for certain, and this came straight from a source I greatly respect and often rely on. If it had not been for RV putting his foot down on the matter back in late '04, that some type of "UNT" is exactly what we would have on the helmet right now.

Rick

[Got5onIt]

jesus christ, you have to be kidding me!!??

Yep, we will be known as SLC university. Hey, every football player at SLC gets a free scholarship to NT!! Hey, Todd Dodge you played at UT, since you like the white helmets so much, how about all white pants only. We can be UT/SLC university, YAY!!!!

[NT91]

I would rather have a stair step UNT than North Texas on the helmet

[Cowtown]

I am worried that we are going to look too much like Marshall, but if we have to go white, this is what I would like to see.

[NT91]

I am worried that we are going to look too much like Marshall, but if we have to go white, this is what I would like to see.

I like the gray mask!

[Eagle1855]

I would rather have a stair step UNT than North Texas on the helmet

that is actually an intriguing idea

Regarding the Exes logo, Im not convinced that would look good from a distance. Even on my truck, my exes logo kinda resembles the aTm you see on some cars and is relatively indistinguishable until you get up closer to it.

Point is, with this many people you are going to have a lot of differing opinions. whatever the case, just pick something decent and stick with it (like what we had).

[NT91]

If Todd gets the team to win they can have pink helmets for all I care!

[kj86]

that is actually an intriguing idea

Regarding the Exes logo, Im not convinced that would look good from a distance. Even on my truck, my exes logo kinda resembles the aTm you see on some cars and is relatively indistinguishable until you get up closer to it.

Point is, with this many people you are going to have a lot of differing opinions. whatever the case, just pick something decent and stick with it (like what we had).

I agree. The interlocked NT will look like a jumbled mess unless it's gigantic.

[pollock]

I am worried that we are going to look too much like Marshall, but if we have to go white, this is what I would like to see.

That looks great. I like the SOW eagle better, but it doesn't really fit on a helmet.

[Bryan316]

I've offered up this idea before: How about using the LSU helmet, and arc "UNT" over the SoW? The SoW fits if you shrink it enough.