Logos: Start to Finish
A miracle comes to life in Orlando and a Lynx is a ferociously feminine creature from Minnesota. No, we're not getting into religion or gender issues here. We're talking hoops, a subject that transcends spirituality and applies to either sex.
We're talking uniforms, and colors and logos.
The 1999 WNBA season introduces two new teams for the league's third year: the Orlando Miracle and the Minnesota Lynx.
But a miracle didn't just appear out of nowhere - so to speak, and a Lynx didn't simply meander into Minneapolis from the northern woods. So, where did these names originate? Who decided upon the colors? From where did the logo design come?
Meet Tom O'Grady, director of creative services for the NBA and WNBA, and his staff of 15 artistically-inclined people who do everything from sketching to calling the chamber of commerce. These are the folks responsible for putting the Sting in Charlotte, the Spark in Los Angeles and the Starzz in Utah, as well as the concepts for the new franchises.
The Name
For the rest of time, women's professional basketball in Orlando will be synonymous with the word "Miracle" regardless of how many wins are pulled out thanks to last-second shots. Choosing a team name seems simple. In reality, the decision is the result of time, labor and several opinions.
"We find out through WNBA operations that two new teams are being considered for franchises - Minnesota and Orlando in this case - and we begin an extensive search on the region," O'Grady said. "We find out everything we can on the characteristics of the region, the weather, landmarks, animals in the region, things that are indigenous to the region."
O'Grady said that the exhaustive search familiarizes his staff with the region and its residents.
After thorough research, the staff comes up with a list of about 30 possible names. That's not enough, however.
"Then we pull out the thesaurus and names spill out," O'Grady said. About 70 to 80 potential names are produced. "When we finally get that high number, we bring it back down and circulate the list through the committee."
The committee includes the franchise president, a group put together by the team, as well as league officials.
"They quickly pare it down to seven or eight names and then it goes through the legal department," he said referring to a process that keeps WNBA names from copyright infringement among other things.
The Logo
"So once we get to that point, I'll throw in my two cents and we add the design of the logo. We create two or three that include the visual standpoint and pass them on to the teams and league for the final decision," O'Grady said.
Since the league is relatively new, O'Grady stresses the importance of putting the orange and white Spalding ball into the team's logo. (Of the 10 teams in the league in 1998, all but three of the logos include the ball - New York, Phoenix and Utah.)
"You can be watching highlights on sports news and, even from a distance, be able to see the ball and recognize that it's the WNBA. So we want that in there because of that familiarity factor," he said. "That helps us brand the product a little better."
O'Grady and crew come up with between 10 and 15 sketches in black and white once the name is finalized.
"For example, when we were coming up with the Liberty logo, we did several different angles of the Statue of Liberty. Do we want the whole statue in the logo? No, it's too big. Do we want to be looking at her from this side, or that side? Questions like that come into play," O'Grady described.
Then the colors are integrated. This is an area where the creative services crew has a jump on the game since WNBA teams play on the same courts as their NBA counterparts.
"We need a common color. Since they're playing out of the same market, we want the colors to unify with the NBA. That makes it mandatory and that's pretty much in place," O'Grady said.
|
|
When WNBA action tips off next summer for the newest franchises, fans will see striking similarities between the women's uniforms and those of the NBA players.
"In Orlando, we really had a classic branding strategy," O'Grady said. "'Miracle' comes off the name of the Magic - something kind of supernatural. But that's a little tougher of a name to put with a logo because it's not an animated logo, it's more of an abstract name."
O'Grady said that the religious nature of the world "miracle" came into play in developing a logo, too.
"That's not easy because a religious connection could offend people," he said. "So you have to make almost acts-of-God looking graphics with clouds and -bang- whirling dervishes of atoms. That makes my job a little more difficult."
For Minnesota, the creative services department went after a "cat-version of the Timberwolf." The NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves franchise is clothed in blue, while the Lynx will be green. O'Grady states that that is because the WNBA plays in the summer, while the blue Timberwolf fits the winter scheme.
Because the teams are starting from ground zero, their logos and colors are not connected to a preconceived notion of what the team should be, O'Grady said.
"If we were to do a redesign for the Magic, for example, we'd have 10 years of history to represent. The fans know what the logo looks like and there would be a laundry list of things associated with that," he said. "But with the new teams, we're kind of creating the emotion of the logo."