UND introduced their new logo today, representing the new Fighting Hawk mascot. The logo, taking a page from the US postal service or Burlington Northern Railway, appears to be a direct rip-off. The logo’s design is unlikely to satisfy North Dakota fans who have resisted the change from the Fighting Sioux to Fighting Hawks (new logo below).
Photo: Burlington Northern Railway (below)
The new logo was revealed at an on-campus ceremony emceed by University President Ed Schafer from UND’s Athletics High Performance Center and carried live online.
Responses to the design were mixed, to say the least.
Reader Comments to the new logo were largely negative -“Looks more like a poor drawing of a white whale.”, “Exceedingly bland. …Looks like a practice jersey from the seventies.” and, “ugly ugly ugly. They dropped the ball on this.”
Of course, our proposed logos for UND are still available if the Fighting Hawks decide to change course again.
Merchandise for purchase with the new logo, designed by SME Branding of New York City, is expected to become available in mid-August. Don’t expect long lines.
The human mind is pretty much trained to reject what it hasn’t seen before, so it will take a while for this logo to ‘marinate’ before it gains wide acceptance. It is certainly derivative rather than wholly original, but most sports logos are derivatives. Once it comes out on the hockey jerseys, UND fans will buy them…
UND fan here….As one UND fan already said, God could’ve created a new bad a$$ logo and most UND fans still would’ve rejected it. I agree with that sentiment however I’m one of those who has purposely stopped yelling “Let’s go Sioux!” and have embraced the Fighting Hawks nickname. That said, it was a major let down seeing this new logo today. Derivative is an understatement, the agency and University has really dropped the ball on this one. UND should’ve closely studied the past mistakes of other schools who’ve gone through this process and learned to avoid the mistakes of others (i.e., Marquette University).
The human mind is pretty much trained to reject what it hasn’t seen before, so it will take a while for this logo to ‘marinate’ before it gains wide acceptance. It is certainly derivative rather than wholly original, but most sports logos are derivatives. Once it comes out on the hockey jerseys, UND fans will buy them…
UND fan here….As one UND fan already said, God could’ve created a new bad a$$ logo and most UND fans still would’ve rejected it. I agree with that sentiment however I’m one of those who has purposely stopped yelling “Let’s go Sioux!” and have embraced the Fighting Hawks nickname. That said, it was a major let down seeing this new logo today. Derivative is an understatement, the agency and University has really dropped the ball on this one. UND should’ve closely studied the past mistakes of other schools who’ve gone through this process and learned to avoid the mistakes of others (i.e., Marquette University).
Pioneer fans had to suffer with a terrible hawk logo of our own from 1998- 2006, one that was thrust upon them with no fan input by the administration at the time. We’re also still fighting for a proper official Pioneer mascot, which they won’t give us, either. At least our current logos, the Denver “arch” and the DU interlocking letters, are competent collegiate logos, and they’ve tolerated the unofficial Pioneer costumed mascot, which was created in 2009.
Pioneer fans had to suffer with a terrible hawk logo of our own from 1998- 2006, one that was thrust upon them with no fan input by the administration at the time. We’re also still fighting for a proper official Pioneer mascot, which they won’t give us, either. At least our current logos, the Denver “arch” and the DU interlocking letters, are competent collegiate logos, and they’ve tolerated the unofficial Pioneer costumed mascot, which was created in 2009.