For a few days, fans put their feelings about the Rams’ inactivity in free agency and key departures on hold. They instead turned their attention to the team’s big logo reveal, which took place on Monday afternoon.
The Rams unveiled their new logos and team colors as the first part of their brand refresh, with the overhauled uniforms coming later this spring. The new look was met with overwhelming criticism from fans, with thousands sharing their displeasure on Twitter.
Now two days removed from the logo announcement, I’ve stepped back and digested what a huge change this is for the Rams – as many other fans have, too. I still don’t agree with the decision to go from an iconic logo to one that prominently features the letters L.A. with a swooping ram horn, but there are aspects of the design that I can respect, especially after speaking with some of the designers behind the logo.
Here are some thoughts on what the Rams got right with their new logos, as well as where they missed the mark.
What they got right
The colors
If there’s one thing fans can feel good about, it’s the fact that the team got the colors right. They stuck with the classic royal and yellow color scheme, but brightened both up to make them pop even more.
Kevin Demoff realized how badly the majority of fans wanted the Rams to keep the blue and yellow look, and they definitely hit the mark here. Rams VP of merchandise Tyrel Kirkham said the team “looked at 150 shades of royal blue” before landing on the one they chose.
Deeper meaning of “L.A.” logo
There’s a lot of depth to the L.A. logo, which many fans may not realize. It stemmed from the Fibonacci Sequence, or the golden ratio, which creates a “perfect spiral.” This is represented by a crashing wave in the Pacific, the sweeping arches at SoFi Stadium, a football’s spiral and of course, the horn of a ram.
As Rams creative director Cory Befort pointed out, too, the “sunset” color in the gradient is meant to emulate the colorful sunsets on the West Coast, while the transition from white to yellow is a sign of the Rams moving away from the past (when white was a primary color in the logo) and into the future, while also recognizing past teams.
Inclusion of a ram head
While it’s disappointing that the team went with the L.A. logo as its primary mark, it’s encouraging that a ram head was still included in the new logo package. It keeps with the tradition of it being a key part of the team’s logo history, even if it was modernized with a minimalist look.
Continuity with the horn
The horn from the L.A. logo is almost identical to the horn on the ram head mark, which is a neat bit of continuity. The ram head doesn’t feature the white gradient, but it’s essentially the same two-piece horn with the same type of shading.
That horn can also be used on its own in the future, according to Befort. That will take a year or two, however, as fans become accustomed to the new look and associating the new horn with the Rams.
Wordmark
The wordmark won’t be used as often as the two main logos, but the team did a good job with this one. The stacked wording works well, as does the simplistic design and font.
Befort likened it to bringing a “60s old font back to the prevalent space.”
