The Philadelphia Eagles announced on Thursday afternoon that the team would be transitioning to a new wordmark going forward. The large “E” followed by medium letters spelling out the rest of the team’s name and ending with the large “S” that was born in the superb year of 1996, will be put to rest going forward.
Ari Meirov tweeted the graphic below as the news broke:
This new wordmark puts Bob Dylan’s ‘The Time’s They Are A-Changin’ into perspective for Eagles fans. It certainly is a ‘Sign Of The Times’ as Harry Styles sings. This new font and design is not popular among the Eagles faithful.
This wordmark screams simple and dull. It lacks character, color, and design. It’s plain-freaking-Jane. 1996 wasn’t that long ago. The current Eagles logo and I share the same birth year. Maybe the Birds were due for a change, but this is not the one.
It’s not ugly… but it does nothing. As some would say: the jerseys and the logos don’t win games on the field, the players and the coaches do. The art isn’t as important as the product we watch on the field. To a certain degree, they’re not wrong. But this is our team’s identity we’re talking about here. This logo/wordmark has no effect on the play the Eagles put in between the white lines and end zones. But this specific logo/wordmark holds history. Lincoln Financial Field will also take the hit in change with new end zones.
We can kiss this glorious piece of art goodbye:
The Eagles most successful playoff runs were worn in Midnight Green with the now retired wordmark. The city of Philadelphia saw its team win their first Super Bowl in these colors and designs. As a fan base, I’m not sure we’re saying they couldn’t have changed it. But to go from a pleasurable, interesting wordmark to one that looks like it gentrifies the image of the team is insulting.
An original font and illustration is now wasted and perished due to “trying to look like the cool kids.” It doesn’t coincide or match with the Eagle head logo. It’s the plain bagel with butter when you have the option to get an everything bagel, toasted with cream cheese. It’s similar to having BMW money but buying a Prius. If this wordmark equated to anything, it unquestionably is a Prius. It makes too much sense.
If we’re going to do away with a likable image, why not switch back to Kelly Green? If you’re not going to do something the right way, don’t do it at all. When things change, they usually change for the better, not for the worse. And this certainly is a change for the worse.
