Stoutpup

I’m not much for sports but the article here talks about two of my favorite things - Bulldogs and Design. As part of their rebranding, Louisiana Tech has redone their bulldog logo for consistency and fit. Apparently the athletics department was just using a bunch of random bulldogs as their logo (in paper documents at least) up until last year. As a designer, that baffles and fascinates me, but I like this article because it talks about the process of choosing just the right look for the Louisiana Tech bulldog.

Creating a new bulldog logo proved to be more difficult.

Buskirk said Tech considered about 12 basic bulldog concepts, with three or four variations of each concept.

Minor adjustments — as simple as removing a wrinkle, or reshaping the tongue, or adding teeth — were made until the logo looked just right.

He said by the end of the process, 50-60 different bulldog logos were considered.

“We looked at photos, we looked at an actual bulldog, people sent in photos, we looked at paintings,” Buskirk said. “It was really difficult. Some people wanted a real cartoonish bulldog, someone else wants a real aggressive one.”

The final bulldog logo features a white bulldog head with a red collar. “TECH” is written on the color in blue letters. A gray bulldog with identical features will also be used.

“We were trying to come up with a bulldog that fit Tech,” Buskirk said. “Well, what is Tech? It’s a lot of tradition, a lot of class, and that bulldog is an elite bulldog. He’s at the top of the mountain, not slobber-jawed with drool dripping down.”

I can’t think of a better way to spend the day than looking at 50-60 bulldog logos. No two bulldogs are the same. And Louisiana Tech gets it!