There is an overabundance of mountain logos in the sporting gear and clothing industry. I noticed this while researching designs for a logo project. Designers for the outdoor apparel world must be constantly trying to coming up with clever new ways to convey the rugged outdoorsy-ness of their products. Sadly, many just end up being flat and cliché.
I’ve gathered a range here for your viewing delight. For the sake of protecting these brands, (from scorn and ridicule) I’ve removed the names. In full disclosure I did not thoroughly investigate any of these brands to understand the history or what the logo designer was trying to accomplish. I’m critiquing these logos choosing to take the vantage point of the average man (speaking as a woman of course).
Grade: D-
D stands for dull. The above logos are my least favorite because or their obvious solutions. “Oh, it’s an outdoor outfitting company…let’s put a mountain in the logo.” This seems to be the thought process behind these logos. Seriously, half of them even have the sun or some sort of sky behind the mountain. These are supposed to be logos, not illustrations. These logos have the essence of Wil E. Coyote – lots of spirit, but no real strategy. It’s the lack of creativity that’s really a shame here.
Grade: B
B stands for better. These logos are not only better executed but they are attempting something. Dated though some of them may be, you can see an idea was there – it may not have stayed long, but it did visit. Perhaps one of the logos above was visited by his cousin adidas.
Grade: A
A stands for “alright!”. These logos may not be perfect, but if you had to have a mountain logo I would go this route. These logos not only have originality when it comes to mountain shapes (never mind one of them looks eerily similar to Motorola), but they have spunk. Now if I can just get one of these companies to send me a free jacket I think that’d just about do it.
