Awesome Sports Logos Blog

SMU Enters the Sports Logo Spotlight

The SMU Mustangs have returned to athletic relevancy with the rise of their basketball program under the direction of the legendary Larry Brown. While their football program has struggled to gain successful traction, hopes are high with the hiring of Chad Morris as the new head coach. With SMU, a private Methodist University founded in 1911, gaining more notoriety, and the hoops team having recently re-entered the NCAA's Top 25, it's time to put their logo under the microscope.

Beyond the traditional college lettering, SMU has a silhouette Mustang a part of its imagery. This wasn't always to be the case. Shortly after the University was founded, the football team was known as the "Parsons" due to the large amount of theology students on the team. However, a few years later it was determined the school needed an actual, official mascot. In 1917, the name Mustangs was chosen from a narrowed down list and the rest, as they say (I think they do, at least) is history...

The SMU "Mustang" has very little detail. Most of the nuance exists in the sharp outlining creating the silhouette. It's a galloping Mustang that looks pretty athletic, racing towards victory, if you want to order the corny option on the menu. But I like it. From the mane to the tail to the crisscrossed legs, it certainly isn't this generic creature and considering that it represents an athletic program, it fits.

I typically prefer what I refer to as, "simple detail," and I think this slightly falls beneath that qualification with a little too much simplicity. With that said, I like it for what it is. A silhouette's

simplicity allows for versatility, especially for marketing purposes, not that this is a business commentary, but it is also rather unique, which is what I like about it. Not too many prominent

logos are simply a silhouette. Some schools have secondary logos that might be, but very few are primary.

As far as color scheme is concerned, there aren't a lot of decisions to be made. I like that they maintained a simple approach, not tricking it up with a multi-colored look. The white outline and the red fill is a perfect fit, and other versions work just fine, too. The common lettering above is often seen in red when there’s room for a blue background of the image, but sometimes is in blue with white outline.

Overall, the consistency of the logo makes it work as well as it does. A lack of consistency is one of the the death-knells of a logo, but this one passes the test. My final grade? I give it a B, but that's a strong B because I think it maximizes what it is.

SMU is based in Dallas and one of more historic t-shirts at Awesome Sports Logos is also based in Dallas.

A Doughboy is a term used to describe an American soldier. This term dates all the way back to the Mexican American War that focused around Texas. Some say it originated because many noticed that U.S. forces were constantly covered with chalky dust from marching through the dry terrain of Northern Mexico making the men look like unbaked dough. There are many other theories on the nickname, including how the infantry baked with rice and dough during war rations.

Either way, these guys were much tougher than the popular biscuit maker seen on commercials. There are some real cool features about the Dallas Doughboys logo including a rifle that is actually a bat. We love the history and the look of this awesome Dallas sports t-shirt!

Thanks as always for reading and remember, you can pick up the Doughboys T-shirt as part of our t-shirt of the month club. Huge savings plus free shipping! Now that’s awesome!!

Jared Sandler

Awesome Sports Logos Columnist

Posted in college basketball by Gavin on 2/9/2015 at 10:05:57 pm.

Awesome Sports Logos Blog

SMU Enters the Sports Logo Spotlight

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