Shades of the past. Shapes of the future.
Aiming to blend the two, the Rams revealed fresh colors and updated logos Monday, a precursor to the new uniforms and helmets the franchise plans to unveil before moving into its ultramodern stadium in Inglewood next season.
RELATED: Reaction to new Rams logos comes swiftly and humorously
After spilling the long-guarded secret in a live-stream announcement, team management braced for reaction from fans.
Rams executives believed most fans would at least be relieved at what they see: The Rams’ main colors remain blue, yellow and white — and the popular blue and yellow have grown more vibrant. A ram’s horn and head remain central to the design — but they’re more geometric than the old primary logo.
Rams Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff told reporters the choices were guided by suggestions from fans, former players and corporate partners.
“We heard two things from our fans over the course of the last two years. One was the immense preference for blue and yellow, specifically brighter blue and yellow. And second was how important the horn was to them,” Demoff said.
On social media, many fans’ immediate reaction was scathing.
“It’s perfect for a real estate development, but the Rams don’t need a new logo,” @johnstodder wrote on Twitter.
It's perfect for a real estate development, but the Rams don't need a new logo.
— John Stodder Jr. (@johnstodder) March 23, 2020
But Rams players on Twitter said they liked it.
“Let’s go!!! I need a hoodie ASAP,” wide receiver Cooper Kupp wrote.
Let’s go!!! I need a hoodie ASAP. @RamsNFL https://t.co/FYVU3DXJXh
— Cooper Kupp (@CooperKupp) March 23, 2020
Rams great Eric Dickerson said on Fox Sports Radio that he’s “not feelin’” the new logo, adding: “I hope to God that they don’t change the logo on the helmet, because if they do that, it’s going to be a disaster.”
Strong reactions are natural for people with emotional connections to a team, said Kristen Walker, a professor of marketing at the Nazarian College of Business and Economics at California State University Northridge.
“I was surprised and rather impressed (by the look of the logos), honestly,” said Walker, who has worked on sports marketing for Fox Deportes, Ultimate Fighting Championship and Golden Boy Boxing, among others.
“I’ve done enough sports projects to think that once the dust settles, this is something fans can get behind. There’s a settling-in that has to happen.”
Changing the Rams’ basic colors from blue, yellow and white was never considered, Demoff said, even as between 200 and 300 proposed logos were considered.
The new, purer, more eye-popping shades are called “Rams royal” blue and “sol” yellow.
The main logo, with a white “LA” wrapped in a multicolored horn, includes orange and gray touches that are new to the Rams’ color scheme.
Cory Befort, the Rams’ director of creative services, said in a briefing for team beat writers that the designs are based on some high design concepts.
Befort said the shapes are built around a perfect spiral — represented in mathematics by the Fibonacci sequence — that is “the underlying structure of life at all levels.” He said letters lean to the right to signify forward movement for the team and city. And he said letters in the logo have “a little bit of personality … along the lines of that ‘we not me’ approach that coach (Sean McVay) preaches every day, and the idea that every letter is individualized but it works all together in unison to create the final representation of the mark.”
Of course.
Easier to grasp, the colors and designs are meant to invoke features of Los Angeles life like orange sunsets and crashing waves.
What might come as a shock to fans, Befort said, is that the main logo “isn’t an animal” like the old-fashioned ram’s-head images that have represented the team for decades.
The Rams’ colors have always included royal or dark blue, along with either yellow (in the 1950s and early ’60s, and again in the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s), white (in the ’60s and early ’70s) or gold (when the team was in St. Louis from ’95 to ’15), or a variety of those since the return to L.A. in ’16.
The bright blue and yellow “throwback” uniforms have been the most popular with fans.
Befort said the new palate is the throwback look with a “modern take.”
It was devised, he said, to take advantage of the fully digital displays at SoFi Stadium, where the Rams and Chargers begin play next season, and the modern capability to produce color “gradients” in uniforms and team merchandise.
Merchandise with the new designs are expected to go on sale in April.
Anticipation for the announcement that came Monday was heightened March 8 when images posted online showed a cap with what was purported to be the Rams’ new logo. Most fans reacted with revulsion.
Team executives said the image came not from them but from New Era, the the hat company, which submitted the design for a cap to be worn by Rams draftees.
The actual main logo is similar in shape to that rejected design, but the details and colors are very different.
Walker, the marketing professor, said the Rams’ new logos are “smart from a design perspective” and have the clean quality of logos that endure. She said the main logo’s emphasis on “LA” is important for a team trying to send the message that it’s here to stay.
“It took me a while to see the Rams horn in it. You only see the ‘LA’ in it, and you think, “What is this?” said Walker. “From a marketing standpoint, it’s effective if you can create something that gets people to look at it for a moment and think about it.”
The Rams’ plan for unveiling the new look — and the new uniforms sometime in the weeks ahead — was thrown off by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Demoff said they chose Monday so that they could tie the logo reveal in with a coronavirus-relief telethon the Rams and KABC-TV are putting on Tuesday, March 24, from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. Donors can win new Rams caps.
Rams quarterback Jared Goff and offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth donated $250,000 last week to the cause.
Demoff sounded sure that fans would like the new look.
“The most exciting part of this for me, and I hope for Rams fans, is it blends the best of our past with what (we) believe is the best of our future,” he said. “The colors are exactly what our fans asked for — a brighter blue, a bright yellow. For those who still like the white, it exists there.”
But Demoff also sounded prepared for criticism.
“I’m sure it will be a surprise. It will be change,” he said. “But a lot of things are. I think this will be a change that our fans will grow to know and love over time.”
The new chapter begins https://t.co/D9h8D1R4li
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) March 23, 2020
