Photo image: Tim Tebow prays right after scoring the dramatic winning touchdown on November 17, 2011. Parody ad bonus: Reebok and Nike logo confusion.

More Tebowing.

I picked up this brochure in 1988 while working as a college co-op student on Wall Street. I was amazed every day at the WTC Concourse with its shopping mall, hotel, offices, parking garage and subway station.

Click images for full-size. (And for memories, if you were ever there.)

Aside from the history, this brochure is also an interesting design piece because it comes from the end of the pre-digital era. It was at that NYC job that I first used a Macintosh computer and Adobe Illustrator software, then known as Illustrator 88.

After the OSU press conference debacle earlier in the year, it was obvious that this whole thing would not end well. Who is this guy behind the vest? I don’t know, but that red vest looks mighty fine on another pop culture icon. Time for a parody. Order t-shirts here.

The variant below addresses Tressel’s replacement, Luke Fickell. T-shirt here.

Keep Calm and Carmen Ohio, Buckeye fans! We can get through this. T-shirt here.

This UConn dog logo dates to 1996; see the previous dog here.

This would make a decent flag…

…for my friends, whose house is divided:

Another flag option, a horizontal tricolor:

Jamaica flag!

If this were a banana republic, the recent removal of GM’s CEO and board would open up all kinds of possibilities—like renaming the divisions for cabinet members! Here are some revised logos with actual (often humorous) taglines.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gets Chevrolet, the largest brand.

Vice President Joe Biden, the old guy, gets Buick—the maker of old-guy cars. Great tagline.

President Barack Obama gets Cadillac, of course. This is the accurate tagline, although the historical one (“The Standard Of The World”) is funny as well.

GMC goes to the DNC.

Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack gets Pontiac. Wait a minute—giving the Ag Secretary the keys to the sportiest brand?! That ain’t gonna work. This just in: Today it is announced that Pontiac is dead. RIP, Pontiac—joining the recent American orphan brands of Oldsmobile and Plymouth. *snif*

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar gets Saturn. “Rethink” now applies to the existence of the brand itself—it may get killed off along with Pontiac.

Attorney General Eric Holder gets HUMMER. (And yes, you want him on your side… and definitely not driving against you…)

Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel gets Saab. Born from Jets, now in Air Force One.

Chrysler Bonus—Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner!

Ohio-State Michigan. Years ago there was a gray “O” at midfield, and I greatly preferred it. In fact, I think Ohio State should play up the “gray” angle because 1) no one else does and it would be proprietary, and 2) nobody does gray like the upper midwest in November–gray sky, gray stadium, gray everything.

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Ohio Stadium’s pressbox looms like a tower on an aircraft carrier; gotta love that “Battleship Gray” color. If you view Ohio State football and its many traditions through a military lens, it all starts to makes sense.
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North end of the Horseshoe showing the Ohio flag (the country’s best state flag design), the State Trooper standing below it (often interviewed by sportscasters during the game), and some Michigan fans (who are more visible when dressed in yellow than in blue).
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Ohio State: Scarlet and Gray, Pantone 200 and 429

Michigan: Maize and Blue, Pantone 286 blue and 123 yellow
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Problem! The yellow (“Maize”) in the flag is redder than the yellow in the pants. Based on the above spec, the flag (of course!) looks to be correct and the pants look to be wrong. The helmet yellow seems to split the difference.
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Sometimes the gray becomes silver. Two examples of this include the football helmet design (one of the best-looking in the country) and the horns in the all-brass military-style band (remember that the band predates the football team by ten years).
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Right to left: Me (in my flag cape, trying to use my flag collection more), my son, and Gary Hodges (Percussion Instructor for the Ohio State Marching Band; he did the same at my high school 25 years ago.) Trivia: For a noon game start, the OSU drumline reports at 5:00am.
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Script Ohio font size: about 86,400 points. (100′ from sideline to far hash; 1′ = 12″; 1″ = 72 points)
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Not to be outdone, this Block M font size is about 133,920 points. (155′ tall)
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Of course, I’d prefer gray endzones and leave all the scarlet to the players and fans. Best college football endzone design is probably Tennessee with the orange and white checkerboard.
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Way too many Ohio State logos! On the upper right corner is the old square academic logo, which I think is the beginning of the whole “THE Ohio State University” thing.
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Great truck cab graphic; nothing else is needed on the entire truck, really.
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Nice retro logo on the trailer.
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The rest of the trailer, not so nice.
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Army-Navy game in Philadelphia.
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Many thanks to my brother-in-law Tim Courlas, who secured tickets through a West Point friend.
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We arrived in time to see the Corps of Cadets assemble on the field. (We missed seeing the Brigade of Midshipmen assemble.)
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Note the faint Philadelphia Eagles logo visible behind this logo.
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Speaking of that, here’s the Philadelphia Eagles logo made out of upper-deck seats.
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Great branding: a flyover with helicopters.
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Corps of Cadets on the left, Brigade of Midshipmen on the right. On the field, the big news is the debut of Army’s new camo uniforms.
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Best logos are 1 and 9. (image from the Army website)
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This was the Army side of the stadium but there were a few Navy fans sprinkled in amongst us. The blue/gold hat in the foreground is Navy; the other two in back are Army. Some Army fan wear was the “bronze-ish” gold with black and some was bright gold and black.
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Army: Pantone 465 gold (metallic), Cool Gray 5, and black.

Navy: blue and gold (couldn’t find the specs, so here’s the Michigan colors again)
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President Bush doing the traditional walk from one side of the field to the other at halftime. The Long Gray Line, indeed.
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Looking north towards downtown and, in the foreground, the home of the World Series-winning Phillies.
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Post-game Philly cheesesteak, of course. Design note: authentic diner checks. Bonus roadtrip ending: Listening to the radio coverage (at 2:00am while driving home on snowy roads) of the UC Bearcats (my school) winning a thriller in Hawaii–the last game of the 2008 NCAA football regular season.

1. Texas Longhorns, Burnt Orange (Pantone 159)
A beautiful design system with an “ownable color” (in brandspeak) and a great symbol (Longhorn on helmet).

2. Alabama Crimson Tide, Crimson (Pantone 201)
Props for having the color in their team name and for the unique typography (player numbers) on the helmets.

3. Penn State Nittany Lions, Dark Blue (Pantone 282)
With their “White Out” at home games they just might “own” white in college football–so why not have the team wear their white (away) uniforms for some of those games?

4. Oklahoma Sooners, Crimson (Pantone 201)
Same color as Alabama. Official colors are “crimson and cream; white is an acceptable alternative for cream and more commonly used.”

“WHAT?! The symbol of hope and change being used for old McCain? He’d be the oldest president ever at 72! 72 years, people! This design is a mockery! A travesty!”

“WHAT?! A military look for two guys with no military experience? The last time a major party nominated a ticket with no military experience was 68 years ago! 68 years, people! This design is a mockery! A travesty!”

Original sign as pulled from here. The serif font seems to be a stroked version of Requiem while the sans serif is Gotham. A designer ponders the Obama name font switch from Perpetua upper and lower case to Requiem small caps. More design observations here.

Original sign as pulled from here. The font is Optima Black, known for having “sorta” serifs. The star symbol appears to be from Wingdings 2. Placing the McCain lockup on packaging. More design observations here, including the observation that Optima is used on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.—furthering the connection to McCain.