WotC WotC Gets A New Logo?

According to the Wall Street Journal's David Ewalt, Wizards of the Coast has a new logo. His article was the piece where we learned how Hasbro was restructuring.

Update - WotC just updated the logo on its social media accounts, so it's official!

WotC - D&D Gets A New Division At Hasbro

Hasbro is reorganizing and giving tabletop gaming -- Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: the Gathering -- a higher priority. According to the Wall Street Journal, WotC's revenue last year was $816 million (a 24% increase on 2019). Brian Goldner, Hasbro's Chief Executive, says WotC is predicted to...

www.enworld.org

Here's the old logo for comparison.

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[Oofta]

I'm not an expert on what a logo "should" look like nowadays unlike all of the logo consultants that have posted saying it's terrible*, I think it's fine. Obviously setting up for digital presentation. I mean, it could be worse.

* I kid, everyone's entitled to an opinion.

 

[Dausuul]

As I said in a different thread, I don't like 3D effects in logos. So I wasn't a fan of the new logo--but I wasn't a fan of the old logo either. However, I came across a non-3D (well, less-3D) version of the new logo and I find I rather like it:

Likewise, the old logo was fine before it went all bendy and swooshy (sorry for the low contrast, this was the best image I could find in a quick Google search):

There's also their really old logo, which has that TSR-era hobby shop vibe and gives me a nice little nostalgia glow, despite being total garbage:

I bet the creators felt so cool when they figured out they could use italic, outlined font and flip it vertically to suggest a reflection.

But I am endlessly fascinated by the white rectangle under the battlements of the tower. Were they trying to have a white space separating the battlement from the tower proper and couldn't figure out how to get rid of the black borders? Were they trying to do another black rectangle and forgot to set the fill? Or was there some actual purpose to it?

 

[Azzy]

I'm surprised that the old WotC logo lasted as long as it did—TSR used to change logos like people change underware.

 

[Technoloid]

Old logo was great... if WOTC was a putt-putt and arcade.

New logo is just way too over the top and not very user friendly.

They gotta find a happy medium somewhere.

FIRST POST!

 

[embee]

As someone in the DC area, trust me...

It could be worse.

 

[ART!]

View attachment 133601
As someone in the DC area, trust me...

It could be worse.

That is terrible. It took me a solid 5-10 seconds to even figure out what was going on there.

 

[Oofta]

That is terrible. It took me a solid 5-10 seconds to even figure out what was going on there.

Can you explain it? My ... ah friend ... doesn't really get what the heck they were thinking. Or wants whatever they were smoking.

 

[ART!]

Can you explain it? My ... ah friend ... doesn't really get what the heck they were thinking. Or wants whatever they were smoking.

I'll try:

There's two basketballs in this logo. WHY?!?

And then they felt they had to match other parts of the logo to the color of the basketball - which, I get you have to keep it to 2 or 3 colors, but...brown stars? Two of them?

That's just for starters.

 

[Oofta]

I'll try:

There's two basketballs in this logo. WHY?!?

And then they felt they had to match other parts of the logo to the color of the basketball - which, I get you have to keep it to 2 or 3 colors, but...brown stars? Two of them?

That's just for starters.

Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty awful logo. So over-busy. But doubling up (like "W" on the chest) seemed like a theme.

I guess you can go too far minimalist too (if that's the correct term) like Lucent's coffee mug stain logo. If your coffee mug was filled with blood.

On the other hand, everybody's a critic and there is no such thing as a perfect logo.

 

[embee]

That is terrible. It took me a solid 5-10 seconds to even figure out what was going on there.

To be fair, this was because, in 1996, after over a decade of DC being the murder capital of America, the team owner decided that having his team be the Washington BULLETS was a little too... YIKES.

There was some complaints (with good reason) from the local chapter of the NAACP over the name and logo because Wizard is also a rank in the Klan and the logo was a bit close to being a pointy hood.

Keep in mind, our local American football team is officially called "The Washington Football Club." It had been the "Redskins" for decades but finally, after decades of complaints about "Hey guys, let's not have a slur for a team name," FedEx, the minority owner, threatened to pull their sponsorship money.