08/23/2022
LOGO TALK: The origins of the NBA logo.
In 1969, the NBA was nervous about the upstart ABA - a rival basketball league. To help differentiate themselves from this upstart league, they hired Alan Siegel, founder of the branding company Siegel + Gale, to create a logo.
Before designing the new logo, Alan Siegel combed through numerous sports magazines and photo archives. Eventually, he came across a photo of Los Angeles Lakers superstar, Jerry West, that seemed appropriate for his task. From this photo Siegel created the unmistakable white silhouette on a red and blue background that became the logo that we all still associate with the most famous league in the world.
But the photo of West that many have always assumed to be the inspiration for the logo probably isn’t. It’s more likely a photo from the cover Sports Review magazine. The image on the cover is Jerry West in exactly in the position depicted in the NBA logo, aside from a lengthening of the dribbling arm so that it would not appear abnormally short in the silhouette.
Although it seems obvious that the silhouette is West, the NBA has never acknowledged it, for fear of having to pay royalties to West, or change their branding - both of which would be terribly expensive.
West has never been particularly excited about his image being used for the logo. The situation was embarrassing for him as he was labeled as “the man in the logo”. He felt that getting so much media attention and earning the nickname “The Logo” overshadowed the achievements of his basketball career.
In a 2017 interview, West said “I don’t like to do anything to call attention to myself… that’s just not who I am, period. If they would want to change it, I wish they would. In many ways, I wish they would.”
It seems unlikely that the NBA would make any changes at this point, but there has been a push from fans to re-design the logo with a silhouette of the late Kobe Bryant.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Speaking of Logos, we do a lot of them here at S2 Creative. If you or someone you know needs a refresh to their existing branding, or a whole new logo, hit us up!