New Orleans New Logo

From: patheos.com

New Orleans has recently completely changed their look from the Hornets to the Pelicans.  Moving away from the fun colored and non scary look of the hornet to a more intense dark colored and aggressive looking pelican.  According to the team's website (www.nba.com/hornets/new-orleans-pelicans-logos-unveiled), the pelican was used because of its declaration as the state bird and is symbolized as a skilled hunter and loyal protector and possesses speed, precision and resourcefulness unmatched by others within its species.  As for the colors--the blue stand for the state of Louisiana, the gold represents the spirited life of the city and the red was used for fraternity, one blood or union. 

From: nba.com/hornets

From:  hornets247.com

I personally like the new logo as a logo in itself.  All the elements mesh together well into a single unit and nothing looks out of place.  But am slightly saddened by the complete transformation of the logo going from a fun cartoon to a serious and mean looking logo.  It gives the team more of a serious aggressive look that to me should be shown more through the teams performance than through the logo.  The colors also give it a more sophisticated look away from the bright colors used previously.  One thing that I personally would not have done is make the eyes of the pelican red.  I think that the look of the design in general gives the logo a sense of "be feared by me"enough that the eyes go a little over the top.  One great thing about the pelican though, is the way it can be incorporated so well into the fleur de lis.  I absolutely love this secondary logo and think it really would look great on any hat or shirt much better than the whole logo would.