There is no denying the connection football fans have with their brand or symbol. One just has to look at Saskatchewan’s Rider Nation with their watermelon helmets and theatrics, the Road Warrior costumes of Los Angeles Raiders fans, and the lumberjack plaids worn by Ottawa Red Blacks fans to understand that fans love to live the brand.
HOLD FAST
Truth is, most of the core symbols and logos for both CFL and NFL teams are legacies from decades ago, tweaked and adapted to make them more modern. Almost all of these legacy brands have similar visual vernacular—cartoonish yet fierce animals and men, heavy and multiple keylines designed to make them more solid and stand out on coloured backgrounds.
They are mostly graphic depictions of the name of the team—a tiger for the Tiger Cats, a cardinal for the Cardinals, a Revolutionary War soldier for the Patriots, etc. Few speak to the heritage, geography and culture of the fan base. There are some exceptions. The New Orleans Saints logo speaks to the Acadian/French culture of Louisiana. The Seattle Seahawks have the only logo designed in a graphic style that is native to the region (The Haida-like osprey design). The Steelers logo is originally the “Steelmark” logo of the American Iron and Steel Institute.
We propose a modern logo that is not just a simple cartoon depiction of a schooner with waves, sleek hull and sails done in the traditional sports logo style, but rather a non-linear symbol with core allusions to the people and history of Atlantic Canada.
BRAND VALUES: TRUE GRIT
Our brand should be found in our fans and not in the football. It should be congruent with the values
of Maritimers and speak to geography, history and maritime culture.
BRAND VALUES: STEADFAST
Our brand is about people who have weathered storms and tribulations and have become stronger for it.
A brand of simple values like home, like family, like place.
HOLD FAST
To any sailor, the meaning of “hold fast” is well known, but to those not familiar with it, it might sound somewhat like an oxymoron. On board a schooner, a line (a rope) is “fast” when it is firmly and positively secured. Though its origins are found in the world of sailing, “Hold Fast” is understood in the wider lexicon to mean “remaining determined, stalwart, resolute and unyielding during the toughest of times.”
For centuries, the words have been used by merchant sailors in tattoo form, signalling that they belong to a singular group of the toughest, grittiest men—not afraid of hard work or a fight.
The basic form of the Schooner Hold Fast Marque expresses the distillation of an anchor—the symbol of home, of safety, of stability and of the ancient maritime heritage of all four Atlantic Provinces. Also worked into this abstracted form are overlapping elements of the shared heritage of Atlantic Canada. The anchor’s flukes allude to several cultural groups that make up the historical context of the Maritimes.
We searched for cultural symbols among many of the founding groups that settled the Atlantic region—Mi’kmaq First Nations, early Viking settlers, Acadians, and settlers from Scotland. Our audit revealed that the cruciform was common to certain elements of all of these cultural worlds. The modern Mi‘kmaq nation flag depicts a red cross on a white field with the moon and star in the upper quadrants. The guards of Scottish Claymore battle swords, Celtic and Viking swords all are powerful cross forms, while the famed Acadian Cross is a powerful symbol of both French heritage and of the 16th Century deportation of French settlers to Louisiana.
All these elements combine to form the Hold Fast anchor symbol. This symbol can also be presented on a black diamond shape with four equal sides. In maritime navigation, hazards to navigation such as shoals, rocks and wrecks are traditionally marked with a diamond shaped board.
They are mostly graphic depictions of the name of the team—a tiger for the Tiger Cats, a cardinal for the Cardinals, a Revolutionary War soldier for the Patriots etc. Few speak to the heritage, geography and culture of the fan base. There are some exceptions. The New Orleans Saints logo speaks to the Acadian/French culture of Louisiana. The Seattle Seahawks have the only logo designed in a graphic style that is native to the region (The Haida-like osprey design). The Steelers logo is originally the “Steelmark” logo of the American Iron and Steel Institute.
They are mostly graphic depictions of the name of the team—a tiger for the Tiger Cats, a cardinal for the Cardinals, a Revolutionary War soldier for the Patriots etc. Few speak to the heritage, geography and culture of the fan base. There are some exceptions. The New Orleans Saints logo speaks to the Acadian/French culture of Louisiana. The Seattle Seahawks have the only logo designed in a graphic style that is native to the region (The Haida-like osprey design). The Steelers logo is originally the “Steelmark” logo of the American Iron and Steel Institute.
