Previously in this series: Part I | II | III | IV | V
Super Bowl XXVI: A return to the XIX and XX era. This logo looks really retro; it almost looks like a jukebox. The Roman numeral isn’t grotesquely fat and in fact reminds me of the good Super Bowl XXII logo, but it’s not as readable for some reason on long shot, and I can’t get past the old-fashioned “Super Bowl” wording, and what’s with the weird motif of a football shooting up? Well, on the plus side, that’s the most football-related element we’ve yet had. Grade: C-.
Super Bowl XXVII: This is another milestone in the march to modern logos. This logo and the next one will slowly transition the Super Bowl logo away from using blue all the time. The rose motif is better integrated with the rest of the logo this time, and the effect would look really nice…except the Roman numeral is so wide and dominates the logo. It’s still a good effort, it just makes an odd mixing with the roses when the Roman numeral is like that. Or maybe my problem is that the roses are so far apart, I don’t know. Grade: B-.
Super Bowl XXVIII: Now we’re getting really modern. We’ve finally escaped the fonts of the 80s and early 90s, and now we have a serviceable circular logo of a peach (no butt jokes, please, although can you find the moon?) surrounded by a banner (which doesn’t really help the butt metaphor) with the Roman numeral. The circle would look generic if it weren’t for the peach that helps represent the host city, and the Roman numeral, despite the colors and blending together, is actually quite readable. Grade: B+.
Super Bowl XXIX: I’d expect this for a Super Bowl in Arizona, but more on that in a minute. This motif really doesn’t say “sun” to me. And what’s up with the way the Roman numeral bulges out like that? And what’s up with the font for “Super Bowl”? This logo actually looks pretty good from afar, but it is a bit generic and confusing, and doesn’t say anything in particular. Grade: B-.
Super Bowl XXX: This isn’t the best logo for getting away from the pornographic implications of the Roman numeral, but it certainly could have been worse. It actually reminds me of those Vin Diesel/Ice Cube movies from the early part of this millenium. The overall motif actually works pretty well if you know what it’s going for, although you could argue that it looks like a bunch of random shapes, the Roman numeral itself is kind of hard to read, and the “Super Bowl” is tiny. Grade: B-.