The Detroit Pistons unveiled their current primary logo on May 16, 2017, at an event in Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit. The mark is a modernized version of the franchise’s “Bad Boys” era logo used from 1979 to 1996, and it debuted as the team prepared to move to Little Caesars Arena for the 2017-18 NBA season. It was the eighth logo change for the franchise since the team moved from Fort Wayne to Detroit in 1957. [1] [2]
Design and History
The 2017 logo combines the typeface of the team’s then-current wordmark with the traditional backdrop of the 1979-1996 identity. [3] The design process took six months and was completed by the Pistons’ in-house creative team in collaboration with the NBA and Nike, the league’s official outfitter beginning the following season. [4]
The previous primary logo, introduced in 1996, featured a black and silver horse’s head with a mane flaming in red and gold, with the word “Pistons” scripted below and flaming exhaust pipes extending from the two S’s. The logo was created by local Detroit artists Robin Brant and Bill Berris. [5] The Chicago Tribune described the stallion with a flaming mane as intended to represent “unbridled horsepower,” fitting for a Detroit team. [6] The 1996 rebrand also introduced teal as the primary color, referred to at the time as “Pistons green.” [5]
In 2005, the team returned to an incarnation of its earlier identity before the 2017 update fully revived the Bad Boys era look. [3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The red, white and blue basketball is “symbolic of the Pistons’ brand,” according to the team’s official announcement. [4] The updated logo introduced “sleek, accurate groove lines, a bold team uniform font and the addition of a chrome outline,” which the team described as “providing a nod to the region’s Motor City roots.” [4] The chrome gray replaced black in the logo’s outline, a change that MLive reported was a reference to the motor city and the culture surrounding the automobile industry. [1]
Charlie Metzger, the Pistons’ executive vice president and chief marketing and communications officer, said the logo “links the franchise’s rich championship lineage with our exciting prospects for the future.” [4]
Typography and Design
The 2017 logo uses a “bold team uniform font” for the “Detroit Pistons” lettering, matching the typography found on the players’ jerseys. [4] [7] The design combines this contemporary lettering with the classic basketball backdrop from the 1979-1996 era, with sharp lines contributing to the logo’s modern feel. [3]
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