Comparative Critique: Sportman’s Warehouse

New Sportsman’s Warehouse Logo
Old Sportsmans’s Warehouse Logo

After my hockey practices as a kid, I remember me and my dad would always stop by McDonald’s or Roy’s Western Smorgy for food, and then take a shop walk through Sportsman’s Warehouse on Canal Drive. This was one of two places where people in the Tri-Cities and Umatilla county could count on finding the latest and greatest in hunting, fishing, and general outdoor equipment. I grew up going to this store, and because of that, have seen this location sell itself to another franchise, change its identity, and all the while, maintain its famous cork ‘bragging board’, where photos from local outdoorsmen show the best hunting and fishing harvest from the around the area.

When I was six, I viewed anyone not in elementary school as being old. Therefore, I considered the majority of Sportsman’s Warehouse customers to be old. As I look back though, the old logo with its beige gradient and an awkward scaling of letters leads me to believe I was right all along. It truly is synonymous with the word “Grandpa”. While this look may provide a sense of nostalgia and comfort, I believe that the new logo with its reworked type and flat color palette accurately represents the marketed hunting majority, which is currently men in their mid-to-late twenties making a decent living, who may or may not be in a relationship where their spouse is less enthusiastic about hunting and fishing as they are. That being said, the official Sportsman’s Warehouse statement on company values brings images of entire families and men much older:

“We’re committed to being good stewards of the outdoors and wildlife habitats. Sportsman’s Warehouse supports the communities we serve by donating to local causes and partnering with wildlife and conservation groups like the Mule Deer Foundation, NRA, National Wild Turkey Federation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and Ducks Unlimited, among several others. Many of our employees are also contributing, active members of such groups, volunteering their own money and time for the causes we collectively cherish and believe in.”

While the talk of service to the community keeps consistent with images of active young adults, the mention of active members in the listed conservation groups bring images of men and their families who are closer to middle-age. Being that this group is realistically first in client demographic to that store, you can say that Sportsman’s Warehouse pretty much covers its bases with this statement.

ATTENTION: After further deliberation, author now yeets prior opinion out the window.

Okay, so after investing about an hour after the first word of this essay and thinking more on the logo, I believe that there are a few design choices that actually do represent the TRUE (not marketed) majority of Sportsman’s Warehouse clients. Let me explain.

Firstly, the choice to keep the iconic serif typeface was a smart one. This is what makes the logo “multi-generational” so-to-speak. This retains the image of family. A sans-serif typeface of any kind and then BOOM, the logo screams young twenty-something year old guy like I originally believed. It is clear that whoever remastered this logo for Sportsman’s Warehouse understood the old logo’s problems and fixed them. They made the new logo digital-ready and overall better by the simplification of the mountain illustration, the elimination of gradient and list of product categories the store sells, and through correction warping/arching of type (the old logo had this awkward rescaling of individual letter thing going on).

To wrap this thing up, I’ll start by saying this logo redesign was a success. I believe it accurately represents its target audience all the while paying homage to the old Sportsman’s Warehouse logo. While I stated prior that the logo represents the 20-something-year-old guy making a nice chunk of change, I think that there could have been other choices made that would have made this opinion more accurate. For example, the new logo could have used sans-serif type, appear more aggressive (young guy hunting shows used a lot of aggressive, heavy metal-esque vibes). All in all, I believe this logo redesign is a rather successful one.

My Thoughts on Marshall McLuhan | Week 1 Blog Post

The following response is the first of many for GD312, one of my classes in Winter Term 2021. Enjoy. . . I guess?

The theories brought forth by Marshall McLuhan, which grade varying forms of media over a hot/cold spectrum determined by levels of immersion/engagement, respectively, are what I believe to be a rather inaccurate and incomplete way of categorizing media. As technologies merge, split, and coexist, any definitive means of categorization in accordance with McLuhan’s theories simply fail to make sense over any period of time. In fact, individuals themselves and how they interact with a particular form of media is much more accurate in determining the level of hot/cold according to McLuhan’s spectrum. As society has evolved, we have seen user intimacy vary and bounce from object to object. While an AM radio may have magnetized a mid-century nuclear family into the corner of their living room, the same cannot be said today, where an object such as a television or gaming console would be much more appropriate. While new technologies rarely succeed in fully replacing more obsolete forms of media, it is safe to say that more primitive devices often get placed on the “back burner” in terms of daily use in modern society.

With that said, I am curious as to what possessed McLuhan to come up with such a system. If one was to classify multiple forms of media, wouldn’t it make greater sense to create a scale based on engagement with the user alone. I feel as though this would be much more effective and potentially less confusing that the spectrum that McLuhan brought forth. Rather than saying something HAS to be immersive OR engaging, couldn’t we simply say that (x) form of media results in greater user interaction than not?

McLuhan had his merits in that he sought a categorical means of inclusivity for all forms of media. However, we now understand that this system wasn’t without its wrongs and often misleading results, especially as time and technologies evolved. What we can learn from McLuhan is that there often simpler means of making categorizations that are just as, if not more effective in sorting forms of media. As the bridge between reality and virtuality grows closer, it will be interesting to see how McLuhan’s theories and principles will apply.

A Little ‘Bout Me! (An Introduction)

Hi everyone, I’m Tristan Cole, a Class of 2022 Graphic Design Major at Oregon State University. My aesthetic is currently inspired by the aesthetic of old school advertising, swiss-style, and pop art comics. Below you will find my answers to generic Icebreaking questions.

What’s your favorite music? Johnny Horton, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, 90s Country, and really anything popular from the 1940s through 1960s.

What do you do in your free time? Well, I listen to music, play games on my PC, hunt waterfowl, go fishing, doodle cartoons, work on my El Camino, watch ice hockey, and paint on items probably better left unpainted.

What got you into art and design? My dad always sketched different species of waterfowl. So seeing a ton of realistic drawings of ducks and geese growing up. And Bob Ross. I owe a lot of my initial and lasting interest in art to the man with chipmunks on his shoulder and happy little trees. Nothing like spending childhood mornings staring at Pthalo Blue, Yellow Ochre, and Cadmium Red.

Well, I hope that gives you a glimpse into who I am!