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Popular Culture Review
The current logo consists of the word “Steelers” surrounded by three
hypocycloids (diamond shapes). The colors, bright and highly saturated,
represent the ingredients of steel: yellow for coal, orange for ore, and blue for
steel scrap, indicating a move toward abstract symbolism.
While the original Steelmark logo contained only the word “Steel” (1962),
the Steelers were given permission to add the “-ers” for the 1963 version of the
logo. The logo is located on the right side of the team’s helmet (the only team to
put their logo on only one side). According to online sources, the team’s
longtime field and equipment manager, Jack Hart was instructed to do this by
Art Rooney, the team owner. At first, it was a test to see how the logo looked on
the team’s then gold helmets. But the concept stuck and now it is a permanent
fixture for the logo. The team switched to black helmets one year after
introducing the Steelmark logo (see the Steelers official website
http://news.steelers.com/tradition/logohistory/), benefiting the television
viewing audience, as the colorful logo offset against the black helmet made for
clearer viewer reception on television. In terms of symbolism, this is another
example of a logo that was iconic in the years before television and then
redesigned to a simpler symbol.
1933-1940
1945-1950
1951-1953
1960-1961
1962
1963-present
Figure 3: Pittsburgh Steelers, 1933-present (representative example o f logo changes over time)
Green Bay Packers
Little information exists about the first two Green Bay Packers logos used
throughout the 1950s. The oval “G” logo was created in 1961 by George “Dad”
Braisher, equipment manager for the Packers, and is the logo that most people