Evolution of the “B” Logo

As we’re nearing the one year mark from our initial (and somewhat quiet) debut on the #Dodgeballfamily, Facebook Group, it's pretty awesome to see how far we’ve come. From humbly selling knee pads out of the back of my car, to our full-blown vendor booth at Elite Nationals, Belles of the Ball, and this past year’s Sin City, it's been quite a ride with no end in sight.

So what is next for Ballistae? With the V1 Kneepads down, and V2’s and V3’s in the “concepting” phase, Ballistae would like to take a more active look into compression wear and venture past the oh so cool “Ballistae” wording.

While the font “Ballistae” does, in fact, look really good...there was still something missing when it came to being able to place it on other products...particularly arm sleeves and other wearable items. As pointed out by co-founder, Joe Fernandez during one of the many hours spent manning the booths together: “we need something that is simple but can go with any article of clothing. Something that can be recognized right away.”

He went on to say that Nike had the “swoosh,” Under Armour has the U and the A merged together, Puma has the actual Puma, and on and on.

So what would Ballistae have? What would its “stamp on the world” look like?

Utilizing the help of Crystal Briones, Kevin Frye, and Grace Ong-Burd, I took to the small group with some ideas:

First, we needed to isolate the "B."

After agreeing that we wanted the "B" to be retained, we started playing with the idea of crosshairs surrounding the "B", or some kind of targeting lock as if to capture the meaning of Ballistae (word for multiple ballista) in the first place. Locked, loaded, and fired upon.

Second (ish) concept (should have seen what Steve drew...while driving)

While we wanted to work more on the outer rings, or outer design of the logo, we felt like we were on the right track. So we began to elaborate.

Dug it...but seemed a bit much.

Not bad...save for some of the Nazi undertones...definitely not wanting that.

After a few more renditions, insight, and feedback from the group, we decided to go back to the 2nd draft and keep it simple. Remembering the wise words of Joe, we decided to go with the Ballistae "B" encapsulated in a ball, and to utilize the outside rings, to represent the four regions of Elite Dodgeball. North, South, East, and West (brilliant, Crystal Briones. Brilliant!)

With the 2nd version worked on by a good buddy of mine, it was refined to the following:

Ah...that's it.

Grace, ever quick to move, very efficiently solidified the "Ballistae B" and we had a winner.

Now, I want to slap that bad boy on everything!

Now, one can rep Ballistae outside of the Dodgeball Court.

Be sure to look for the new logo coming soon on compression wear, compression sleeves, and anywhere else the simple "B" will suffice in place of the entire word.