The unveiling of the new logo comes more than eight months after the web site name was changed from HokieCentral.com to TechSideline.com in November of 2000. The new logos present the last step in the evolution of the web site from its former name to TechSideline.com.

When we first changed the name of the web site (at the request of Virginia Tech's Licensing Department, which was seeking to protect its trademark of the word "Hokie"), we simply incorporated the new name into the old HokieCentral.com logo, made a few changes to our web site headers, and continued on. Since we were in the middle of football season at the time, we delayed the introduction of a new logo until the summer of 2001.

Once summer 2001 arrived, we discovered that it was a long, difficult process to design a new logo that we all agree upon. We went through over half a dozen concepts (see "Designs that didn't make the cut" below), and at one point, planned on putting a handful of concepts up for a vote by the site visitors. At the eleventh hour, though, TSL's chief graphic designer came up with a concept that we all liked -- just in the nick of time.

A logo design not only has to be simple and effective, it also has to work well on the web site, particularly within the constraints of TSL's narrow 600x100 pixel web page headers. In addition, it has to be something that lends itself well to screen-printing on T-shirts and embroidering on hats and golf shirts. The logos you see here perform all functions very well.

The inspiration for the new logo was the graphic design of the TechLocker.com header, which utilizes a font called "Agency FB." Those of you who are familiar with TechLocker.com, TSL's merchandise and apparel site, will note right away that the fonts on the TechLocker.com logo and the new TSL logo are the same.

TSL apparel is currently being designed and produced, and it will be available at TechLocker.com within a few weeks. When the new apparel goes on-line, it will be the first time TechSideline.com apparel has ever been made available, and it will be the first web site apparel since HokieCentral.com membership (and the accompanying HokieCentral.com merchandise) was discontinued in November of 1999.

For your entertainment, here are a few graphic designs for new TSL logos that didn't meet with everyone's approval. Some of us liked some of these, but some of us didn't.

In addition, we requested and received submissions from our readers. While some of them were interesting, they never made it past my email In Box.

For those of you who link to TechSideline.com on your own personal web sites, we have made available for you graphics files of the new logo.  They are available in button or block format, with or without overlay, in different sizes.

We have also made available an Adobe Illustrator (version 8.0 format) file that contains both the button and block versions, so you if you have Illustrator, you can manipulate the original logo yourself to get a custom size.

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