Rather than going the expected route for an Arizona-based event (cactus, mountains, desert, etc.), I used the ancient Hohokam culture as inspiration. The Hohokam people lived in Phoenix and the state of Arizona for more than 2,000 years and created hundreds of miles of irrigation canals in the Arizona desert, which helped them thrive as farmers and as a society in the harsh weather. The logo I created is inspired heavily by the jewelry, pottery and patterns found on many of the objects that the Hohokam made.
Colors are inspired by beads and tiles used in jewelry and mosaics by the Hohokam. The logo’s holding shape and geometric designs to the left and right of the Roman numerals come from patterns found on ancient Hohokam pottery and artwork. Alternating red square accents are meant to evoke the look of mosaic tile patterns.
Moodboard, sketches and workflow below.
This year’s design came to me fairly quickly. I knew what I wanted my holding shape to be from the beginning and slowly worked out how the Roman numerals would fill the space. My sketches went really fast before moving into Illustrator and it was just a matter of time until I got where I wanted. This was by far the easiest process of my three Super Bowl logos and my brain is thankful for that.
Check out a bunch of mockups below.
