Pioneers Get New Badge, Updated Wordmark
- Updated: August 21, 2015
One of the longest-running clubs in the region has revamped its identity package as the Western Mass Pioneers unveiled a new badge and logo on Thursday.
The Ludlow, Mass. outfit, which launched in 1997, initially released an image of the badge on its official Facebook page. The badge features an update of the club’s traditional wordmark inside of a red-and-black striped shield. A nod to the club’s inaugural year is featured at the bottom corner, with the star at the top representing the club’s 1999 USL D-3 Pro League Championship.
“After much internal debate, it was decided that we need an alternate logo that could be used for merchandise, advertising and social media,” Pioneers Director of Communications Brandon Smith told NESoccerToday.com. “All of the design credit goes to our Associate Director of Media, Max Ouimet. Max designed the ‘shield’ logo, and also redesigned our primary ‘Pioneers’ logo, cleaning it up and making it more similar to the original.
“Right now, there are no plans to replace the logo on our jersey, but it might happen if there is a lot of approval from our fans.”
Ouimet, who will be finishing up his senior year at Ohio Wesleyan University as a studio art major in the fall, expressed his enthusiasm at getting the opportunity to give the logo a fresher look.
“I had a lot of fun creating the new logo! I wanted to keep the same Pioneers traditional look but give it a whole new feel,” Ouitmet told NESoccerToday.com. “There were a ton of stages that I went through putting all the pieces together different ways, and figuring out what the final product should look like. I ran with what it is now and glad it came out the way it did!”
The Pioneers will play a friendly against the Connecticut Soccer League’s Newtown Pride FC on Sept. 6 at venerable Lusitano Stadium. The match will coincide with the nearby Our Lady of Fatima Parish Festa, which is held every year during Labor Day weekend.