How was this theme night logo design process different from ones in the past?
Fisher: We typically commission the work and find local artists with our community partners. We work with those artists to tell an authentic story to that community. It was interesting being on the other side of it this time and doing the work ourselves. We couldn’t just give someone the prompt; we had to answer that question ourselves. At the end of the day, we know the Preds brand. We sat down, did our research. We know how to tell this story.
How did you land on Athena as the inspiration for the logo?
Fisher: It’s the 35th anniversary of Athena being added to the Parthenon and we liked all of the things that represented Athena and the Women of Smashville. The timeliness of that made it the one for this year.
Mitchell: Women of Smashville, especially women in sports, we are in a male dominated field. Athena was a very powerful woman in a largely male dominated area.
What elements of Athena did you want to capture for the design?
Fisher: We doubled down on her symbolism to represent the strength and the wisdom of the Women of Smashville. Gold is obviously a huge part of the Smashville brand and luckily Athena is gilded gold, so that was a no brainer. As the goddess of war there’s also this aggressive kind of sport tie in which we all really liked.
Where on the logo do you see those elements incorporated?
Fisher: Athena’s armor features the shapes that make up the Pred head, and inside that is a scale pattern that matches her breast plate; it also references the snake, which is a symbol of Athena.
Mitchell: We also took inspiration from ancient Greek pottery - the imperfections you can see in the artwork. You’ll notice the details aren’t perfectly straight lines or perfectly curved lines. They are perfectly imperfect.
What do you want people to feel when they see this logo?
Fisher: We are all here because of the people who came before us. Acknowledging that was one of the main themes. We want people to feel proud and included in it, especially the rest of the female staff. We want them to want to wear it and have it and be excited that we’re doing this recognition. We hope people feel seen, included and valued. This is their piece of it. There are a ton of passionate female fans of the team, and I hope they feel celebrated.
Mitchell: They are passionate and always show up for us, so it’s good we get to show up for them.
What do you hope people take away from Women of Smashville night?
Fisher: I hope it’s inspirational to women and young girls who maybe want to work in sports, seeing an avenue. We have so many inspirational female leaders in our company, that whatever you want to do there is someone to look up to.
