Today's hornet is not relatable, caught between a character and an icon, and stylistically, a caricature of sports logo design. I get that hornets have stingers but does everything have to be so sharp and pointy and aggressive?
We found out as we got into our Hornets research that they actually have a next-gen logo for Hugo the Hornet! Turns out it's incredible, a great balance of old and new, exactly what the primary logo should be (right down to the fact that he's wearing Jordan 11's as a shout out to their owner, MJ). All we had to do was give the color scheme a facelift and bring back a custom slab serif for their wordmark.
No need to overthink this, just get back to a more vibrant teal and purple combination with better contrast, and extend our custom slab (something about a soft slab serif always said North Carolina to me) to numbers. It was unclear whether "buzz city" had been wholeheartedly adopted by their fanbase as it feels more like a marketing moment than a rallying cry, so we ditched that too. We have Hugo, what more do we need?