Yesterday we had the RBR reader poll to help select the new logo here at RBR, and with that being completed and all of the votes being informally cast by the site authors, the voting period has now come to an end. And with all of that said, with the results all in, the winner is...
In the interests of full disclosure, this submission received five out of a possible of six votes. In terms of specific votes, Nico, Kleph, Pete, and myself voted for this logo, and it also won the the reader poll yesterday with approximately 51% of the 1,100+ votes that were cast. The lone dissenting voice came from Todd, who voted for submission #6 (i.e. this one).
For all of those who sent in submissions, on behalf of the authors here at RBR I extend the most heartfelt thanks for all of your contributions and hard work. I can honestly say that the quality of the responses we received were much higher than I ever anticipated. I hate that your submissions didn't win, but again they are high quality in their own right, and hopefully we will be able to incorporate them in some other manner here at RBR (and in all fairness to Todd, I do think #6 is really neat). And if that's not enough to placate you, a free year-long RBR subscription for everyone!
As for all of those who voted, hopefully your favorite took the grand prize, but if not hopefully you will agree that the new logo is a big upgrade over the old steamroller elephant. Moreover, I hope you all understand why we wanted to make this move in the first place. Aside from being aesthetically appalling (and God was it ever), the steamroller elephant just gave off a tacky, gimmicky vibe that I (and some others) always felt perhaps took away from the credibility of the blog for first-time visitors and those who just randomly make their way over from time to time, and in doing so slowed our growth here at RBR. All told, the point is that there were reasons we chose to move in another direction with the logo, and we certainly hope you all understand why we did that.
Also, keep in mind that this logo is not final just yet. We do plan to add a couple of minor tweaks to it, as mentioned in the comments yesterday, noticeably beginning with the addition of a 13th star in recognition of the Tide's 13th national championship. No major changes will be made, though, and while we don't have a definite date set for an unveiling, hopefully it will come in the next week or two. We'll keep you up to date on that.
In any event, as always, thanks for taking part in this and for all of your submissions and input in this process. Roll Tide.