Woodrow Wilson's Search for a New Logo is Over

Last year, Dallas' Woodrow Wilson High School received a cease-and-desist letter from the University of Arizona declaring that the school was infringing on its trademarked wildcat logo. The university agreed, reluctantly, to let Woodrow keep the big tile mosaic on the high school's floor, but all other uses of the...

By Eric Nicholson

February 6, 2014

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Last year, Dallas' Woodrow Wilson High School received a cease-and-desist letter from the University of Arizona declaring that the school was infringing on its trademarked wildcat logo. The university agreed, reluctantly, to let Woodrow keep the big tile mosaic on the high school's floor, but all other uses of the wildcat had to be phased out within two years.

Rather than pay some design firm thousands of dollars to draw a cat, the Woodrow Wilson Community High School Community Foundation decided to crowdsource the design, putting out an open call for submissions.

Well, the competition is now over. Seriously -- the deadline was January 31. But the contest is over in a more important sense, in that a clear victor has emerged. His name is Aloysius Bosch. He drew the sketch above, as well as this alternate version:

To quote Bosch, its "awesomeitude is second only to its majesty, and that's saying something."

But if the logo's simple elegance doesn't convince you of its superiority, Bosch has set up a website to explain why you're an idiot.

There, you'll find instructions on how to draw the logo ("Add two smaller circles to create the eyes. NOTE: It's very important that you DO NOT ADD DOTS. This Wildcat is particularly fierce precisely because its eyes are endless voids into which its prey lose their souls, much like the eyes of a great white shark."), plus 10 reasons why it's the winner.

Here's No. 10:

Can you imagine how awful it would be to be defeated by a team with that on its helmet? There is no way to play Woodrow without experiencing soul-crushing depression. If your team loses to Woodrow, then your team lost to "That Team With That Thing on Their Helmets." And if you win? Well, yours is the team that beat "That Team With That Thing on Their Helmets," so big deal. There is no way to play us without follow-up visits to a therapist, and that means Victory.

Mr. Bosch, we salute you.

Send your story tips to the author, Eric Nicholson.

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