Jamestown Community College (JCC) Rolls Out NEW Logos

Jamestown Community College has recently gone through a "rebranding" with new logos for the college itself, and for the sports teams on the Jamestown and Olean campuses. For the most part the new logos are successful, but what is it about the Olean Jaguar that they just can't grasp? For many years, the blue, black and white logo for the jaguars was the hideous sock puppet shown in the image. Although the new jaguar is an improvement from the old design, I can't help but feel they still missed the mark again. The silhouette of the new logo isn't remotely cat-like. The snout on the mascot is too long and narrow like a canine or hyena. It's expression is a little vague too. I threw together a quick jaguar with the same general logo treatment, just to compare. With a little more time and effort, I would simplify the spots and details to make it less illustration and more graphic. What happened? It's hard to say, but I have found that sometimes graphic designers get caught in the stylization of logos and lose those aspects of the image that communicate its identity. The reverse is true sometimes too. Illustrators can get caught up in the details of an image and lose their way to a truly good logo. Somewhere between the two extremes is a great logo, but the new JCC Olean Jaguar just isn't great.