The Mallards franchise whose logo we are going to describe played in the Quad Cities, Illinois and Iowa, from 2009 to 2018. To their fans’ disappointment they ceased operations in 2018 when the season was over.
There used to be one more team with the same name, a member of the UHL from 1995 to 2007. The Mallards hockey team that appeared in 2009 as a member of the IHL was named as its predecessor.
Meaning and history
1995 — 2001
The original logo of the Quad City Mallards hockey club was created in 1995. It was a dark green image of a wild duck (mallard) in a white hockey helmet, and with a yellow and green hockey stick in its yellow beak. The drawing was placed on a solid burgundy circle and accompanied by two wordmarks in different styles. The “Quad-City” in thin and elegant sans-serif capitals was arched above the badge in burgundy color, while the bold emerald “Mallards” was written in a straight line under the duck’s head.
2001 — 2005
The redesign of 2001 introduced a more friendly and caricaturish version of the logo for the Quad City Mallards. It was almost the same color palette, with just an addition of light blue and white, but the duck was redrawn and the lettering was placed on the framing of the badge — from the top part. As for the bottom line, it changed its color to white and its typeface to a sharper and cleaner one.
2005 — 2007
It was a confident and professionally executed badge with a wild duck in a hockey helmet and a stick in its beak placed on a yellow and blue circular background with the bridge on it: the background was outlined in red, and balanced by a red and gray arched inscription, placed above the badge. The inscription was executed in a clean and bold sans-serif typeface, with the letters of “Quad-City” featuring a smaller size than the “Mallards” ones.
2009 — 2011
The concept of the Mallards visual identity was changed again in 2009. A more contemporary and abstract approach was brought to the badge by the designers. The sack was now drawn in smooth lines in several shades of green, white, and orange. The bird was coming out of the green circular frame with the bold orange lettering around its perimeter. The clean lines and new color palette made the logo look progressive and vivid.
2011 — Today
In 2011 the franchise decided to refresh their logo. They used the color scheme of the previous Mallards brand but simplified it. There is only one shade of green in their logo and no blue. The result is a simple color palette (just black, white, green and a bit of orange) which is compensated by a conspicuous design.
Though it is a new logo, its main characteristic is a strong brand identity. Alongside with the color scheme the new Mallards franchise incorporated Mo Mallard, the mascot. But instead of a front-and-center placed duck we see an orange-billed mallard with a black face, a green head and black and white wings flying out of a black circle. There are two wordmarks written in white on the black background ‒ “Quad City” (above) and “Mallards” (below).