Clever Icons

Win one for the Gipper!
- Ronald Regan in Knute Rockne: All American
I love good art design and wish I had the imagination for it. My brain is hardwired for seeing "what is" as opposed to wild envisioning. I can copy design tricks and use them but admire people who can create from scratch.
So I enjoyed the web posting, 23 Brilliant Logos With Hidden Messages, by a design artist blogger. The first logo in particular caught my eye. Here's why...
Last weekend my wife and I visited my Freshman roommate from college and his family in State College, PA to see the annual Art Fair. Thanks Mark & Margaret! We had a great time.
State College is home to Penn State, a Land Grant school, and like any good ag school it has an excellent dairy. Mark took us to the college ice cream shop and while there I noticed the flags for all the Big Ten schools including my Alma mater. (As a Michigan State alum it was funny to see "State" logos everywhere and have it mean something quite different than MSU.) I also noticed that there were 11 flags! I don't follow college sports so I was surprised to learn there are 11 schools in the Big Ten! It was aptly 10 back in my day. Penn State joined as #11 in 1990.

Bottom Line

My mathematical mind shudders at 11 schools in the Big Ten but I have to give credit for the clever logo incorporating the number 11. I guess they'll need a new logo next year when the University of Nebraska-Lincoln joins the league.

Update Aug 3
Here's a new list of clever logos
http://designshack.co.uk/articles/graphics/50-fantastically-clever-logos