Baseball fans are going wild for Randy Johnson's hilariously morbid new logo

Randy Johnson holding some cameras
(Image credit: Randy Johnson/Future)

MBL fans are this week delighting in two new realisations regarding former pitcher Randy Johnson's new career. Not only is he now a professional photographer who captures both sports games and wildlife, but his logo is also a hilarious nod to his own sporting past.

A tweet has gone viral showing Johnson on the sidelines of an NFL game, brandishing a satisfyingly enormous camera lens. And fans have delved a little deeper to discover his photography logo is somewhat, shall we say, morbid. (Looking for inspiration? Check out the best logos of all time).

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Before we look at the logo, some context. 21 years ago, Johnson famously exploded a bird. Yes, you read that right. In one of the most one-in-a-million freak occurrences on a sporting pitch, Johnson threw a ball at around 100 miles-per-hour directly into the flight path of a bird. Which, almost comically, exploded into a puff of feathers.  

So what did Johnson choose to use as a logo for his photography business? Why, a dead bird of course. Fans are loving the hilarious design, which consists of an upside-down bird with crossed-out eyes and a few floating feathers for good measure. 

Randy Johnson photography

(Image credit: Randy Johnson Photography)

"My career as a Major League baseball pitcher has been well documented, Johnson's website reads, but what is not as well known is my passion for photography, which began when I studied photojournalism at the University of Southern California from 1983-85.Baseball became my occupation for two decades but my love of photography never left. Following my 2010 retirement, I was able to focus my attention back to this passion.

From Amazon's Hitler-esque app logo to the "most offensive logo ever", we've seen plenty of unfortunate designs over the last few years – but here's one that's borderline tasteless in all the best ways. On paper, a 'dead bird logo' is never going to work – but then not every creative has famously accidentally obliterated a fowl. If you're inspired to create your own design (dead animal or otherwise), check out our guide on how to design a logo.

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Daniel Piper
Senior News Editor

Daniel Piper is Creative Bloq’s Senior News Editor. As the brand’s Apple authority, he covers all things Mac, iPhone, iPad and the rest. He also reports on the worlds of design, branding and tech. Daniel joined Future in 2020 (an eventful year, to say the least) after working in copywriting and digital marketing with brands including ITV, NBC, Channel 4 and more. Outside of Future, Daniel is a global poetry slam champion and has performed at festivals including Latitude, Bestival and more. He is the author of Arbitrary and Unnecessary: The Selected Works of Daniel Piper (Selected by Daniel Piper).