The WNBA All-Star Game is heading back to Phoenix for the third time in 2024; today, the league unveiled the logo for the event.
The logo is purple, “fire” orange, and tangerine and features the usual elements of a design for an event based in Arizona. You’ve got your desert landscape, you’ve got your triangles and other indigenous-inspired themes, and a sun/sunset. Check, check, check.
I made a note that it was the third time Phoenix had hosted a WNBA All-Star Game in the opening paragraph because the league sourced it as inspiration for more than a few of the elements in the design. The three desert mountain peaks, the three stems of the cactus in the valley, and the three triangles under each side of the wordmark were all listed as being due to this being Phoenix’s third game. You could keep expanding this, though they didn’t go beyond those reasons: the triangles surrounding the logo all have three points, there are eighteen stars throughout the logo — eighteen is evenly divisible by three… and so on.
Those stars are the same style of the star used on the Arizona state flag; the geometric shapes are from indigenous based patterns, and a river flowing toward the mountain is a nod to “The Valley.” The colour scheme is based on the colours of both the WNBA logo and those used by the host Phoenix Mercury.
Two more logos — officially classified as the “secondary” and the “partial” logos, compliment the primary mark with similar colours and themes.
That’s the “Partial Logo” directly above here, with a repeating semi-infinite star pattern leading us down into a like-shaped pit; the silhouette of a basketball player from the primary WNBA logo is featured on top of it. I like this design; it gives off a very 1970s vibe. A shame this was exclusively reserved for the third-line logo of the set.
Take a look back at the history of the WNBA All-Star Game logos, dating back to the first edition in New York back in 1999. We can see the league briefly flirted with a templated design in the mid-2010s before coming to their senses and seemingly abandoning most of their templating ways here in the mid-2020s.
Yes, there’s still an element of carryover from logo to logo; note the same typeface has been used for WNBA ALL-STAR over the last five games. But I’m willing to call this an acceptable compromise… and it’s far better than what the NBA has been doing with their event logos.
The 2024 WNBA All-Star Game will be played at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 20th. Tickets will be available later this month. You can check out our full history of WNBA All-Star Game logos right here.
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