BEREA, Ohio -- Times have changed and the Browns are bringing in a fresh new look to their image.
However, traditionalists can take a breath - the logo will remain the helmet.
To the untrained eye, there's not much of a change to the look.
"In redesigning our uniforms and modernizing our logos, our primary focus was honoring the Browns' cherished history and recognizing the transformation of Cleveland," Browns President Alec Scheiner said before the announcement was made. "As always, we spent significant time engaging with our fans during this process and took a very methodical approach the past two years to determine certain core characteristics symbolic of our great city. We are thrilled with how these translate in our logo and uniform and embrace the opportunity to fully share that with our fans in April."
Scheiner said the new uniforms would be unveiled on April 14 at 7:30 p.m. at an event at the Cleveland Convention Center. Scheiner wouldn't give out any information on the new uniforms--even if there were an added color to the scheme--but hinted that the uniform change will be more drastic, in keeping the helmet with no logo.
"We'll move the uniform farther ahead than the logo," Scheiner said. "The fans have given us permission to move ahead with the uniform."
The orange is brighter and richer and according to Scheiner "matches the passion of our fans and city."
The helmet will feature a "vibrant" orange tint and brown facemasks. The new logo will be used more to represent the team in the marketing of merchandise. It will also be depicted at the stadium and when representing the Browns on television broadcasts. Scheiner said the merchandise with the new trademarks would go along with the uniform unveiling in April.
In addition, to the brighter orange, the outline around the block letters has gone away.
Scheiner said the new "Dawg Pound" logo is to embrace the 30th anniversary of the event by modernizing the symbolism of the Dawg Pound through an evolved logo.
"I've probably seen over 100 Dawg faces (in the process)," Scheiner said.
The change to the team's look has been talked about for over two years and the change has begun as the Browns started the process of a makeover to their appearance with the unveiling of the team's new logo.
Scheiner said an emphasis was to "not lose track of our tradition."
In 2013, owner Jimmy Haslam took great care to get the word out that there would be no change to the Browns' iconic helmet and there will be no emblem on the sides of the helmets. The Browns have never worn a logo on their helmets, which has been a core franchise trademark. The Browns logo is currently an orange helmet.
Here's a little history of the logos the Browns have used over the years in marketing. The Browns used an elf logo, "Brownie", starting in the franchise's years in the All-American Football Conference in the late 1940s when owner Mickey McBride sought to make the team more marketable and asked for mascot logos submissions from fans.
"Brownie" changed over the years and was phased out by the time that the NFL merged with the rival American Football League during Art Modell's era of ownership.
Scheiner said that the "elf" or "Brownie" would continue to be used as a secondary logo.
"We will not lose the elf, Brownie," Scheiner said.
In 1965, the team came very close to put an interlocking "CB," designed by NFL Properties on the helmet, but that didn't materialize.
In recent year, beside the "Brownie," the Browns have used "Dawgs" as well as the solid block "B" within a football that has been used since 2003.
The next step will be the unveiling of the new uniforms in April. However, the most pressing need still remains is finding a franchise quarterback.
