Tim E. And the Jets

On Friday, the Winnipeg Jets unveiled their new logos and - fitting the theme of other recent logo/uni announcements - I was underwhelmed.

While I don't hate anything specifically in the new iconography (maybe except for the new wordmark), I was once again surprised by True North's lack of originality.

One of the most surprising features of the designs is the prominence of the maple leaf. Uh, you're not the only Canadian team and there's already this one team who uses that same leaf.

So lets get into my critiques:

The Primary Logo: I love the roundel that is clearly based off of the Royal Canadian Air Force's roundel but I could easily live without the maple leaf. Also, the compass point representing True North is a bit intrusive and egotistical but I can live with it because it reminds me of the J/hockey stick in this.

Grade: B+ | Uni-Watch.com Scale: Good, close to Great

The Secondary Logo: Once again, the maple leaf is way too prominent. It's a good looking logo, but in a league with a team already known as the leaves and a team already known as the wings, do you really feel the need to combine those images when talking about the Jets?

Grade: B | Uni-Watch.com Scale: Good

The Wordmark: In one word? Hideous. In two words? Train wreck.

Other than being ugly and having terrible fonts, the leaf - yet again - dominates the design and actually looks like an apostrophe, making them the Jet's.

On their website, the Jets show a few different designs featuring a stencil font. That font fits in with the fighter jet motif, in that it looks like something that could be sprayed in the side of a fighter. But yet they didn't use that as a wordmark, go figure.

Grade: F | Uni-Watch.com Scale: Stupid

OVERALL: Grade: C+ but should've been better and more original.

So, while still a passing grade, I figured I could make some improvements - and maybe create some unis while I'm at it.

Logos:

I take my idea of removing the maple leaf but trade in the gray jet for a red one.

Next up, the secondary gets the jet trade in, too.

Uniforms:

For the home and road unis, I took inspiration from the roundel and went for a classic look mixed in with some modern/jet themed flare (hence the stencil uni numbers and captain's C). I also included the jet on the pants with the stripes looking like a planes' contrail.

For the Third Jersey, I made the helmet, jersey and socks gray to mimic a fighter jet (and so it can easily be worn at home or on the road). The numbers and captain's C are now in a darker gray to, once again, imitate the stencils used on planes.

Well, those are my ideas and hopefully you like them. As usual, until next time, happy tweaking.

Update on Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 9:59PM by Tim E. O'Brien

Baby Blue Alts:

Many have been hypothesizing baby blue jerseys, so here's a pair I came up with:

Comments

[Skizzy]

I like what you did mocking up the unis! Can't agree more though, that word mark they are using is HIDEOUS! Good job here!

[Paul Lee]

Bravo! I'm not a big hockey guy, but your tweak of the Jets logo is fantastic. I see the point of having the maple leaf, but while the Jets are a Canadian team, they're not the Toronto Maple Leafs, so it's not really essential. Your decision to swap the color of the jet to red is brilliant :)

Paul Lee