What Was Old Is New Again

A few weeks back, over at Uni-Watch.com, I ran a feature piece on my take for NHL uniforms. While I wasn't quite finished tweaking NHL teams, commenter Mike D (whom I have to assume is the Mike D from the Beastie Boys) gave me the idea to take a crack at teams of yesteryear.

With such a great idea, I immediately got to work and found four teams ripe for an update. So what follows is first, a new look for four former franchises followed by a continuation of my take on current NHL teams.

The Defunct Series

California Seals: LOGO | CREST | HOME | ROAD | THIRD

The Seals - in their California incarnation in particular - had great colors and unis, but the logo reminded me more of a bird with a fish head than a seal. So I tried to remedy that with an updated logo and script.

The unis are basically just updates of previous unis. Though I had considered making the yellow jerseys the road uni and coming up with a different third, I figured this might go against NHL uni-policy.

Hartford Whalers: CREST | LOGO | HOME | ROAD | THIRD

This is the first team in the Defunct Series which I didn't feel the need to edit their crest. I did edit the whale logo a bit and I considered moving the whale tail up a bit higher off of the W but decided against it.

The uniforms are fairly straightforward updates of classic Whaler unis, but it was hard to keep the bold striping patterns of the old team on the new edge cuts. I'm not thrilled with my third. I tried a gray alt but that looked forced and the blue alt - to me - starts to encroach A LOT on the Canucks' identity (though, they seem to have just stolen a lot of good design ideas from the Whalers). If you have any better ideas for a third, let me hear 'em.

Minnesota North Stars: CREST | LOGO | HOME | ROAD | THIRD

With the North Stars, the first thing I tried to do was fix their logo. To me, a team named the North Stars should have a logo that points north (up), not northeast-ish (up and to the right). After that, these home and road are actually pretty similar to my Dallas Stars set (with notable and significant differences), which makes sense since those were partially based on old North Stars unis, but I give these unis their own flare (like the arrow and star on the pants).

I love the Third jersey here, which is a fauxback, and even considered making the home and road based off of this pattern, but decided to go with the more modern feel for the regular unis.

Quebec Nordiques: CREST | HOME | ROAD | THIRD

I think the old Nordiques logo is a train-wreck. Now, I understand that, design aside, people love the 'Diques logo, so - just like the Seals - I tried to update the logo while improving the design.

From what I gather, the old logo was a mashup of an N, an igloo and a hockey stick and puck. First, I rid the logo of the hockey equipment (we know you play hockey) and I give the logo a much more balanced overall shape. The door to the igloo is framed by an N for Nordiques and also appears as an entrance to a stereotypical igloo.

I even flirted with a wordmark alternate logo, but decided that might be a bit much.

The home and road unis are pretty much just updates but the third is an homage to the flag of Quebec.

The American Classic:

Who ever said fantasy has to be realistic? In my world, the NHL would add more outdoor "classics" and this particular one would take place in Oakland California.

Pitting the Minnesota North Stars vs the California Seals, both teams would wear throwbacks to 1975-76 with their current (Tim E.-created) logos and slightly altered pants stripes.

The Heritage Classic:

The second classic I would add would be a return of the Heritage Classic - the Canadian team version of the Winter Classic.

Quebec would host this Canadian outdoor game and face an old WHA rival, the Hartford Whalers.

Once again, both teams would be wearing throwbacks to 1975-76 but this time the unis would be dead on replications of the '70s originals.

Hockey TimE

Calgary: HOME | ROAD | THIRD

These unis are a combo of throwback and current designs. All the unis feature some black but the main striping patterns come from the era of the Flames singular Cup win.

For the captaincy patch, I use the Calgary Flaming C logo and for the alternate captains, I use the Atlanta Flames Flaming A logo.

Colorado: HOME | ROAD | THIRD

A more mountainous feel on the unis (and pants) that evokes earlier, happier times in Colorado. I also removed the black helmet and pants and eliminated gray except for on the crest.

The third is inverted Home colors, which some have said is almost indistinguishable from the Home uni, but I say, what's so wrong with that?

Detroit: HOME | ROAD | THIRD

No change, home or road. The Third is a 'heritage' design that honors elements of past uniforms while incorporating some modern and all new elements.

I've always really enjoyed the Red Wing's wordmarks, so I tried to highlight them in the Third jersey.

New Jersey: HOME | ROAD | THIRD

The Devils don't need too many changes. I did very minor stuff on the home and road, but I bring back the old green jersey from Jersey's first 11 seasons and bring it back as the permanent third. It's classic uni that deserves to be seen at least a few times a year.

New York Islanders: HOME | ROAD | THIRD

Well, the Islanders decided to shit all over good design with their third jersey so I decided it was time to work on the Isles.

With the home and road, I return the look that won four Stanley Cups, a classic and simple uni.

As for the third, I used the current home uni striping and add my new secondary logo (inspired from the Whalers' old logo) to the chest.

 _____

Well, that's it for now, until next time, happy tweaking.

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:

The Washington •Bullets

Yesterday the Washington Wizards announced a new era in their franchise's history that resembles - but does not rename them - the Washington Bullets. Here are my thoughts:

• Let me start off by saying that I really like these uniforms. They are a huge improvement over what they have had as of recent (but still aren't as cool as this!).
• I wish the blue was a little less navy.
• As predicted by many (including me), the Wizard made it through the recolorization process. With the new Bullets color scheme, the Wiz looks more like Saint Nick and Less like Merlin. He needs to be dropped ASAP.
• The new 'DC' secondary logo is amazing because of how it echos the old Bullets logo but the font on all the word-marks leaves something to be desired.
• Speaking of the word-marks - The Washington Monument in the H in Washington and the D in Wizards is beyond class. This makes me feel like a complete amateur. Kudos to the genius who worked that into the design.
• Whoever worked this W into the shorts should get some props too. Very subtle.
• The Ball/Monument logo is good but I feel like it's a few steps away from greatness. Don't know what the problem is for me but something just feels wrong (maybe it's the seven sided ball).
• The Home Uni: The number font is less that spectacular and the red tripe should end in a solid line rather than jutting down only near the center logo. Also, the blue and white on the collar and sleeves should be switched around for better contrast and to match the road uniform. Other than that, pure win.
• The Road Uni: Same problems as the Home Uni as far as the blue stripe that goes over the shoulders and the number font, but just like the Home Uni, this uniform is a huge improvement for the Wiz.

Well, that's my take on the new Wizards jerseys. I wouldnt be surprised if the Wizard logo and name is phased out over the next few years but either way, these new unis are a vast improvement for this franchise.

I have a BIG Uni Watch feature coming up this Sunday and while I wont say exactly what it is, you'll probably be able to make an educated guess from this picture...

Until then, you know what to do.

Quatro De Mayo Update

Hola.

So, I haven't been updating this site as much as I have over the past couple of weeks and today I'm going to try and make up for that by posting so much goodness, you won't know what to do with yourself.

While two weeks ago was a bit of a week off for me, I have been doing many requests and concepts or designs that don't really fit into the larger categories I normally post here.

Take this for example:

This logo is something I came up with a while back upon remembering that my uncle, Charles Brown (no joke), brews his own beer. This was a project of my own undertaking to try and create a logo for a beer and to see if I could do a face logo.

I think it turned out pretty well.

As far as the sports world is concerned, I did this little diddy for an Oklahoma fan:

This is a logo of the Oklahoma Schooner - whatever that is - from the front.

Returning to something I seem to return to once a month, I have yet again been fooling around with the Oklahoma City Thunder. This time, however, I was recoloring real photos to go with my gray Thunder redesign.

Additional shots can bee seen here and here, not to mention on this fake billboard:

Another personal undertaking was to create a hockey uniform template for myself. Once that had been completed I tested the thing out by making uniforms in case the Blackhawks ever hosted the All-Star game:

That last Hawks-Star concept is of the old Black Alternate the Hawks used to wear. The only problem is that the design is based off of the road uni, not the home. So that, obviously, inspired me to come up with new concepts for the Black Alternate:

But as always, most of the concepts I have done in recent weeks stem from requests for uniform concepts.

A student from my brother's Alma Mater, Fordham University, contacted me to see if I could come up with some uniforms for their basketball and football teams. Now, since my brother left the Bronx, Fordham changed their logo to this, which sucks, so I changed their logos to This, This, This and This.

For basketball, I went simple and classic (with an all gray alternate, per his request):

With the football program, I tried to be a bit more modern while keeping their block F maroon helmet:

But this being a request, the Fordham student asked for some Oregon-esque alternates, spcifically an all black one. While I prefer the all gray (it helps highlight gray as a third color in my Rams concepts plus gray is the new black) the all black is pretty snazzy (if you can get past the Black for Black's sake):

And finally today, we go all the way to 'A Whale's Vagina' to update San Diego State's uniforms:

Home Road

Home Alt Road Alt

Throwback Helmet

That's it for the update. I'm working on some hockey and baseball stuff right now but feel free to send me any more requests.

Until then, leave it in the comments...

Conceptualized Basketball

Quick update today to announce that I've updated my Basketball Concepts page (skip to page 2) to include most of my recent works including my Tweaking the Classics post unis and my recent feature on UniWatchBlog.com.

Here are the updated teams:

• Bobcats
• Bulls
• Clippers
• Federals
• Grizzlies
• Hawks
• Heat
• Jazz
• Knicks
• Lakers
• Mavs
• Orange
• Raptors
• Timberwolves

I'd just like to thank everyone for all the feedback I've gotten, I really appreciate all the kind words and constructive criticism and I hope to keep making concepts people like.