Thursday: Take It Outside

Hello again everyone!

Yesterday we had the 2014 Winter Classic, Detroit vs Toronto in the Big House.  We've all seen the jerseys, and probably watched the highlights of the game, so there isn't anything we haven't seen before.  But there is one visual that left me in awe while watching the game:

(image from Yahoo! Sports)

This is the best image I could find for it, but look closely at the stands.  Do you see the definitive border between red and blue?  It's hard to tell from this picture, but watching the game you could easily tell that the stadium was split in half with fans wearing either red or blue.  The end result is a beautiful visual effect.

The game itself was great, of course, and I'm extremely jealous of the 100,000+ fans that made the journey their, including a few HJC writers I believe.  If anyone reading this went to the game, I'd love to hear your stories and thoughts on the game in the comments.

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Alright, so it's time for me to remind you that we are looking for a new writer. Do you want to write on Wednesdays, aka warm up the audience for my awesome Thursday performances?  I'm kidding of course, but we seriously do need a new Wednesday writer; and if I can do it, pretty sure most of you guys can do it, as long as you have time, dedication, and a good eye for jersey concepts.  Interested?  Go to the link above and show us your skills.

Also, we're still wanting your Pioneers jerseys.  They're due on Friday and could use some more great designs to show off.  Plus who knows, you could be rewarded with the very jersey you design. Wouldn't that be cool to show off?

Lastly, please remember to vote for COTW! Voting has been pretty good lately, and we'd love to keep that trend going.

COTW Dec 23-29 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)
Delaware Pioneers Jerseys (due Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)

HJC Writer Application (due Friday, Jan. 10 @ 11:59pm Eastern)

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Delaware Pioneers Jerseys

Dallas K.

 Caden P.

Jordan R.

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Plymouth Whalers Concept - Phil B.

Yay: Clever. I can't say that I've ever seen the Whalers with a 'P' logo before (I have played against the appropriately-branded Midnapore Whalers in my youth).  The logo looks great, and I like how their original style of jerseys is used. The only difference I see is an additional stripe on the arms, which aids the original design I think.  I'm extremely surprised Plymouth hasn't tried something like this before. 

Nay: The hem stripes look way too high on these jerseys, and takes up way too much space. Because of this, I'd say the main number is a little too small, or at least looks that way.  Lastly, I think the sock should only have two stripes instead of three, to stay consistent with the jersey design.

Overall: Aside from the logo change and some more stripes, it's not exactly an original concept.  But the execution is alright, and it would be cool to see Plymouth use these jerseys.  7.3/10

 Carolina Hurricanes Concept - J3

Yay: It's not like Carolina shares a red-black colour scheme with many teams, but these colours would be all their own.  I'm guessing a mix between Hurricanes' red and NCAA's South Carolina Gamecocks' dark red. The logos are appropriately coloured, and they look great.  Good execution, original, and looks great; all the things a good concept needs is found here.

Nay: The logo blends into the dark jersey quite a bit, which isn't a good thing.  Some extra white outline around the logo would help that.  I also think it would look better, and make the striping consistent, if the red on the shoulders was switched with the lower arm.

Overall:  The design is pretty simple, but the colours make this design look really original.  Great work. 7.8/10

New Jersey Devils Concept - Dylan W.

Yay: Dylan shows us a simplified version of what the Devils are wearing for their Stadium Series game in a few weeks.  The differences I notice are that the green stripes do not have a white outline, and the extra white stripe on the arms has swapped sides.  The yoke is also completely different in shape.  The outcome is something that is less retro and more simplistically modern, which is supposedly the desired look of the Stadium Series' jerseys.

Nay: For continuity purposes, I think it would look better if the white stripe on the arm was on the other side.  Personally, I dislike this striping style, and would like to see white stripes on both sides of the green, but that is traditional, and this isn't a traditional jersey, so it can pass.  My other complaint is that the green outline on the number should be more noticeable.

Overall:  This is more of a Stadium Series jersey than the Devils' retro jersey.  I'm not a fan of the design itself, but accuracy-wise it's pretty spot on.  8/10, with a .2 bonus for using 'Henriquez'.  Love it.

 Carolina Hurricanes Concept - J3

Yay: Dylan's other jersey today is a 3rd jersey for the Avs.  While most designers make a mountain-like design at the bottom of the jersey, Dylan does that with the yoke, so that is really cool.  Bringing black and grey into the jersey colour scheme looks very nice.  Finally, as hard as it is for most designers to make a solid blue 3rd for the Avs, this is both good-looking and believable.  Excellent work.

Nay: My biggest dis about this jersey is that there is nothing on the bottom of the jersey.  The striping patten looks excellent on the arms, maybe a few stripes on the hem wouldn't hurt.  As with the other jersey, I would also like to see the outline on the main number be more noticeable.

Overall: This is a great concept, and something I'd like to see the Avs wear.  8.3/10

Quebec Nordiques Concept -Christian L.

Yay: This is the first of two Nordiques concepts from Christian today; using the same sort of style on both, but I'll review them as two concepts.  This one is a very simple, traditional looking jersey.  I don't know if those logos are yours or borrowed from somewhere (source them if that is the case), but they look great.  The font used for the name text is different, but I think it could work on a jersey.  The overall look of this concept is pretty good.

Nay: First, the logo on the front seems low and a little big.  Second, the font for the numbers isn't bad, but it's kind of plain, especially compared to the name font.  Third, I think there are a few colour issues here.  I don't get why the two logos have two different blues (and maybe off-whites, it's hard to tell).  The blues used on the jersey look like the dark blue from the main logo, but the sock looks brighter, and the yoke looks just a shade off as well.  And I understand wanting to use the off-white colours on the jersey, but it doesn't show up well on the jersey against white.

Overall: The look of the concept is great, but there are too many errors or questions I have to think of this as a great concept yet.  Still, potential is there.  7/10

Quebec Nordiques Concept - Christian L.

Yay: Here is part two of his Nordiques concept, this time using a totally different look and template.  I like the striping pattern here more than the first concept, and I like how the two off-white colours of the logo are used on the concept. The equipment is well designed on this concept.

Nay: So the jersey appears to use the dark blue from the other logo, but the lighter blue on this logo just looks badly out of place.  The font choices for the number and name are suitable for hockey, but pretty boring choices.  The name also appears to arc, which I'm never a fan of.  I like the striping pattern, but I think the stripes, especially on the hem, should be thicker.

Overall: I think this concept is better executed, but there are still a few things I'd change.  7.2/10

 Cornell vs Harvard NCAA Concept - TG

Yay: Here we see a good NCAA matchup of jerseys with two classic schools.  The Harvard logo I'm not familiar with, but it looks good.  The striping pattern for both jerseys are pretty simple but look great and perfect for some old-school outdoor jerseys.  Execution for this set is pretty good overall, and I think this would be a good hockey matchup visually and sportingly.

Nay: With Cornell's jersey, the striping patten looks a little busy.  It's almost like a barber-pole jersey, but it's not.  I'd say either do full barber-pole (good), or remove a stripe or two on the arms (better).  Then maybe take another stripe or two off of the socks.  And if it's the Cornell Big Red, wearing a white jersey, why isn't the main 'C' logo red?  For Harvard, I'd maybe make the arm stripes a little thinner.

Overall: I like how this looks, and it's a good start, but not quite a visually memorable matchup as it is.  Make a few changes and this could be a great concept. 7.4/10

St. Louis Blues Concept - Stephen T.

Yay: Alright, I love these jerseys.  Stephen brings us back to the 90's with these Blues jerseys.  The main differences I can see are that the hem design doesn't come up the jersey as far, which is good; the logo doesn't have the name 'St. Louis' on it, so it's more accurate for their current jerseys; and the numbers look normal, and not diagonally shaped and squished.  The jersey doesn't have anything new, but I would argue that it's better designed than the Blues' real jerseys from this era.

Nay: The number and name look pretty squished together, so I'd probably move the number down a few pixels, but not too far so it conflicts with the striping.  The socks and gloves look great, put I think the pants need some work. Also, just a reminder, always remember your name or ID on the concept.

Overall:  There aren't a lot of changes from the real Blues' jerseys from this era, but the changes that are made are mostly for the better, so overall it's a pretty good concept.  8/10

Pittsburgh Penguins Concept - Stephen T.

Yay: Again going back in time, we go to the early 2000's, the first time Pittsburgh ditched the robo-penguin (although it's still on the shoulders, like their actual jerseys had).  I'm not really noticing any major differences between these and their jerseys from that era, besides the stripe design is a little more rounded, which I like.  There is also some design on the pants which I don't remember them having.  Overall, these jerseys look great, especially with the rounded striping.

Nay: Again, the equipment looks good, but the pants need some work.  The pant style for the dark jersey looks good, but I'd say keep those pants for both sets. 

Overall: There isn't much to complain about, because the Penguins practically wore these and looked sharp, but there isn't much to praise, because the Penguins practically wore these and there weren't lots of changes to the design.  Looks good, but not much of a concept besides rounded stripes and pants.  7.8/10

Michael Gesior HJC Artist Card

We end today with an Artist Card from Michael.  Not much to review of course, besides those flashy white gloves he's dining.  I hated playing against people with white gloves because you couldn't watch the way their hands were moving.  That's not a bad thing, it's smart, and they look pretty solid.

Anyway, it's really cool to see Artist Cards (it's the 2nd week in a row I've had one), and I'd definitely love to see more.

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I'm going to give my COTW nomination to Dylan W.'s Colorado Avalanche concept.

As I said earlier, I'd love to hear everyone's Winter Classic stories if they have any to share.  As for everyone else, thanks for reading and have a good weekend!