Thursday: The Colours
Hello everyone, and welcome to another post from your favourite current Thursday writer, me!
When glancing over the concepts before this post, the first thing that came to mind was how flashy and colourful today's concepts are. From there, I thought about the different colours used and unused on sports jerseys, specifically hockey.
The most over-saturated colour scheme in pro sports is white, red, and blue. It makes sense to use it because there is so much national, state, and non-geographical symbolism that can be displayed with those three colours. Red and blue represent ⅔ of the primary colours, and the other colour, yellow, rarely works well with white. The NHL has less white, red and blue teams than other pro sports leagues, especially the MLB, but any combination of white with red and/or blue still represents a large portion of the league's colours.
After that, blue/yellow and red/black colour schemes are the most common in the NHL. Orange is being used more frequently too.
I'm usually not an advocate for teams changing their identity entirely, but I do wish that we could see some more green and teal/light blue in the league. I also would love to see more purple, if done properly.
And while I'm coming up with crazy colours, let's talk about pink. Only one major men's team that I can think of has used pink in their jerseys, and that's the Calgary Hitmen. Personally, I thought their black and pink look was insanely cool, and actually made pink look like a threatening colour. So its not impossible to use pink and still be cool, it's just really difficult.
Anyways, that's my little pre-post rant for the day. Don't forget about the COTW vote, as well as a fun vote we're having this week asking who is your favourite and most hated NHL teams. The Grand Rapids Griffins Competition is still going as well, so keep those concepts pouring in.
Rochester Americans Concept - Ryley C.
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Yay: We'll start today with this Rochester Americans concept from Ryley. This has everything the "Americans" jersey should have: the trusty red/white/blue colours, stars, stripes, and an old-school touch-up of the logo. This is as American as a jersey can get. Apollo Creed would be proud.
Nay: But we all know what happened to Apollo Creed, right? If not, watch Rocky IV. Someone should have thrown in the towel on this concept before putting the TV numbers on the yokes, arching the name, and sizing the name and number on the back (name is too big, number is a touch too small and too low). With all the white on the jersey, the back looks almost out of place. Some sort of white outline on the text, or white text and blue outline, would work better. I'd also go with a blue or white collar, and recolouring the "Reebok" on the back to white or red.
Overall: Not even James Brown could help this concept. But keep working at it, no matter what...no matter what. (Alright, I'll stop with the Rocky IV quotes). Very creative, but needs work. 6/10
Anaheim Ducks Concept - Connor J.
Yay: Next up is a concept from Connor, showing his take on an orange alternate for the Ducks. I think it's a gimme that an orange jersey with the original Mighty Ducks logo would be the best route for the Ducks to go. The colours go well with the logo, and I like that the diagonal stripes are kept. Also, Getz-laugh...hah!
Nay: The background for this concept doesn't really reflect the concept itself, and doesn't show the black very well. But it makes me think how good orange and purple would work... Anyways, I notice the logo is recoloured a bit, and it's alright except that the circle and triangle are both black. Sticking to the current alternate logo would look much nicer. The TV numbers are cut off on the arms, the name is too small (although it would be hard to fit if it was real-sized), and the number looks a bit small as well. There's also loose pixels everywhere on this concept.
Overall: I love the idea, but it's been done and executed much better by other designers. Keep trying and work on execution. 6.7/10
Vancouver Canucks Concept - Phil B.
Yay: There was a time when the Canucks didn't have blue in their colour scheme; two different jerseys to be precise. Phil takes the skate logo and uses striping inspired by the "V" jerseys to create this uniform. These jersey, as unique as they are, fit nicely into the 90's Canucks look. It's probably more modern than classic, but these jerseys would stand out in any era.
Nay: The amount of chevrons in this concept is too dang high. I get the whole "V" symbolism thing, but this is way too much. I think the hem and the arms are okay, but the yoke just looks so strange to me. There's definitely a need for a yoke, and a "square" yoke works better with the striping pattern, but the inside stripes are just too much for me. I think the logo looks a tad small as well.
Overall: I really want to see the Canucks with these colours, but I'm not quite sold on these jerseys. 7.5/10
Montreal Canadiens Concept - Zach W.
Yay: Probably the least radical concept today belongs to Zach. However, even the smallest change is radical for the tradition-happy Canadiens. They've worn jerseys to this previously, but the red and blue are swapped in the stripes, and I actually like this look more. The logo still contrasts enough from the stripe, and it's easier to show the numbers on the back.
Nay: Sizing is an issue for basically everything on this concept. The name is too big, the back number is way too big, the logo and arm stripes are slightly too big, and the hem stripes are too small. The TV numbers shouldn't overlap the stripes. You should have white and/or blue outline on the back number, and fill in the gaps of the 8.
Overall: A fairly weak redo of an existing jersey, but I do think this jersey looks nicer with red as a more dominant colour than blue, so at least this concept has that going for it. 6.3/10
Utica Comets Concept - Matt M.
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Yay: You know what's cool about Utica's current jerseys? Nothing, because they're the same as Vancouver's, besides the 3rd, which is even worse. Not a bad set, but it lacks it's own identity. Well, Matt definitely fixes that, keeping the colours but totally changing the look, for the better. I love the stripes, and the stars on the bottom, and how well the number contrasts to the stripes. This is a great concept all-around.
Nay: The one thing that bugs me is that I can't tell if this would be a home or away jersey. More than likely it would be a 3rd jersey, used against teams with different colours. But I'm still a little bothered by the amount of white on the jersey (and socks as well), not enough for a home jersey, too much for an away jersey.
Overall: Very well designed, but I'm curious what it would be used for. 8.6/10
Anaheim Ducks Concept - TG
Yay: Boom! Foreshadowing! See what I did there? No? Okay, lets move on. We end today with a purple and orange Ducks concept from TG. I'm having troubles figuring out where the stripe pattern comes from (if it comes from another uniform), but it looks great on here. It's not too crazy, but it's definitely modern, unique, and right on the edge of awesome and ridiculous. The colours look marvellous together, and the font is perfect for the modern look this jersey has. Love it!
Nay: The orange looks great, but somewhat choppy in places because it's too thin. I think if the orange was just a hair thicker, it would look much better. I'm also unsure about the yoke, I feel like the outlines take up too much space and make the inside of the yoke too small, and I'd fix that by just filling the yoke with the bronze colour. I'd say purple dominates this jersey just a little too much, so filling the yoke and making the orange a little thicker would fix that.
Overall: Very interesting! 8.5/10
Tough call between two interesting, well-executed concepts, but I'm picking Matt M's Utica Comets concept as my COTW nominee.
Don't forget to vote for your favourite concept in the COTW vote, as well as participate in our "Favourite NHL Teams" poll happening this week. Also, get those Griffins concepts in, we're already near the end of August and time is running out.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
When glancing over the concepts before this post, the first thing that came to mind was how flashy and colourful today's concepts are. From there, I thought about the different colours used and unused on sports jerseys, specifically hockey.
The most over-saturated colour scheme in pro sports is white, red, and blue. It makes sense to use it because there is so much national, state, and non-geographical symbolism that can be displayed with those three colours. Red and blue represent ⅔ of the primary colours, and the other colour, yellow, rarely works well with white. The NHL has less white, red and blue teams than other pro sports leagues, especially the MLB, but any combination of white with red and/or blue still represents a large portion of the league's colours.
After that, blue/yellow and red/black colour schemes are the most common in the NHL. Orange is being used more frequently too.
I'm usually not an advocate for teams changing their identity entirely, but I do wish that we could see some more green and teal/light blue in the league. I also would love to see more purple, if done properly.
And while I'm coming up with crazy colours, let's talk about pink. Only one major men's team that I can think of has used pink in their jerseys, and that's the Calgary Hitmen. Personally, I thought their black and pink look was insanely cool, and actually made pink look like a threatening colour. So its not impossible to use pink and still be cool, it's just really difficult.
Anyways, that's my little pre-post rant for the day. Don't forget about the COTW vote, as well as a fun vote we're having this week asking who is your favourite and most hated NHL teams. The Grand Rapids Griffins Competition is still going as well, so keep those concepts pouring in.
COTW Aug 11-17 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm Eastern)
Grand Rapids Griffins Jersey Competition (ends August 31st, 2014)
Favourite NHL Team Vote (ends Saturday @ 11:59pm Eastern)
Rochester Americans Concept - Ryley C.
Yay: We'll start today with this Rochester Americans concept from Ryley. This has everything the "Americans" jersey should have: the trusty red/white/blue colours, stars, stripes, and an old-school touch-up of the logo. This is as American as a jersey can get. Apollo Creed would be proud.
Nay: But we all know what happened to Apollo Creed, right? If not, watch Rocky IV. Someone should have thrown in the towel on this concept before putting the TV numbers on the yokes, arching the name, and sizing the name and number on the back (name is too big, number is a touch too small and too low). With all the white on the jersey, the back looks almost out of place. Some sort of white outline on the text, or white text and blue outline, would work better. I'd also go with a blue or white collar, and recolouring the "Reebok" on the back to white or red.
Overall: Not even James Brown could help this concept. But keep working at it, no matter what...no matter what. (Alright, I'll stop with the Rocky IV quotes). Very creative, but needs work. 6/10
Anaheim Ducks Concept - Connor J.
Yay: Next up is a concept from Connor, showing his take on an orange alternate for the Ducks. I think it's a gimme that an orange jersey with the original Mighty Ducks logo would be the best route for the Ducks to go. The colours go well with the logo, and I like that the diagonal stripes are kept. Also, Getz-laugh...hah!
Nay: The background for this concept doesn't really reflect the concept itself, and doesn't show the black very well. But it makes me think how good orange and purple would work... Anyways, I notice the logo is recoloured a bit, and it's alright except that the circle and triangle are both black. Sticking to the current alternate logo would look much nicer. The TV numbers are cut off on the arms, the name is too small (although it would be hard to fit if it was real-sized), and the number looks a bit small as well. There's also loose pixels everywhere on this concept.
Overall: I love the idea, but it's been done and executed much better by other designers. Keep trying and work on execution. 6.7/10
Vancouver Canucks Concept - Phil B.
Yay: There was a time when the Canucks didn't have blue in their colour scheme; two different jerseys to be precise. Phil takes the skate logo and uses striping inspired by the "V" jerseys to create this uniform. These jersey, as unique as they are, fit nicely into the 90's Canucks look. It's probably more modern than classic, but these jerseys would stand out in any era.
Nay: The amount of chevrons in this concept is too dang high. I get the whole "V" symbolism thing, but this is way too much. I think the hem and the arms are okay, but the yoke just looks so strange to me. There's definitely a need for a yoke, and a "square" yoke works better with the striping pattern, but the inside stripes are just too much for me. I think the logo looks a tad small as well.
Overall: I really want to see the Canucks with these colours, but I'm not quite sold on these jerseys. 7.5/10
Montreal Canadiens Concept - Zach W.
Yay: Probably the least radical concept today belongs to Zach. However, even the smallest change is radical for the tradition-happy Canadiens. They've worn jerseys to this previously, but the red and blue are swapped in the stripes, and I actually like this look more. The logo still contrasts enough from the stripe, and it's easier to show the numbers on the back.
Nay: Sizing is an issue for basically everything on this concept. The name is too big, the back number is way too big, the logo and arm stripes are slightly too big, and the hem stripes are too small. The TV numbers shouldn't overlap the stripes. You should have white and/or blue outline on the back number, and fill in the gaps of the 8.
Overall: A fairly weak redo of an existing jersey, but I do think this jersey looks nicer with red as a more dominant colour than blue, so at least this concept has that going for it. 6.3/10
Utica Comets Concept - Matt M.
Yay: You know what's cool about Utica's current jerseys? Nothing, because they're the same as Vancouver's, besides the 3rd, which is even worse. Not a bad set, but it lacks it's own identity. Well, Matt definitely fixes that, keeping the colours but totally changing the look, for the better. I love the stripes, and the stars on the bottom, and how well the number contrasts to the stripes. This is a great concept all-around.
Nay: The one thing that bugs me is that I can't tell if this would be a home or away jersey. More than likely it would be a 3rd jersey, used against teams with different colours. But I'm still a little bothered by the amount of white on the jersey (and socks as well), not enough for a home jersey, too much for an away jersey.
Overall: Very well designed, but I'm curious what it would be used for. 8.6/10
Anaheim Ducks Concept - TG
Yay: Boom! Foreshadowing! See what I did there? No? Okay, lets move on. We end today with a purple and orange Ducks concept from TG. I'm having troubles figuring out where the stripe pattern comes from (if it comes from another uniform), but it looks great on here. It's not too crazy, but it's definitely modern, unique, and right on the edge of awesome and ridiculous. The colours look marvellous together, and the font is perfect for the modern look this jersey has. Love it!
Nay: The orange looks great, but somewhat choppy in places because it's too thin. I think if the orange was just a hair thicker, it would look much better. I'm also unsure about the yoke, I feel like the outlines take up too much space and make the inside of the yoke too small, and I'd fix that by just filling the yoke with the bronze colour. I'd say purple dominates this jersey just a little too much, so filling the yoke and making the orange a little thicker would fix that.
Overall: Very interesting! 8.5/10
Tough call between two interesting, well-executed concepts, but I'm picking Matt M's Utica Comets concept as my COTW nominee.
Don't forget to vote for your favourite concept in the COTW vote, as well as participate in our "Favourite NHL Teams" poll happening this week. Also, get those Griffins concepts in, we're already near the end of August and time is running out.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
Thursday: The Colours
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Reviewed by Unknown
on
August 21, 2014
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
August 21, 2014
Rating:
4 comments:
I feel like I've seen matts Utica concept before from him, so COTW to TG, the stripes remind me of toothpaste though. Still cool.
Technically speaking, my Canucks concept has an angled yoke, not a square yoke. Jut to make your life more difficult with the chevron overload.
Matts jerseys is proably a home alternate since there is a white helmet and AHL temas wear white at home.
I second TG's Ducks for COTW
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