Thursday: Another Outsider's Perspective: Central Division

Hello everyone, welcome back!

We're just gonna jump right in and continue with the series from before. For those who missed it or need a refresher, here's a copy/paste of my explanation from last week:

This time around I'll be "interviewing" my friend on these logos. She'll be entering her third year of design school next year, she's a hockey fan (a fellow Pens fan I may add), but she isn't much of a uniform nerd, as I'd call myself and I'm sure as many of you would call yourselves.

This is going to be formatted very similarly to the way Caz formatted his, I'll ask her about her opinions on the logos, and her response you see on this blog (the "Her Review" sections) will be a direct copy/paste from a message from her. If I have any additional comments (keyword 'if'), I'll state it after. Up next, the Central Division. (I think I forgot to change that sentence last week, whoops) (All logo images are from sportslogos.net)

Chicago Blackhawks
Her review: "Although the logo is very elaborate and detailed, it certainly has the most character (no pun intended) compared to other logos in the division. The use of loops and organic lines emulate a sense of the past refined in the form of a logo. If it were to use more mechanical and straight edge line work, it would lose its sense of natural and historical integrity. One of the drawbacks of this logo is the use of 8 colours interchangeably, which is not necessarily efficient for something as simple as a logo design. One way to fix this to decrease the amount of elements that need various different colours to stand out, for instance, the feathers. While it could be argued that there has to be 4 feathers due to historical relevance, a logo is designed to simplify and doesn’t necessary need to have many features, especially if they take away from the design being successful."
My comments: Quite frankly I don't think the multitude of colors is a huge problem here, somehow. It goes relatively unnoticed when you see it on a jersey or something of that sort. Strange.

Colorado Avalanche
Her review: "The Avalanche depend on texture and dimension to make their logo work. While the icy texture is very much concentrated in one area and demands attention, the focal point remains at the flat burgundy letter. By still allowing the letter to stand out from the dense texture, the skewed letter is more recognizable. The use of neutral colours, which are sometimes referred to as ‘earth tones’, work well in order to harmonize with the shade highlights, which is an important aspect when portraying snow/ avalanche. Using much more vibrant primary colours would not be as suitable with the logo."

Dallas Stars

Her review: "The logo utilizes the sharpness of the star and plays on this physical property using bevelling. Within the hollow star, the logo makes room for the letter ‘D’, which also incorporates and exaggerates the shadowed bevelling. While the angle of the bevelled D are lined up to match the bottom left corner of the letter, it would have been best to see the angle match up with the one of the star. This could be done by adjusting the overall shape of the letter ‘D’ to allow the bottom left hollow point to the star. Hypothetically, this suggestion may not work, but it would be nice to see some matching angles; the logo is solid regardless."

Minnesota Wild
Her review: "What I particularly like about this logo is that it uses two forms of imagery superimposed within one another. Within the main shape, which is the black bear head, a lot of denotations of the ‘wild’ are present, like the shooting star, trees, sun, etc. The logo contains a lot of imagery and significance to the term ‘wild’, and yet, it’s still not visually overpowering, which makes it very successful. Additionally, the colour scheme is muted, and despite using colours that are vastly different, they are incorporated in a way that creates unity and still denotes to a vintage or wildlife appeal."

Nashville Predators
Her review: "The Predators’ logo uses both elements of linearity and curvature in lines to create an overall sense of unity. More mechanical lines can be see in the diagonals at the top and along the animal’s facial features. Meanwhile, the incorporation of curves can be seen on the left side where the logo is purposely cropped off, and in some typical elements such as the teeth. Additionally, the subtle horizontal gold steak along the centre draws direction visually to a logo that is wider than most logos seen in this division. In regards to colours, the complementary colour scheme of golds and blues are safe and implemented so that no colour overpowers the other."
My comments: A sequel that's better than the original.

St. Louis Blues
Her review: "The team’s name is a play on words in 2 ways: The blues genre, and the actual colour. The iconography of the logo is fairly simple in general. One feature that is isn’t necessarily obvious to understand are the vertical ’tags’ on the right side of the note. I interpreted them in 2 ways: either wings that gradually decrease in size as they get closer to the note’s shaft, or flags from a musical note. Despite the mixed meaning, both features can still work simultaneously. The flags can be read as wings to add dynamism, which can be seen in the amplified angling of the musical note."

Winnipeg Jets
Her review: "The Jets’ logo is probably the most straightforward out of the central division. The jet is illustrated using the Avro Arrow’s contour, accompanied with a very simple vertical bevel. The bevelling gets more complicated when you get to the red maple leaf, the points are more extenuated. It was definitely a good decision to keep the most complex element of the logo between the flattest two: the jet and the background/ roundel. If the maple leaf was placed either in the upmost front or background, it would draw the most attention and weaken the focus of the jet. In regards to the maple leaf, the bevelling is not as basic as the jet. It appears that the right side has more shadows since it’s trying to imitate and exaggerate the jet’s shadowing as well."
My comments: I like the subtle nod to True North Sports & Entertainment, the owners of the Jets, with the notch at the top. It also clears some space for the tip of the jet, so it doesn't look too cramped. But for the love of god, you could at least make it look like it isn't exploding.


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And Round One (or two, depending on how you look at it) of the HJC Open has begun! A lot of solid concepts, I had a hard time deciding my favorite for a lot of them. Go leave your vote to help decide who moves on. And there's also the COTW vote that's also important, but if you're an HJC regular you should know this one by now.

HJC Open Quarters Final vote (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)

COTW June 24-30 vote (ends Friday @ noon Eastern)

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Brooks F. - Blainville-Boisbriand Armada

+While they don't have bad jerseys now, this design sure makes plain black and white more interesting.
+Putting the TV numbers inside the stripes was the best option here.
-They still look a bit cramped though.
+The Boisbriand flag inspired alt is a smart idea, along with keeping the Blainville shield on the shoulders.
-I think it might have been cool to try putting the current Armada logo in that shield shape though.
-Not a huge fan of the typeface on this one. Maybe that's just me.
-The name looks too small.
Overall: 8/10


Jay S. - Brampton Beast

+Definitely a less minor league looking design.
+The promotion of gray to primary color is an interesting choice.
-More gray should be used on the road jersey to balance the colors better though.
+Isolating the head for an alt logo is a good choice.
-It'd be better as the primary in my opinion.
-I think the name would contrast better if it was white on the gray jersey. If that doesn't work, I'd outline it in white.
-This doesn't downgrade the concept itself, but I'm pretty sure that white jerseys are home in the ECHL. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.
Overall: 7.5/10


Jordan R. - Long Beach Ice Dogs

+Assuming that you designed the logos, great job.
-I'd prefer the secondary logo to the primary though. Not a huge fan of wordmarks on hockey jerseys.
+I like how the striping seems to model off of the logo, despite being at different angles. 
+Good color balance through the set, which is helped by the identical striping on the jerseys.
-The striping should move down a bit to give the numbers some breathing room.
-The stitching should stop at the hem striping, unless the jerseys are fully sublimated.
Overall: 8.5/10


Jordan R. - Orlando Solar Bears

+It can be hard to make a vibrant color scheme like this work. You nailed it.
+The designs are, like you said, modern but not overboard.
+I like the logo set, except...
-I'd center the sun behind the bear, or remove it. It makes the logo look off center on the jersey (even though it isn't)
+The typeface fits great here.
-The logo on the third jersey looks legitimately off center.
Overall: 9/10 and my COTW nomination


Jordan R. - Phoenix Roadrunners

+Much better logo than the [Tucson] Roadrunners chose to actually go with, which is essentially the original logo from here.

+I like the angled striping with the subtle teal accents and Hopi pattern. Funny how angled stripes can look straight on a template like this, isn't it?

+That teal jersey just looks great.

-A version of the secondary logo with the head isolated may work better on the front though.

-This also makes me thing that using more white on the road jersey might look better, in the same pattern that the home and third jerseys follow.

Overall: 8.5/10

Ryan C. - LA Kings

-The first thing that I noticed about this concept was the logo. Their current logo is already a bit too much, especially with such a detailed crown being so small, that many of the details will go unnoticed, or be almost impossible to replicate at a small size. This just worsens it by adding more, unfortunately.

+Going with just the crown itself would be the best option, and a shield with just LA in it could work as a shoulder patch.

+The jersey design itself is solid, and a nice callback to their history.

+The black yoke on the white jersey improves it a surprising amount. It makes me wonder what a white yoke would look like on the other jersey.

+That typeface is perfect for this concept. Reminds me of the one that my amateur team currently uses, and we use copies of the current Kings jerseys. Unfortunately I couldn't find any photos, and don't have those ones myself yet, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Overall: 8/10

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And that's all for today! It looks like I'm passing the HJC Torch to Steven (no, not the same one from Tuesday). I hope you enjoyed the post, thanks for reading, and I'll see you all again next week.