Wednesday: New Kids on the Blog

Howdy, folks. 

This is Justin (or JB Designs), your new Thursday writer, Phil-ing in for our regular Wednesday writer.

As you can probably tell since last night, the blog itself has undergone some changes in addition to our new writers. We think we have ironed out a layout that we all are pleased with on both mobile and desktop applications, but ask that you bear with us as we work out the best look to match the recent rebrand.

As far as an intro goes, I am a Canadian-born, Texas-raised college student at Purdue University. Go Boilermakers! Naturally, my favorite NHL teams are the Stars and Penguins and before you go and call me a bandwagon, let me tell you a story...

"Flashback to the early 2000s, when a young Justin had to pick the NHL team he would support for the rest of his life. Traumatized by the afflictions of his Leafs-loving brother and father, Toronto was certainly not the horse to back. And with his second brother turning to the Red Wings, young Justin was left with no choice but to blaze his own trail. Now, our hero's favorite color was yellow at the time and that seemed like as good a place as any to start. Young Justin saw two paths clearly in front of him, to back the Bruins or to promote the Pens. At the time, young Justin had no idea had no idea what a Bruin was, so he turned to those clumsy flightless birds to the South and the rest is history..."

Enough about me, lets talk about you! Yes, you; its time to recognize your civic duty and vote for COTW for both last week in the entire month of September. I can think of at least one person who'd really appreciate your vote in last week's COTW (hint, hint, wink, wink).

We have 2 new entries for the AIHL competition, use these beautiful additions as a reminder to get your concepts in by this Friday at noon eastern.

Danny R. - Melbourne Ice

Matt G. - Sydney Bears 

COTW-September vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

COTW Sep 29 - Oct 5 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

AIHL entries (due Friday @ noon ET)

Alright, for real this time, enough about me. On to the Concepts!

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Brooks F.- Bridgeport Sound Tigers

The Good: 

• Brooks gives us a look that draws from the Sound Tiger's parent club without being a direct copy
• Way to maintain blue's dominance over orange on both the home and road sweaters
• Free-flowing striping really meshes well with Bridgeport's primary
• Ditto for the name and number font
• One-color NOB keeps it legible from a distance

The Bad:

• I'm a fan of AHL teams that display their parent club's logo on at least one shoulder, something I'm sad to see here
• I'm worried the hems may be a bit bare with the underarm pattern falling into Ben's "No Show Zone" when worn on the ice

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

A lesson in the art of an effective AHL jersey. Great work.

Jesper W.- Farjestad BK

The Good: 

• First off, props on the execution of the jersey advertisements. Not only is the placement of each add true to life, but Jesper goes as far as including the exact companies that sponsor Farjestad BK
• Really like the interaction between the shoulder stripes and the advertisements within the yoke
• Farjestad's current look uses a simple white-green pallet, so bringing some other colors into the fold is a nice approach...

The Bad:

• ... but I don't see the reason for the inclusion of black other than Black For Black's Sake. IMO it's far too close a hue to the forest green and muddies up the look rather than enhancing it
• The 3-color collar makes a already busy design busier (removing black from the pallet would solve this issue, though)
• While I applaud you for trying something different, the baseball-style script doesn't do it for me, especially when Farjestad has as nice a primary as they do

The Ugly (Execution Issues):

• Not sure how keen Adidas would be on using a team logo in the collar insert. Never know until you try, I guess 

Overall Rating: 6.75/10

A decent enough look for a lesser-known European team, but some color redistribution and maybe a new crest would help "Sweden" the pot.

Ryan H.- Ottawa Senators

The Good: 

• Big fan of the logo choices here. I miss the centurion on the pre-edge days
• There are very few ways to make the Adidas collars look good. Fortunately this is one of them 
• Cut off arm striping is a nice callback to the Senators' alternate of old...

The Bad:

• ... but I'm not a fan of applying that same idea to the hem stripe. Leaves the jersey looking unfinished IMO
• This look has the unfortunate consequence of bringing back the "Bettman piping" that met its timely end with the transition to Adidas

The Ugly (Execution Issues):

• #OB seems to have a good deal of space in between the 9 and 1
• Would like to see what you have in mind for the equipment to complete the look

Overall Rating: 7.25/10

Not my favorite concept, but nowhere near as big a bust as the individual emblazoned on its back.

Getting my feet wet with just three concepts today, so I extend my COTW Nomination to Brooks F. and his textbook lesson in effective AHL uniform design with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

So, what'd you think? Did I do something good? Something bad? Something ugly? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to send us a question for Saturday's edition of the HJC Mailbag.