Tuesday: Still Summer

Hi folks, welcome back to HJC for the Tuesday post. We're almost just quite around the corner to hockey season, but alas, it's unbearably hot outside, so it's still summer. Patience, it'll be here soon!

Focusing on the now, we have some good news and bad news to share. The bad news, we're down a writer on staff. The good news, that spot is now open for you! Follow the link below, and if you think you have what it takes to write on Mondays, write up a mock post and send it in! If you are interested, I have a few tips you may want to consider:

- Give your mock post an intro. What's going on in the hockey world? Better yet, what's going on that most peaks your interest? It'll give us a better feel for who you are as a writer than merely critiquing concepts.

- When you choose a concept that you think is bad, pick one of the writer's weaker concepts. Show us what you truly think a bad concept is, and tell us how you really feel about it. Don't write something just because you think it'll please us.

- Pick a concept that you would nominate for Concept of the Week, or tell us why you don't think any of them are worthy enough for a nomination. You'll be doing this one anyway should you get the gig, so show us how you'll treat it.

- Proofread. This one is obvious, but it can never be overstated.

These are just tips, so don't feel compelled to follow them to the letter. Link to page detailing the position: http://hockeyjerseyconcepts.blogspot.com/p/hjc-writer_27.html

Lastly, there are two votes happening now; the Michigan competition, and or course, concept of the week.

 U of Mich Redesign Competition vote (ends Friday @ noon EDT) 

 COTW Vote Aug 24-30 (ends Friday @ noon EDT) 

 New Podcast every Monday! 

Chase C.- St. Louis Blues

Chase starts off today's post with an alternate for St. Louis, quite different than what the actual team gave us. There's quite a bit going on here; five stripes in a pattern tends to be too much, and that's the case here. To fit them all in a chest and arm stripe, the yellow is too thin and close together to fully differentiate the stripes from each other. This is further complicated by the much thicker white stripe and blocks of medium blue, which makes the yellow recede further into obscurity. With the jersey being so busy, blank pants, glove, and collar look out of place, and hardly fit the theme. Putting the striping aside, the medium blue blocks on the hem and sleeve ground the logo within the design, and I appreciate that the numbers and name are white for maximum legibility.

Grade: D

Jordan R.- Marijampoles Sventuju

The first of two from Jordan's Latvian series, this Knights-like mascot is heavily reminiscent of the Vegas variety. This is one of my favorite logos thus far in Jordan's series. A few shapes is all it took to convey a fierce, determined St. George. On to the jerseys, these don't stack up quite as well. The white jersey is the stronger of the two, committing to a main color with secondary and accenting colors. The black jersey is also weaker in how the grey yoke is applied; when seen from the side, it will look like the jersey is sliding down the front (BGSU is the worst offender I know of asymmetrical yokes. See here). The Vegas colors look great here, especially how Jordan didn't try to cram that red in.

Grade: C

Jordan R.- Mazeikiu Arkininkai

Jordan continues with an archer mascot and new idea. The logo here is genius, using dark blue to create an archer obscured in mystery, accented by a brighter yellow from the area's coat of arms. The crooked arrow shoulder patch complete the great branding. As above, the white jersey is the stronger of the two; the extended yoke to the sleeves better gives the jersey the right amount of color to match the logo, without dousing the white in too much color. The biggest issue with the blue is the lack of white in the striping; the two color design isn't a bad look per se, but since there's white in the logo, it demands to be referenced on the jersey beyond the collar laces. Back to the white jersey, the yellow is just thick enough to avoid the dreaded yellow on white syndrome, which is always a major concern.

Grade: B+

Lucas D.- Toronto HC

Today's fun ends in Toronto, courtesy of Lucas's MLS series. This isn't the most creative of concepts, but here, I don't mind that. The striping is actually identical from home to road, just the base color has changed. The simplicity of it is for good old fashioned hockey, and it's hard to find fault with that. That said, it does leave the shoulders bare, so perhaps this design would have worked better had Tornonto FC used a logo workable as a shoulder patch. The font is close to working, but doesn't quite work, as a serif one would have matched the club's primary logo better.

Grade: B-

My COTW nomination goes to Jordan's Blue and Yellow One with the Long Name. That's it for today. See you next week, one week closer to hockey season, and keep your stick on the ice.