Wednesday: Referee Jerseys?

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope you're all doing swell. No real big jersey news that I've seen lately so nothing to report there. Great personal news though, This Friday I'm headed up to Sarnia to attend the Sting's game against the Owen Sound Attack and to be recognized as the designer of their current third jersey. I'll be receiving my own jersey as well as several other Sting swag which I look forward to. I will post some up close, Hi Res shots of the jersey for everyone to see.

The next HJC Live Chat is scheduled for Saturday night if you haven't heard already. I took place in the first one and agree with everyone else who was involved that it was really fun to actually interact with everyone who submits concepts to writes the blog and even the boss man Ryan himself. I'm not sure if I'll take part this week or not since I don't know for sure when I'll be back from my Sarnia trip but I hope I can.

Last week I gave some advice to everyone about putting some ID on your concepts so you can be recognized as the designer. Well this week I feel like I should share something I've recently been working on. So I've been working on improving DBro Designs web presence so that I can point people, maybe potential clients, to DBro Designs to get a hold of me instead of my personal networks. So if any of you want to follow me and see my hockey concepts before they're on HJC or other concepts and design work I'll be doing, or just want to get a hold of me I'll post my web handles below.

• Facebook - facebook.com/dbrodesigns
• Tumblr - dbrodesigns.tumblr.com
• Twitter - @dbrodesigns

Also, let's not forget to vote! I've done my voting this week so you should too!

COTW Mar 4 - Mar 10 vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm EST)

COTY February vote (ends Friday @ 11:59pm EST)

Hamilton Tigers Redesign voting phase (ends Friday @ 11:59pm EST)

And now what you've all been waiting all day for! The Concepts!

Colorado Avalanche Nike Redesign - (Brady S.)

• Brady's Nike series continues with the Avalanche and takes a popular idea (Quebec inspired third jersey) but instead of leaving it there bases a home and away set on it.
• The Avs look nice in blue and white. I think the color scheme says "Colorado" AND "Avalanche" better than the maroon and blue. If you really wanted the Avs to call back to the Nordiques I'd leave it at the color scheme.
• While the foot logo acting as the fleur-de-lis in the Nordiques jerseys is clever, I think it just adds unnecessary clutter. 
•  The only real change I'd make is getting rid of the feet along the hem, but if you really really wanted to keep them I'd get rid of the feet on the shoulder so there's not 8 feet on a jersey and only 6, which is still a lot of feet. I don't much care for feet.

Rating: 8/10

Columbus Blue Jackets Nike Redesign - (Brady S.)

• Brady gives the Blue Jackets a new set of jerseys that leaves behind the club's current logo  and replaces it with a recolored version of the crest from their current alternate.
• I like the choice to opt for a new logo. While there's nothing wrong with the old one, it reeks of losing and kind of represents the opposite of success in the NHL. Same with the jerseys, which are also boring. This new striping pattern gives the team a whole different look. It's a classic look throughout the sport of hockey. It's also got sort of a patriotic feel since the colors and striping remind me of a team USA jersey. 
• I'm not a big fan of the team's number font. 
• The only thing I'd like to see is putting a white yoke on the blue jersey. No team in the NHL uses a white yoke on a dark jersey currently unless you count Philadelphia, which I really don't. I think it'd look nice and help the jersey stand out amongst similar striped and colored jerseys.  I really like this series so far. Keep it up Brady.

Rating: 8/10

NHL Referee Jersey Concept - (Dylan W.)

Dylan W.  creates a new NHL referee's jersey for this concept.

I'm going to treat this concept a bit different since it's way out there and I'm not sure how to approach it. So, right off the bat its nothing new in terms of referee jersey design. Very stripy. I don't care for how thin all the stripes are especially since the stripes are horizontal stripey. I do like the ref's having the collar insert but miss the actual collars they have. I would maybe make the stripes thicker and give the arms vertical stripes. I actually don't have a clue what NHL refs actually wear but I'm assuming it's not actual jerseys. 

I've kind of got my own ideas for ref jerseys now so maybe you'll see something out of me regarding referee design soon....And I'm sure you'll start seeing other concepts coming in. Great concept Dylan and maybe you've started a new concept trend.

Rating: 8/10

Milwaukee Admirals Concept - (Kyle C.)

• Kyle takes the Admirals and gives them the same striping pattern (minus the yoke) that Brady gave the Blue Jackets. The way I see it, this sort of pattern is like pinstripes in baseball, no one team could own it, it's a classic look in hockey that's been around forever simply because it's simple and looks good.
• The new striping pattern is an upgrade from the teams current boring jerseys. They have such a neat color scheme to work with and they made it dull. I'm also glad Kyle gives the team horizontal sock stripes. Major upgrade over their current vertical atrocities. 
• It looks like the blue Kyle used is a bit brighter than the team's actual blue but being that this is a concept that could have been intentional.
• I offer no suggestions. Very great looking concept

Rating: 8/10

New York Knicks Hockey Concept - (Mike S.) 

• Mike's NBA to NHL series continues with the Knicks of New York. 
• I'm getting a very Islanders-esque feel and that's ok. I like the use of the alt. logo on the shoulders. The NBA logo on the collar insert is also a nice touch. I also love that white hem look.
• No real nitpicks.
• I'd just make sure the top white stripe on the hem is the same width of the white arm stripes for consistency. 

Rating: 7/10

Detroit Red Wings Nike Concept - (Stephen T.) 

• Stephen transfers the Red Wings look onto a Nike jersey with a few modifications.
• As a Blackhawks fan it pains me to say it but the Wings have nice jerseys, specifically their white jersey. The jersey still looks nice on the Nike template which I'm starting to like more and more actually. 
• I'm very neutral on that number font. It looks ok on the back but looks very cluttered on the shoulders. Maybe it's just me.
• Other than that font, the only suggestion I have is maybe making the hem stripe and arm stripe the same thickness for consistency. I love consistency by the way.

Rating: 7/10

Team Mexico Concepts - (TJH42) 

• TJH42 gives the Mexican national hockey team a new set of jerseys with the Reebok Edge template.
• I do like the white jersey. The striping is the most unique and I feel really fits the Mexican theme the jersey should probably portray. The alternate jersey is ok as well. 
• I'm not very hip on the home jersey. I personally don't think the arm length yokes with the horizontal stripes filling in half the sleeve looks good with the chest stripe. There's so much going on. The alternate jersey's wordmark is also kind of hard to see. 
• It'd either ditch the arm length yokes or chest stripe on the home jersey if you wanted to keep this set, but personally I would make the home jersey a red version of the road jersey. That's the strongest of the set and if the whole set was based off of that jersey it would make the concept so much stronger.

Rating: 6/10

Los Angeles Kings Concept - (Torin K.) 

• Torin rebrands the reigning champs and brings back purple!!! As well as the stand alone crown logo!!! Two moves I very much agree with. He also brings in a throwback yellow alternate.
• Like I said, I love seeing the crown and I love seeing purple make a return. The striping pattern is also new to LA. It's nice to see an LA concept that isn't just a re colored version of what they wear now or what they used to wear.
• I don't care for the mostly purple home jersey. The crown just seems hard to see. Same with the color choice for the numbers on that jersey.
• I would swap black and purple on the home jersey and make the name and numbers on the back either silver or white.

Rating: 7/10

 The Art of Hockey (Justin Cox's Blog) Jersey Concepts - (Ricky M.) 

• Ricky makes a set of jerseys based off of Justin Cox's Art of Hockey Blog. A very unique idea for a concept. 
• I think the striping fits in nicely with the logo being that the striping is angular and the logo features two crossed hockey sticks. I'm sure Mr. Cox himself is proud.
• The jerseys are fine. I find no fault in them. But the background is very distracting and cluttered. I can understand not wanting a plain background on your concepts. I myself include a graphic element which is normally a gradient of the team's jersey striping along the bottom or side so that way the image isn't necessarily boring but I make sure it doesn't interfere with the jerseys or logos, which is important in a concept of any kind.
• Definitely start playing around with a new background for your concepts. Definitely keep your personal brand logo and any other ID. You definitely don't need the busy background. You can't even tell what it is. Maybe start doing something that other concept artists are doing by making yourself a presentation template that will allow you to plug in new jerseys and logos and keep all your concepts similar in layout and look neat.

Rating: 7/10