Tuesday: First Impressions

Hi folks, welcome back to HJC for the Tuesday post. Hockey season is back, and here to stay! We've seen each NHL team at least once now, and college is almost back, with most teams having played at least an exhibition. I was fortunate to make the trip to Erie, PA to watch my alma mater Bowling Green open their season at Mercyhurst.

BG won in an 8-2 butt kicking, with the newly-named team captain scoring a hat trick. As fun as seeing a new rink was, what was almost as fun was turning the game into a day-long vacation. I explored Erie and the Mercyhurst campus and had a blast photographing for my architecture collection:

St. Peter's Cathedral

Mercyhurst University campus

Lake Erie at Presque Isle

Have you had a memorable road trip following your hockey team? Let me know in the comments.

Back to blog, we have two votes this week; Concept of the Week AND Month, so don't miss the second! Also, our Buffalo Sabres competition is ongoing, with entries due soon. Put on the finishing touches and get those in!

COTW-September vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

COTW Sept 28 - Oct 4 vote (ends Friday @ noon ET)

Buffalo Sabres ReDesign Competition (ends Friday @ noon ET)

Jersey Nerds Podcast (new episode every Tuesday!) 

Adam G.- Milwaukee Bucks

So, do you come to Milwaukee often? Adam begins today's concepts with the NBA's Bucks. This is a simple crossover right off the Bucks' current unis, adapted for hockey, of course. I like the arched sleeve stripes; it fits right in with the roundel logo and the shoulder patch. Another nice detail is how the white and tan are separated. On the home, green stripes operate as a barrier, much like on the NBA jerseys. On the away, the tan stripes on the away are tucked into the green. That said, the away suffers from the colors adjacent to each other at the crest logo and numbers. Finally, an often underlooked detail is the font; this concept matches the Bucks' perfectly.

Grade: A-

Jay S.- Armstrong Arrows

 

Jay sends in designs for the Armstrong Arrows, a youth organization with teams at several levels. This is very similar to a past Blues' design, but I like where Jay adjusts some details to improve it, as well as distant it enough to be unique. The angled stripes were the absolute right call with the logo, and I can't imagine this being anything else. Yellow on white syndrome is avoided by keeping the yellow stripes within a field of blue or red. We don't see triadic color schemes often, and color balancing can be a challenge, but Jay successfully pulls it off. Here's why: each color can jump out and try to claim itself dominate, buy Jay clearly establishes a hierarchy to force order. Jay may have been doing this for a while, but I've just noticed Jay's personal logo is on the pants where the manufacturer's logo typically goes. That's a fun little detail, and clearly marks the concept as Jay's own. From a reviewing standpoint, I strongly prefer all jerseys on one image; it makes it easier to compare between the text and image, where they can fit on the screen simultaneously.

Grade: B+

TC M.- Cincinnati Bengals

TC sends in two concepts to continue his NFL series. First, to Cincinnati. Where Adam's concept adapts the Bucks' design to hockey, TC's concept sticks too closely to the football jersey. An imbalance is created within each jersey, where the thin, Bengal pattern on the shoulders are light. Elsewhere, the jersey is solid blocks of color, clashing with the shoulder's theme. The shoulder patch is camouflaged too well into the shoulders, and could have probably been omitted. Again to compared to Adam, the font selection is fitting, and matches the theme.

Grade: D

TC M.- Houston Texans

Our last concept is from TC's Texans. This design is much more cohesive within each uniform. On the primary set, the simple pattern does well from the logo to the stripes, and a good balance of colors. TC was wise not to directly copy the white from the blue; the white jersey is much better when its secondary color is blue (matching the pants), and the tertiary is red. This way, a clear hierarchy from white to blue to red is met. The alternate departs from the Texans' identity for a much more traditional hockey look. It isn't the most creative, but clearly looks like it's ready for the ice.

Grade: B+

My COTW nomination goes to Adam's Milwaukee Bucks. That'll do it for today, see you next week, and keep your stick on the ice.