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Great Lakes Rugby League [all teams complete, template on p.2]


JCRGraphix

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My NFL project is finished (although I'm slowing down my releasing), so now I have a new project and another new template. I was recently contacted and hired to design the identity of a new rugby league team. I can not give any information about that particular design or team at this time since I've signed a NDA. All I can say is that it's very exciting and it has piqued my interest in rugby.

With that in mind, I decided to come up with some designs from around the area I grew up. So without further ado, here is the Great Lakes Rugby League. So far I have the following teams in mind with their sponsors in parentheses. Unless the team is posted I am open to suggestions...

GLRL.png
EAST DIVISION
WEST DIVISION


Up first, are my hometown Kalamazoo Stouts. I've used this team name for a few projects already, but doggone it, it's my one of my all-time favorite beers, and it's a catchy name, especially for a rough game like rugby. They are sponsored by Bell's Brewery. In all seriousness though, if you are of age, give Bell's Kalamazoo Stout a try. It is fantastic.
In case you are unable to read the text on the picture, here it is:
This logo was inspired by several important parts of Kalamazoo history. The shape of the shield is the heraldic shield of Germany, home of many tasty brews. It also resembles the shape of a guitar representing Kalamazoo as the original home of the Gibson Guitar Co. The colors represent the lively college town feeling of Kalamazoo, home of Western Michigan University, who also wear brown and gold.

kzoo.png


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Bell's seems a little out of place as a sponsor amongst all of the other sponsors you chose, but I could see them sponsoring a club in a regional league such as this. I'd suggest either swapping out Bell's for, say, Kellogg's, or seeking out smaller companies for some of these other cities (Maybe Koss or Lakefront Brewery for Milwaukee instead of H-D, etc.).

That aside, Kalamazoo looks pretty good. Looking forward to the rest of this series!

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Bell's seems a little out of place as a sponsor amongst all of the other sponsors you chose, but I could see them sponsoring a club in a regional league such as this. I'd suggest either swapping out Bell's for, say, Kellogg's, or seeking out smaller companies for some of these other cities (Maybe Koss or Lakefront Brewery for Milwaukee instead of H-D, etc.).

That aside, Kalamazoo looks pretty good. Looking forward to the rest of this series!

Good point. I think I'll be going to some more local sponsors for the next few.

Next up are the Fort Wayne Orangetails.

This logo was inspired by the 122nd Fighter Wing that operates out of Fort Wayne. This fighter wing was established during WWII and distinguished itself in combat flying P-47 Thunderbolts with the tails painted orange. This unit was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations and the Croix de Guerre. This logo is a tribute to the original Orangetails.

ftwayne.png


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Great stuff so far. Looking forward to more - I love rugby league. Even though I am a born and bred Canadian who grew up watching hockey and love baseball, my favorite sport is rugby league. Can't wait to see your designs for the real-life team you are doing also. Will this team be part of the USARL?

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Up next are the Owen Sound Steelheads...

This logo uses the natural colors of the steelhead, a fish common to the Owen Sound area. Some of the world's largest steelheads have been caught in the Owen Sound area. Above the wordmark, you will find the city's coat of arms along with the year the team was established.

owensound.png


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Up next are the Mississauga Royals.

This logo uses the city logo as a crown on a rugby ball. After the American Revolutionary War a significant amount of land in the Mississauga area was given to Loyalists who fought in the war. The team's branding reflects that loyalty to the crown.

mississauga.png


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I have a couple of bones to pick with Owen Sound. First is that the city crest at the top of the team crest adds way too much detail and couldn't be duplicated in most applications. The other is that Owen Sound is absurdly small compared to the other cities in your league, which is taking away a bit of the realism.

rATMcmK.png

 

 

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Up next are the Grand Rapids Bucks.

This logo is actually inspired by one of my uncle's antler mounts of a buck he shot right outside of Grand rapids. I used a very natural color scheme and retro font to give it a rustic and vintage type of feel.

grandrapids.png


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Great stuff so far. Looking forward to more - I love rugby league. Even though I am a born and bred Canadian who grew up watching hockey and love baseball, my favorite sport is rugby league. Can't wait to see your designs for the real-life team you are doing also. Will this team be part of the USARL?

Thanks! I can't discuss any of the details, but once the team has gone public, then I can give more details.

I have a couple of bones to pick with Owen Sound. First is that the city crest at the top of the team crest adds way too much detail and couldn't be duplicated in most applications. The other is that Owen Sound is absurdly small compared to the other cities in your league, which is taking away a bit of the realism.

This league is meant to be a minor professional league, so there will be some smaller cities. Just out of curiosity, I checked the populations of each of these cities, and Owen Sound is the smallest, but not by too much...

Chicago 2,719,000
Toronto 2,503,000
Mississauga 668,550
Milwaukee 594,833
Hamilton 504,560
Cleveland 390,113
Buffalo 258,959
Fort Wayne 256,496
Madison 243,344
Rochester 210,358
Grand Rapids 192,294
Ann Arbor 117,025
Green Bay 104,779
Erie 100,671
Kalamazoo 75,548
Oshkosh 66,778
Bay City 34,424
Owen Sound 32,092
As far as the city crest goes, it is a very small detail that might not transfer perfectly in an embroidered patch, but it would be screen printed on the jersey, so it would be just visible. It is more for printed stuff in which it would appear larger.


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Up next we have the Erie Commodores.

This logo is inspired by the sleeve stripes formerly worn by a U.S. Navy Commodore. Erie is the home of the USS Niagara, pictured in the bottom of the logo. The USS Niagara was the flagship of the famous Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, a naval hero of the War of 1812, specifically the Battle of Lake Erie.

commodores.png


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Up next are the Cleveland Rock.

This logo represents Cleveland as the "Rock and Roll City". The shape of the logo is inspired by the guitars a lot of metal bands use. Cleveland is the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so I went with a design a rocker would be happy to wear.
rock.png

And, the last one for tonight, the Buffalo Blizzards.

It is no secret that Buffalo gets a lot of snow. This design features a very modern and sleek logo that represents blowing snow. A double blue color scheme is used to really invoke a frigid feeling.

buffalo.png


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Up next are the Hamilton Alloy. I picked this name because it has to do with steel, and it's a good name for a team, because different people with different skills come together to make a team stronger like different metals come together to make a stronger metal.

This logo represents the steel industry that has been important to Hamilton throughout its history. Above the wordmark are three maple leaves taken from the Ontario coat of arms. Below the wordmark is a design taken from Hamilton's flag.

alloy.png


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Love the Orangetails! Great work overall on all of them.

Cleveland though ... Not too big on the logo. I really think that, since it's the primary logo, that "ROCK" should be fully visible instead of cut off on the ends. I also think something should be changed about "cleveland" and "rugby league" should be a different style ... they seem like after thoughts that were crudly inserted at the last moment. I don't have a suggestion to what to do instead of that, I'm sorry, but they just seem out of place.

Still, love them all.

Please delete my account.

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So, given all of the feedback, I'll be retooling Cleveland, but first, here are the Ann Arbor Victors.

This design really pays tribute to Ann Arbor as a great college town. The maize and blue of the University of Michigan are used here to represent this. The Victors get their name from the lyrics of the University of Michigan's fight song.

victors.png


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