Memphis Grizzlies Rebrand Concept: BEWARE OF GRIZZLIES

[Pengin.]

Overview:

When the Memphis Grizzlies first revealed their Primary Logo and new uniforms after relocating from Vancouver, I felt a bit underwhelmed. During the team's tenure in Vancouver, I felt like they had a lot of potential with their team identity. While their uniforms was a time of the 90's, the Grizzlies theme was extremely imaginative yet flawed. The colors of the Vancouver Grizzlies were also a trend of the past, however, it fit their identity with their creativeness. In today's NBA climate, the creative elements of the past have been toned down to the simplistic and modernistic trends of urban streetwear. Keeping the balance of the team's history and the NBA trends of today was key in this redesign.

While the current Memphis Grizzlies team identity represent their new direction towards being a winning franchise, the primary logo lacked the tenacity of the team's, "grit and grind" characteristics. I wanted to retool the Memphis Grizzlies' primary logo for it to be as fierce as the Vancouver's Grizzly Bear logo. Instead of being fierce and overpowering, the current logo looks too calm and imposing.

Altogether, I wanted to rebrand the entire team's identity to pay homage to the team's Vancouver's era while incorporating the current team's playing dynamic. Also, with the direction of the NBA, leaning towards being ornate in the elements of the logo, while keeping it simple on the court, I wanted to implement a touch of urban streetwear to the team's new identity.

Project Goals:

1. Create a Primary Logo that embraces the team's "Grit and Grind" dynamic

2. Create a wordmark that incorporates the "Grizzlies" nature while keeping it simple.

3. Create a simple and new uniform design that reflects the colors of the Vancouver Grizzlies and today's urban culture

[flyersfan]

I like the third better than the the first two. Add red to the white, and switch the third with the second and it's a perfect set. As for the logos, I say the primary is perfect, and the secondary should just have an open mouth to keep the ferocity theme. Great work overall

[YelichGraphics]

the nose on the secondary logo is to narrow, it makes it look like a wolf/dog

[S.Tom.P]

I agree with opening the mouth on the secondary. I think you've achieved your design goals. Well done.

[T-ROY]

I get more of a wolf when I see the secondary logo, but other than that this looks great. I love the uniqueness of the color scheme.

[GOPATRIOTS]

I like the concept, but I'd also like to see a brown jersey in the mix, since you went with brown as one of the main colors. Overall nice work!

[davidmiller5]

As others have said, the secondary's snout needs some work. Also, I am not a fan of the first and last letters being bigger than the others. In the logo, Memphis doesn't fill the space between the G and the S, and it looks odd on the jerseys.

[OmegaRed]

Great concept! I think your primary is almost there. Might benefit by thickening the outer teal border a bit. Also adding a few extra details around the eyes. Maybe try having it not so symmetrical. Play with the shadows on the left and right a bit.

For the secondary, Maybe push it a bit further. How about having a side profile... but with the jaw open snarling. (Think Nashville Preds.) Could look awesome. But also work on making the head rounder.... more bear-like. As others have mentioned, it might look too much like a dog or wolf currently.

Nice job taking the Grizz in a different direction and not sticking with the norm and just changing colours or something. You tried to re-invent it the way you see fit and I admire that! Great job!

[Shadojoker]

Love this concept!!!! Old school feel..bUT a fresh approach.

[Pengin.]

Thanks everyone for the praise and the criticism. I took all your words to heart. Just for fun, I'll be making a couple tweaks to the wordmark, primary logo, the uniforms, and secondary logo in the coming days!

[NOLAPelicans23]

Hey use the nike logo on the jerseys

[bhholloway]

There are so many cool things about this concept, but there are also some odd things. I love the color scheme for this except for the red. I feel like the red is a bit unnecessary, and kind of christmasy. I'm not a huge fan of the secondary logo. Maybe do a remodel of the current grizzlies claw logo? Also, how would the road jersey look if you used the darker green as the jersey color? I would love to see how the alternate looks if the red was replaced with the brown/khaki in the logo.

[GarryJerryLarry]

i love the alternate jersey but i just don't feel like the primary and secondary logos are that good

[JTswag187]

I love the uniforms, But I'm not sure that 2 bear logos are necessary. If you do keep the secondary then make the ears more rounded.

[jrcollis714]

the nose on the secondary logo is to narrow, it makes it look like a wolf/dog

This is true. I also think that the red is unnecessary, and that you have a great color scheme without it. Otherwise, this is a really good set, and it would be an upgrade if the Grizzlies turned to it in the future.

[Pengin.]

I may have to go back to the drawing board with some of these findings. I agree with the notion that having two bear logos are a bit redundant and I will have to be a bit more creative with this identity. I think the main thing I need to work on is consistency to make this rebrand mesh together more.

I'm torn because I like how the red pops out on the alternate uniform, but, I do agree that the red seems a bit unnecessary. I might change the red for the khaki/brown color to see how that works. I tried to do dark green home/alt unis, but I didn't like how it turned out. The dark green overpowered every other element in the uniform.

Here are some changes I plan to do:

Primary:

- I think it's fine the way it is.

Secondary:

- Scrap the secondary bear logo.

- Incorporate a basketball somewhere in the logo.

Jerseys:

- Experiment with Red or Brown

- Fix the wordmark on the jerseys

Thanks everyone for the criticism and the praise

[Pengin.]

Sorry for the Delay, but here's an update to the alternate jersey. I tried toying with the forest green for the jersey color. Anyways, the main aim here was to use the primary colors and eliminate the red. Tell me what you think.

"Forest Green Alternate"

I also fixed the kerning/arching issue with the workmark.

"Home Script"

"Away Script"

Tell me what you guys think of the changes. Will work on the secondary later on.

[wquarton]

How's about we rebrand by changing the name to Vancouver? Digging it though. I agree with some other posters that the secondary(bear in profile) should have his mouth open snarling as well for what you're going for. Overall, pretty cool though. I Like the teal throwback to Van(as a Canadian ). Glad you updated the alternate - didn't understand the purpose of two teal jerseys, despite how much I like them. Ya pretty much just fix the secondary and you're golden I think.

[TCutt]

I like what you've done. That color scheme is one of my favorites, so I'm happy to see it used well here. I am with the general consensus, the secondary kind of gives off a wolf/dog feel. I would be interested to see a remake of one of their old logos, probably something like the G with the claw marks in it as a secondary or tertiary, just so you know what team it is without just being sort of a generic logo. I like all the uniforms you've done this far, and I am the biggest fan of the first alternate. I'd be interested to see a red jersey, since Vancouver never wore something like that, but maybe that's just me. Great job either way!

[Pengin.]

May have to put this concept on the back burner because I've been hung up trying to make the rebrand work with a secondary. It's been taking too much of my limited design time. Here was a secondary logo I was working on using reference's to Kendrick Kidd's WIP on dribbble.

I like using the forest with the grizzlies concept because it lets me flex my creative muscles to spread my focus beyond a bear. It's something that I felt like I needed to personally grow within my creative skills. I know that M does not really fit within the rest of the identity and there should be some details in the empty space of the roundel element, but I feel like crafting this identity as a whole helped me develop skills necessary to become a better designer.

I'll be returning to this project soon. I want to practice other things before I finish this Grizzlies rebrand. Hopefully the next concepts I'll post would help further develop my design skills. Thanks everyone!