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2016-17 NHL Uniform and Logo Changes


TheGrimReaper

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46 minutes ago, mcj882000 said:

I don't know if this counts as a concept or not - it's not a full jersey, if that matters - but a few years back I tried my hand at combining the two Bruins logos, recolouring the modern serifed logo in the simplified, classic style. I coloured them a bit rough, but I think they look really good that way:
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I was actually inspired by someone on this very board, though I forget who; they had an avatar that was basically the yellow logo.

 

You know, that's an excellent take on simplifying their crest and emphasizing yellow on the black sweater's crest - thereby making the yellow yoke and socks more acceptable. The "B" could be a bit thicker, but I like it.

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2 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

My ideal Bruins look would be basically what they have now, but with two-color or one-color NOB's. I'd also make this their third sweater:

 

the_best_nhl_winter_classic_jerseys.jpg

 

It could maybe use a different crest, but the colors and template are excellent. Heck, it'd be the perfect uniform for playing against the Penguins.

 

I photoshopped this a long time ago to match those.  Makes for a nice set, logo aside. 

 

WCBergeron-largewhitecopy_zpsf3c5d10e.pn

 

Their current unis are near perfect though. Best balance in color as well as blending vintage and modern elements. Not sure what they could really do to improve that. 

 

The Neely era dark set was to unbalanced with the gold socks. And too much gold on the whites. 

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1 hour ago, B-mer said:

Their current unis are near perfect though. Best balance in color as well as blending vintage and modern elements. Not sure what they could really do to improve that. 

 

I know it'll never happen, but I'd love to see the Bruins replace black with their original brown while still retaining their current logo and uniforms. 

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14 hours ago, Gothamite said:

We've gone back and forth on this particular point, but I think this warrants another round: winning does not make a bad logo better.  It creates an emotional connection with fans, sure.  But it does not actually improve the aesthetics. 

 

No, but when the aesthetics are perfect to begin with (2007/08 Bruins), winning provides and underline for why the look should stay around.

 

The Cam Neely set looks dated, especially with that awful shoulder patch.

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Not a huge fan of either logo (I don't hate it either). If it was released today I don't think it would garnish so much affection. Though I suppose the fact that it's been around forever is part of the admiration.

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32 minutes ago, daniel75 said:

Not a huge fan of either logo (I don't hate it either). If it was released today I don't think it would garnish so much affection. Though I suppose the fact that it's been around forever is part of the admiration.

Its the same for pretty much any old logo. They're usually not that well designed, but their history makes people love them. Its hard to detach yourself and look at them critically.

 

I still think as far as old logos go Bostons is pretty good, and they've done an unparalleled job of keeping it updated and looking current throughout the decades.

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12 hours ago, Chromatic said:

Its the same for pretty much any old logo. They're usually not that well designed, but their history makes people love them. Its hard to detach yourself and look at them critically.

 

I still think as far as old logos go Bostons is pretty good, and they've done an unparalleled job of keeping it updated and looking current throughout the decades.

 

This is what folks in the biz call "brand equity", and pro sports is probably one of the best (or worst, depending on your perspective) examples of the phenomenon. There are a so many logos in the sports world that would never make it off the drawing board today because they don't meet even the simplest standards of good design/branding. 

 

Of the O6 teams I don't think Boston gets nearly enough credit for refining and evolving their brand in a way that manages to keep their brand "fresh" while staying true to tradition. The only other O6 teams that come remotely close are Chicago (who've done a good job of refining the Indian head logo over the years) and to a lesser degree the Rangers (it would have been a huge departure, but I really feel like the Lady Liberty NYR logo deserved to make the jump to full time official status). Montreal and Detroit have effectively remained unchanged for decades, and Toronto has decided to blow everything up and go backwards (a controversial opinion I'm sure...but I'm more than happy to defend it at length if anyone wants me to go there). 

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31 minutes ago, Thaumatrope said:

 

This is what folks in the biz call "brand equity", and pro sports is probably one of the best (or worst, depending on your perspective) examples of the phenomenon. There are a so many logos in the sports world that would never make it off the drawing board today because they don't meet even the simplest standards of good design/branding. 

 

Of the O6 teams I don't think Boston gets nearly enough credit for refining and evolving their brand in a way that manages to keep their brand "fresh" while staying true to tradition. The only other O6 teams that come remotely close are Chicago (who've done a good job of refining the Indian head logo over the years) and to a lesser degree the Rangers (it would have been a huge departure, but I really feel like the Lady Liberty NYR logo deserved to make the jump to full time official status). Montreal and Detroit have effectively remained unchanged for decades, and Toronto has decided to blow everything up and go backwards (a controversial opinion I'm sure...but I'm more than happy to defend it at length if anyone wants me to go there). 

I would put Toronto up in the higher parts of the O6 for good logo design; many consider the 'evolution' the logo went through as poor decision making, and this going backwards was where they should have started evolving.

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1 hour ago, Toronto206 said:

I would put Toronto up in the higher parts of the O6 for good logo design; many consider the 'evolution' the logo went through as poor decision making, and this going backwards was where they should have started evolving.

 

I know there's a lot of animosity regarding the "Ballard Leaf", and I acknowledge that the new logo has a great deal more character and authenticity, but the new design also doubles down on some design elements that strike me as being out of sync with the current state of design. 

 

My biggest critique of the new Maple Leafs logo (which is a carryover from its predecessors) is the insistence on spelling out the team's entire name in the logo. I realize this is tradition and that every Maple Leafs' logo has done this since 1926, but this goes back to my earlier point about brand equity and brand evolution.  Given the number of identities the team went through before settling on Maple Leafs I can understand the desire/need to clearly articulate the name of the team. I can also appreciate how, at the time, the full name of the organization was seen as a major convention (just look at the logos for Boston, New York, and Chicago from that time period).

 

However, that is not where we are today. Just look at Chicago and Boston. Both organizations transitioned to simple icons that are able to represent their teams without resorting to a heavy-handed use of text. The fact that most new teams have followed a similar path suggests that logos with minimal text and strong icons are the gold standard. Convention aside, there are some very practical reasons why the inclusion of so much text in a contemporary logo is a bad idea.

 

Consider the range of sizes a logo is now expected to exist in. Take a minute and go to the official Maple Leafs website. Look at the favicon. How well does that hold up? Or what about Twitter? Not much better. It might look great on a jersey or center ice, but that's only 82 nights out of the year...a contemporary logo needs to look good in a wide range of sizes and conditions 24/7-365. 

 

Which brings me to another contemporary challenge that the current Maple Leafs logo fails to address. In addition to existing in a digital world in which a design needs to work in a wide range of sizes and contexts...the Maple Leafs logo (and all logos) now exists in a global world as well. While hockey doesn't have the same global impact as other sports, it's still a lucrative and growing market. What's more, Toronto has the distinction of being a world city, and as such the Maple Leafs should be in a position to capitalize on Toronto's global profile. While the current logo doesn't prohibit them from doing so, it also doesn't help them. The current logo dedicates an immense amount of visual realestate to conveying information that is already apparent to the local market and is effectively meaningless to a large portion of the larger global market.

 

I'll give Toronto credit for making a radical change to a brand that was clearly in need of revitalization, but by failing to take into account the global and technological changes in sports branding I believe they lose a great deal of that credit as well.

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I was thinking less in terms of aesthetics and more about overall brand perception. The Ballard Leaf era was not kind to the Maple Leafs and I can understand the desire for the organization to create a break from the past 30+ years of mediocrity, especially in light of their 100 year anniversary. 

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Well, for what it's worth I've never seen Kabel as a 70's or 80's font at all, but instead more as a 20's/30's, pre-Depression and Depression-era font - that's when it was invented*, after all, and that's precisely why, just as an example, the board game Monopoly uses it for all of its branding.

And on that note, now that it's been almost a full season, I think I've settled on my opinion about the Leafs rebranding: I don't really like it at all. I'll concede that the logo's a slight upgrade - though I'll probably always prefer the simpler, modernised-without-being-outrageous Kabel leaf I grew up with - but the uniforms are just bland. To me it's like they took the old jersey template, one that itself was already a throwback to the 50's, and got almost every aspect of it - the new, only-slightly stylised font, every set of stripes except the arms, the shoulder patches - wrong.

It's like, the team has new management that's heavy on tradition, so they tried to bring tradition to something that largely already was very traditional, and they botched it as a result. All they really needed to do was put the new leaf on the existing jerseys and it would've looked great. But evidently that wouldn't have sold as well, which I guess brings us to the worst-case scenario of modern uniform design, doesn't it? A great uniform design is shelved for being too similar to past sets, in favour of something very similar; not as good but just different enough that it'll sell better with fans.

* - in fact, doing some slight research, I found that Kabel was first released in 1927 - the same year the St. Patricks renamed themselves the Maple Leafs. So, that font's actually as old as the team name itself! :o

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Not sure if it's been posted about yet, but I visited the NHL Centennial truck thing, and it's awesome.

 

The Stanley Cup is, of course, the main attraction. Here's me with it below.

 

IMG_0797.JPG

 

They said you could do "anything but lift it", so I kissed it. Probably the one chance I'll get to do so.

 

The whole museum thing was cool, and for those who are going to see it later, I'll refrain from posting pictures from inside it. They had old gear, jerseys, and a faux-locker-room. A lot of stuff you wouldn't see otherwise. Surprisingly, the wait to get in the museum was longer than that of the Cup. Probably because it's more than a photo-op.

 

They had Avs players and alumni signing autographs, food trucks, a ball hockey rink, accuracy shooting, Zamboni VR, and hundreds of people.

 

Get there early if you go, because the crowds got progressively bigger. Here's a pic of the line just to get an autograph from Milan Hejduk.

 

IMG_0820.JPG

 

All in all, it was fun. I made fun of some Rangers fans, met some Isles fans, talked with a guy in a Thrashers jersey, saw more Coyotes fans than there are in Arizona, (2 of 'em) and had a lot of fun. I highly advise going if you get the chance. A lot of stuff for us jersey nerds and bandwagon fans alike.

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