NBA x NIKE Redesign Project (MIAMI HEAT CITY EDITION added 1/2)

[iamdaviinci]

23 hours ago, GeoMerlin said:

Man I love this jersey, defo would love for this to replace the current city one.

Since they city jerseys were leaked, here's a few suggestions you could do.

All Star Jersey: The Games in Charlotte, a lot of historic jerseys there (tar heels, og hornets).

Holiday Jerseys: chrismas is next week so it may be a bit to long for that, but events like Black History Month is one the league always represents

Modern Remasters: Teams are always trying to make use of past jerseys, why not update them for modern times?

 

Anyway keep up the good work, any where I can follow your work?

 

I really appreciate the thoughtful response! You’ve given me a lot of things to consider — over the last several days I’ve sketched out the goal of designing the entire League, so some if not all of your suggestions may very well find their way into that!

 

I’ve primarily posted my work on here as well as on team subreddits. As I officially begin and progress through my project, though, I’ll probably probably post them on Instagram (@icniivad), Behance, and elsewhere. I’ll be sure to add links in my signature once these pages are up and running. 

 

Thanks a lot for your thoughts and suggestions!

[iamdaviinci]

One of my biggest struggles when designing concepts comes when I like a team's current identity and/or have seen other concepts I find especially impressive. If what I'm sketching out and trying to create isn't good or unique or fun enough relative to what else is out there - or rather doesn't feel like it has the potential to eventually be - then it feels like a waste of time. I know that isn't entirely true, but it's a challenge I face and something I want to get better at working through.

 

So, to tackle that, I wanted to take a team whose identity I like well enough and tried to create something new, unique, and interesting for them. The New Orleans Pelicans fit the description, as their current color palette works, their font is city/team-specific, and their uniforms as a whole are clean yet interesting. With that being said, though, nothing about their current look is iconic or timeless, so there's some room to experiment and explore different directions.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the navy has to go -- there are too many navy-centric teams in the League, and it isn't essential to the Pelicans. I swapped in black for navy since the Saints' colors are an integral part of the city's sports culture; I also instinctively removed the red, though as I type this right now I'm realizing that bringing it back into this concept could work very well and create a color palette the NBA hasn't seen before (I think? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). But yeah, I think I'm going to go experiment with that now.

 

The black and gold color scheme lends itself well to clean, simplistic design. A font called 'Hotel de Paris' caught my attention and also happened to use black and gold in the accompanying text sample -- considering this coincidence, as well as the city of New Orleans' historical ties to France, I took that as a sign and ran with it. I ended up spending multiple hours looking at French luxury hotel designs, and my first draft had way too much of that influencing it (the side panels were obnoxiously ornate), so I scaled things back a bit while keeping the design elements consistent. 

 

One thing I consciously made a point of here was to distance the design from anything Pelican-related beyond the wordmarks. I think it's a pretty terrible name for a city with so many unique options - I personally like 'Krewe' - so the less Pelican-specific imagery the better. Kinda like how the Wizards is a goofy name for a team in Washington, so instead of changing it they pretty much ignore it entirely on their uniforms.

 

Anyways, here are the results for now. I want to see about reintroducing red into the mix, both on these jerseys as well as for the primary color of a Statement Edition jersey, and I also have a City Edition design that could be pretty fun if it isn't terrible. It looks cool in my head, but we'll see!

 

As always, any and all comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

New Orleans Pelicans Association Edition Jersey

 

New Orleans Pelicans Icon Edition Jersey

[iamdaviinci]

I've been experimenting with a few things to improve this set:

 

1) re-injecting red into the color palette

2) switching to a truer shade of gold

3) introducing a new wordmark and numerals script

 

So far, I'm liking the results. The color palette actually reminds me of the Allen Iverson-era Sixers, though obviously without as much white and no blue nor silver entirely. The original typeface doesn't quite feel cut out for a basketball jersey the more I look at it, but this particular script has enough character to belong. It actually comes from the city's official tourism site if I'm not mistaken. 

 

I laid out color schemes for the remaining Association, Icon, and City Edition jerseys, and I may still tweak the side panels a bit, but barring any significant changes here's the updated template with which I plan to move forward...

 

 

 

New Orleans Pelicans Statement Edition Jersey

 

 

 

Is this a step in the right direction in terms of color, typeface, etc.? Please let me know your thoughts....thanks!

[Krz]

I was going to say to add red! The first one looked too much like the saints and the font had a cool story but was too modern for my taste. I love this typeface on the new one, looks straight out of the ABA, and the colors work better than I thought they did. Only complaint is that it definitely fits New Orleans but not Pelicans. Maybe you could work in some wings or something (idk). 

 

also I love that you used Jrue Holiday

[tajmccall]

The New Orleans Script is gorgeous.

[kerlonmoura]

The last one looks way better, great work!

[iamdaviinci]

On 12/24/2017 at 9:14 AM, KRZYBDGRZ said:

I was going to say to add red! The first one looked too much like the saints and the font had a cool story but was too modern for my taste. I love this typeface on the new one, looks straight out of the ABA, and the colors work better than I thought they did. Only complaint is that it definitely fits New Orleans but not Pelicans. Maybe you could work in some wings or something (idk). 

 

also I love that you used Jrue Holiday

 

Ha! As much as I like Jrue Holiday as a player, he admittedly wasn't my first choice -- but I couldn't get the '5' right for DeMarcus Cousins' #15, so I just duplicated the 1 I made out of the 'l' in the 'New Orleans' script and called it a day.

 

This draft was deliberately void of anything Pelicans-related as I was contemplating a name change. I agree with you that the generic side panels need some uniqueness, though....I'll be posting a couple new concepts in a second that hopefully have more character!

 

On 12/24/2017 at 10:32 AM, tajmccall said:

The New Orleans Script is gorgeous.

 

It certainly is gorgeous -- I wish I could take credit for it, but it's part of a recent citywide tourism campaign. It's easily one of my favorite branding projects I've seen in recent memory....the rest of it can be found here!

 

On 12/24/2017 at 1:29 PM, kerlonmoura said:

The last one looks way better, great work!

 

Thanks a lot! I'll be curious to know whether or not you prefer that version or the next pair of drafts!

[iamdaviinci]

I've been working on a handful of different concepts lately -- the City Edition uniform unveilings have given me a lot to think about, and I've got a few teams for which I'm working on designing entirely new sets. For now, though, I have the latest drafts from my New Orleans project.

 

The most recent jersey took a step in the right direction with the script, but the rest of it was generic by design. I'm not sold on the Pelicans as a nickname, and though I initially preferred changing it to Krewe, I ultimately settled on Voodoo. Something about the New Orleans Voodoo just felt right. I didn't remember until a bit later that this was the name of a now-defunct Arena Football League team, and I didn't realize until much later that the color palette I used was also their color palette. So this is awkward.

 

The more I thought about how similar the black/gold/red color scheme was to the early '00s Sixers, the more I thought it would be reasonable to add yet another color. Between the New Orleans Jazz, Mardis Gras, and voodoo, purple was the only logical option. I think purple fits the theme very well, and it also has the added benefit of reducing the amount of red while making it pop more. Black and gold also complement it nicely.

 

The 'New Orleans' script remains the same, and I was also able to use it to fashion a makeshift 'Voodoo' script out of scraps of some letters. The 'Voodoo' script still feels a bit off to me, and I can't tell if it's because of the angling of the 'V,' the left/right centering of the script, both factors, or something else entirely, but I think it's on the right track. Any and all input on this would be very much appreciated.

 

I never made the connection before now, but the Pelicans' current side panels draw design inspiration from the street lanterns in the city's French Quarter. I really like that connection as well as the angular cuts of the design along with its color arrangement, so that design has been retained. 

 

Overall, I want these Association and Icon Edition jerseys to capture a bit of both New Orleans and Voodoo through scripts, color schemes, and imagery that fit seamlessly together. Please let me know your thoughts on how well this is or isn't accomplished here, and if you have any suggestions for improvements please feel free to share them. Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

New Orleans Voodoo Association Edition Jersey

 

New Orleans Voodoo Icon Edition Jersey

[MCM0313]

10 minutes ago, Hoopladawg87 said:

I've been working on a handful of different concepts lately -- the City Edition uniform unveilings have given me a lot to think about, and I've got a few teams for which I'm working on designing entirely new sets. For now, though, I have the latest drafts from my New Orleans project.

 

The most recent jersey took a step in the right direction with the script, but the rest of it was generic by design. I'm not sold on the Pelicans as a nickname, and though I initially preferred changing it to Krewe, I ultimately settled on Voodoo. Something about the New Orleans Voodoo just felt right. I didn't remember until a bit later that this was the name of a now-defunct Arena Football League team, and I didn't realize until much later that the color palette I used was also their color palette. So this is awkward.

 

The more I thought about how similar the black/gold/red color scheme was to the early '00s Sixers, the more I thought it would be reasonable to add yet another color. Between the New Orleans Jazz, Mardis Gras, and voodoo, purple was the only logical option. I think purple fits the theme very well, and it also has the added benefit of reducing the amount of red while making it pop more. Black and gold also complement it nicely.

 

The 'New Orleans' script remains the same, and I was also able to use it to fashion a makeshift 'Voodoo' script out of scraps of some letters. The 'Voodoo' script still feels a bit off to me, and I can't tell if it's because of the angling of the 'V,' the left/right centering of the script, both factors, or something else entirely, but I think it's on the right track. Any and all input on this would be very much appreciated.

 

I never made the connection before now, but the Pelicans' current side panels draw design inspiration from the street lanterns in the city's French Quarter. I really like that connection as well as the angular cuts of the design along with its color arrangement, so that design has been retained. 

 

Overall, I want these Association and Icon Edition jerseys to capture a bit of both New Orleans and Voodoo through scripts, color schemes, and imagery that fit seamlessly together. Please let me know your thoughts on how well this is or isn't accomplished here, and if you have any suggestions for improvements please feel free to share them. Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

New Orleans Voodoo Association Edition Jersey

 

New Orleans Voodoo Icon Edition Jersey

If anyone should have purple and red together in the same scheme, it's the Raptors - but this looks pretty cool nonetheless.

[MCM0313]

On 12/23/2017 at 9:26 PM, Hoopladawg87 said:

I've been experimenting with a few things to improve this set:

 

1) re-injecting red into the color palette

2) switching to a truer shade of gold

3) introducing a new wordmark and numerals script

 

So far, I'm liking the results. The color palette actually reminds me of the Allen Iverson-era Sixers, though obviously without as much white and no blue nor silver entirely. The original typeface doesn't quite feel cut out for a basketball jersey the more I look at it, but this particular script has enough character to belong. It actually comes from the city's official tourism site if I'm not mistaken. 

 

I laid out color schemes for the remaining Association, Icon, and City Edition jerseys, and I may still tweak the side panels a bit, but barring any significant changes here's the updated template with which I plan to move forward...

 

 

 

New Orleans Pelicans Statement Edition Jersey

 

 

 

Is this a step in the right direction in terms of color, typeface, etc.? Please let me know your thoughts....thanks!

This is excellent. It would also be excellent in the Pelicans' current color scheme. Heck, I think it would look good in any color scheme.

[Krz]

That purple jersey is stellar

[iamdaviinci]

5 hours ago, MCM0313 said:

If anyone should have purple and red together in the same scheme, it's the Raptors - but this looks pretty cool nonetheless.

 

The Raptors' current set definitely lacks something. I haven't worked on anything for them beyond the City Edition concept in this thread, but maybe I need to use this concept's color balance as a foundation for whenever I do. 

 

5 hours ago, MCM0313 said:

This is excellent. It would also be excellent in the Pelicans' current color scheme. Heck, I think it would look good in any color scheme.

 

Thanks a lot! I'm trying to conceptualize a Mardis Gras color scheme, but it still feels too busy to draft up. Once it's simplified I'll hopefully share it!

 

19 minutes ago, KRZYBDGRZ said:

That purple jersey is stellar

 

I appreciate it!

[iamdaviinci]

This concept actually started when I was flipping through a magazine at a coffee shop one weekend and saw an ad for a local Mexican restaurant. I really liked the way the typeface's colors worked and were balanced with one another, so I made a note of it and finally got around to experimenting with it.

 

The Memphis Grizzlies' current identity has overstayed its welcome, and with the transition to Nike's new template it lost most bits of character it did had. I actually don't mind their current Statement Edition template so much - it's unique, fairly clean, and the shoulder/back color blocking alludes to an identifying characteristic of grizzly bears - but the color palette is dull and too many teams use navy.

 

The three shades of blue they employ is a unique design feature, though. Also, Grizzly bears are oftentimes varying shades of brown. No teams in the NBA wear brown, so I thought it would be an interesting experiment to work with various shades of brown as the foundation for this concept. The yellow accent is something I admittedly still love about the Grizzlies' current set, so that was retained. 

 

The typeface is updated to something simple, yet angular, and the stroke and drop shadow are similar to the aforementioned print ad I saw. I spent a lot of time looking at the design aesthetics of both Wyoming and St. Bonaventure's, as both school's employ similar color schemes, but their basketball uniforms are routinely underwhelming and uninteresting. The goal was to create something neutral yet colorful with clean yet aggressive lines -- not overwhelming, but at the very least interesting.

 

I've yet to finalize a concept for the Association Edition jersey, as I tend to struggle with the white base. I'm still figuring out the color balance there, but I'll hopefully have something to share for that in the coming days.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

Memphis Grizzlies Icon Edition Jersey

 

 

[kerlonmoura]

I love how the colors also connect with the Memphis in Egypt in a way, I first thought that was your inspiration here!

[iamdaviinci]

On 12/29/2017 at 10:15 PM, kerlonmoura said:

I love how the colors also connect with the Memphis in Egypt in a way, I first thought that was your inspiration here!

 

I definitely didn't do that intentionally, but that'd be a very interesting connection!

 

 

 

Quick update to the Grizzlies -- slightly scaled down the wordmark and numerals because they were a bit too large on the original draft. I'll hopefully have the Association Edition as well as maybe a Statement and/or City Edition sometime soon.

 

Memphis Grizzlies Icon Edition Jersey

[iamdaviinci]

One of the more universally liked City Edition uniforms - and certainly one of my personal favorites - belongs to the Miami Heat. The Miami Vice theme along with the neon colors is pretty much the most Miami thing you can legally do to a uniform, and it's perfect in every single way right down to the throwback single-leg shorts trim. 

 

With that being said, the first thing myself and many others on this board and elsewhere thought was that it could work very well in black too. Something about the city's neon lights at night creates a perfect tie-in. With City Edition uniforms anticipated to change every year, I wouldn't be surprised to see a black version sooner than later.

 

I've seen a few mock-ups of black versions that more or less just flip the base colors and call it a day, and those look just as nice as expected. However, I think the white base needs the full-color wordmarks and numerals as well as the black accents to make it work; I don't know that this is necessarily true for the black base, though. 

 

For my black version, I maintained the basic template of their current City Edition jersey while revisiting the LeBron-era "Back in Black" alternates for the wordmarks and numerals. The black letters and numerals on the black background creates a perfect amount of contrast with the neon strokes while also affording room for a glow effect similar to my Minnesota Timberwolves Northern Lights alternate jersey a few pages back.

 

It's clean, simple, and very Miami. Please let me know your thoughts on this version....thanks!

 

 

 

Miami Heat City Edition Jerseys

[newarkian]

@Hoopladawg87 Love what you did with all these redesigns! I speak for most of us that we wish these were the actual jerseys. I'm big on doing custom jerseys and logo on NBA 2k18, hopefully we can see them there lol 

 

Keep up the good work!!

[Ryan Arduo]

nice work! can you do the shorts for each as well? TIA

[Ryan Arduo]

On 12/18/2017 at 11:10 AM, Hoopladawg87 said:

Lately, I've spent quite a bit of time away from concepts while still working on some things -- most notably a (fairly) massive overhaul to my template. It started out mostly just as a way to hammer down the textures of the various materials, but then my OCD got the best of me and it became a full-on quest to make everything on the front - and eventually also the back - as exact as possible. So here we are now, with a more complete template with which to work.

 

Although I haven't been working explicitly on any concepts for the past several days, I've been thinking about things I like, dislike, would keep, and would tweak ever since the leaked City Edition jerseys @Conrad. provided for us on the homepage. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by a number of the apparent jerseys, but I'll reserve final judgment until we see them on-court.

 

Anyways, one that stood out to me (and others in the 2017/18 NBA Changes thread) as needing a complete overhaul was the Houston Rockets and their Chinese New Year alternate. Taking an already inspired template with a dull color palette and simply slapping a Chinese wordmark on the front just isn't a good look. It isn't original, it doesn't capture anything regarding Chinese New Year, and quite frankly it isn't unique enough from their regular set to maximize sales. 

 

So, the first step was to ditch the template from their Association and Icon Edition jerseys in favor of the one from their Statement Edition jersey -- one with cleaner side panels that also, you know, relate to rockets. Next, we dumped the red and silver for the colors of the Chinese flag in addition to black, which coincides with Nike's apparent effort to maximize color on teams' third and fourth uniforms. It hopefully also appeases all of the folks who'd like the team to return to the red and yellow color palette from the early '90s and prior. Finally, the trim is kept to simple, single or dual color patterns to once again coincide with Nike's current design aesthetic. This gives us a vibrant base with a clean canvas.

 

The Chinese wordmark is retained, albeit below the numerals, as is the contrasting drop shadow from previous iterations of the uniform. The numerals are moved above the numeral and to the side of chest where they appeared during that weird era where Hakeem Olajuwon was forced to play in those goofy pinstriped late-'90s jerseys. The numerals also include a nod to the Chinese flag, as the four small stars are retained around the numerals that have been swapped in for the large star. These elements also receive the contrasting drop shadow for the sake of consistency.

 

The back of the jersey is very simple and consistent with the front, though the nameplate does not receive the contrasting drop shadow treatment due to multi-colored nameplates apparently not being a thing anymore in today's NBA. I don't make the rules, and honestly I don't know if that even is a rule, but for the time being I'll stick with single-color nameplates.

 

Hopefully this is a more interesting and/or visually appealing design than what it looks like the Rockets will actually be wearing. As always, any and all comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

Houston Rockets City Edition Jersey Concept - Front

 

 

 

Houston Rockets City Edition Jersey Concept - Back

Hopefully you create the whole uniform set. it's nice

[daryle]

sir can i see the basketball shorts of this top uniform ?