DENVER NUGGETS x NIKE | City Edition Uniform Concept

[iamdaviinci]

The Denver Nuggets' recent uniform unveiling surprised me -- after distancing themselves from light blue with their last two rebranding efforts and cutting it out entirely this time around, I expected a heavy emphasis on the new color palette. While I expected more gold and 'flatirons red' - and much less white - I really like what they did with their Icon Edition uniform. The design is clean, the colors pop, and each element feels as though it has a clear purpose. Unfortunately, the same balance isn't struck with their Association Edition uniform. On top of that, their Statement Edition uniform - which feels more like a City Edition uniform - lacks cohesion and purpose.

 

I hope to eventually work on concepts redesigning their Association and Icon Edition uniforms, but for the past week or so I've been tinkering with their Statement City Edition uniform. 

 

I like the simplicity of what the team unveiled, especially the single-color wordmark and numerals and the contrast they create on the blue jersey. I also appreciate the simple-but-not-bare look of the shorts, though I think the design itself is lazy. Lastly, I'm kind of a fan of the alternate skyline logo if for no other reason than the fact that it's alarmingly similar to the old logo of the now-defunct Columbus Horizon. 

 

I dislike radial wordmark, though I understand the difficulty in fitting three, 4-letter words on the front of a jersey. The mountain motif on the shorts isn't offensive, but it screams Utah Jazz for two reasons: 1) the '90s Jazz uniforms; and 2) the current Jazz colors. Also, and perhaps most egregiously, the colors aren't balanced and there are no unifying design elements.

 

This concept started with a singular focus on reintroducing a modernized version of the skyline uniforms. With the 'MILE HIGH CITY' theme present, it felt appropriate to incorporate the new alternate logo. It's simple enough to stand on its own (after reducing the thickness of some of the lines), which eliminates the clutter that would come with the pseudo-rainbow striping from previous iterations of the uniform. I always thought they nailed it the first time around with the actual rainbow....every color palette's adaption since has paled in comparison.

 

Color is used a bit more liberally, with the 'flatirons red' serving as the primary accent color and gold serving as the secondary accent color. Gold and white are alternated and balanced against one another on all applications - wordmark, numerals, logos, etc. - without strokes to preserve contrast. Navy is employed sparingly in the skyline shading, the alternate city logos, and the elevation pattern at the bottom of the shorts. The Mile High City theme is unified through that elevation pattern (adapted from the team's previous City Edition shorts), the alternate city logos, the '5280' belt buckle logo, the 'MILE HIGH CITY' laundry tag slogan, and the new take on the iconic skyline design.

 

Hopefully this is a clean, refreshing take on what the Denver Nuggets unveiled as their third uniform last week -- something cohesive and purposeful that tells a story and looks good on-court.

 

Thanks for looking (and reading)! As always, any and all comments, criticisms, thoughts, and ideas are greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

DENVER NUGGETS x NIKE | City Edition Uniform Concept

[itsmb8]

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