NBA Expansion Concepts - Team #2 - Louisville Colonels

[DoctaC]

Ever since the SuperSonics left Seattle, the city has been in talks of recieving an expansion franchise, if the NBA were to ever expand. Seattle is a large market with a great fanbase that was extremely supportive of the Sonics during their decades there. That is why I created my own concept on what a possible Seattle expansion team could look like (of they weren't to be called the SuperSonics). 

 

The Seattle Reign is a play-on words. Almost every professional sports team in Seattle is named after Seattle's notorious weather. So, I didn't was to call them something that surrouned the weather. I did, however, come up with "Reign," which means both a king's rule, and if spelled differently would be "Rain." Basically, I indirectly referenced Seattle's climate.

 

Now for the design:

 

The Logos

Seattle was an easy city to make a logo for. They have an iconic building in the space needle, as well as a design-friendly nickname; "The Emerald City."

 

I used an emerald shape to portray the city's nickname, as well as the space needle and a basketball outline. The font I chose for the entire set was FTY Strategycide, because it felt pretty "Seattle" to me. The secondary is the same shape with the space needle and basketball outline, just this time utilizing Seattle's skyline instead of the team's nickname.

 

 

Home & Road Uniforms

Even though I created a "new" team in Seattle, I wanted to pay homage to the original SuperSonics, so I used the side-striping from their uniforms.

 

The wordmarks on every uniforms use a two-tone shading which is similar to one of Nike's styles. I used a simple single-color collar (tongue twister ) and the city's skyline on the back of the uniform.

 

 

Alternate Uniforms

The alternates are pretty much just recolors of the home & away uniforms.

 

 

Court

Seattle's court is just a continuation of their entire identity; it utilizes the Space Needle front and center, as well as the two-tone shading on the font.

 

C&C appreciated!

[johnrafael]

I like this. I'm not sure of what tool you're using, but I feel the presentation is still a little plain. Maybe you should give more attention to details like brand logos and jersey tags.

[nate.sweitz]

I like it! The name is a little WNBA-ish for my tastes but it’s a clever concept. I would like to see something a little more creative with the uniforms though. I feel like you could work in the Space Needle logo on the side of the pants or jersey in an interesting and unique way. Overall a clean, solid concept!

[HecEdHooligan]

There is currently a team in Seattle named the Reign. It’s our NWSL team that includes Megan Rapinoe from the USWNT among other internationals.

 

It was also the name of Seattle ABL team before that league folded and Seattle was granted a WNBA team.

[BigRed618]

This concept is rock solid, although if this were to happen for real, I'd be sitting there wondering why they didn’t just bring back the Sonics. Great effort anyway.

[DoctaC]

11 hours ago, JohnnyRfl said:

I like this. I'm not sure of what tool you're using, but I feel the presentation is still a little plain. Maybe you should give more attention to details like brand logos and jersey tags.

 

Thanks for for the kind words Johnny! By brand logos do you mean sponsorships on the left chest like in NBA uniforms, or just logos on the presentation in general? And what do you mean by jersey tags?

 

11 hours ago, nate.sweitz said:

I like it! The name is a little WNBA-ish for my tastes but it’s a clever concept. I would like to see something a little more creative with the uniforms though. I feel like you could work in the Space Needle logo on the side of the pants or jersey in an interesting and unique way. Overall a clean, solid concept!

 

Thanks Nate! I agree the name is a little too WNBA-ish as you said, but I thought the play-on words with Reign was just too cool to pass up. As for the uniforms, I agree the alternate designs were a little too simple. When I get back to my computer I’ll try out some newer, more unique designs.

 

10 hours ago, HecEdHooligan said:

There is currently a team in Seattle named the Reign. It’s our NWSL team that includes Megan Rapinoe from the USWNT among other internationals.

 

It was also the name of Seattle ABL team before that league folded and Seattle was granted a WNBA team.

 

Huh, Never knew that. Next time I create a team I’ll make sure to check the name hasn’t been used before.

 

4 hours ago, BigRed618 said:

This concept is rock solid, although if this were to happen for real, I'd be sitting there wondering why they didn’t just bring back the Sonics. Great effort anyway.

 

Thanks for the compliment! I agree, If Seattle were to be granted a new expansion team, I would want them to be called the Sonics. My goal with this, however, was to come up with a new identity for a basketball team in Seattle.

[DoctaC]

Here are three more alternate uniform options, all utilizing the Space Needle, as @nate.sweitz suggested:

 

 

Alternate 1

The Space Needle is front and center, with the number shoved off to the left side of the jersey. The gradient is inspired by the Utah Jazz's city edition uniform, which I thought matched well with the two-tone gradient of Seattle's identity.

 

Alternate 2

This would be probably be Seattle's city edition uniform. Instead on a "Seattle" or "Reign" wordmark, it uses "Emerald City" Seattle's nickname. The Space Needle is used on the shorts.

 

Alternate 3

A green variant of alternate 1.

[vtgco]

I think the primary needs a bit of work... The basketball seams don't go very well  with the rectangular shape.

The NWSL Reign logo goes all in on the monarchy theme, while you go all in on the Seattle skyline. Neither really reference the weather. If you can find a middle ground between two or all three, that might be best.

 

I would switch the green and black on the home jersey, and/or replace black with silver.

 

Alt 3 is really beautiful! The green fade + white is a great color scheme for  Seattle. I'd wear that jersey quite a bit. When the Sonics return, I hope they do something like that as an alt.

[nate.sweitz]

Those are slick! Way better than what I had in mind! The white and green uniforms are especially gorgeous. Nice job!

[Pengin.]

I like how you incorporated the Space Needle to the identity for the team, but there are too many clashing elements for the primary logos. I think that housing the primary logo in an outline holds the wordmark and the illustration together, but the space needle doesn't need the bottom line like the Secondary logo.

 

I like how the home and road uniforms fit this identity. I think the wordmark needs to be tweaked a little bit. It's hard to read the wordmark, numbers, and player name with the black outline. Maybe play with the kerning to space it out. I don't think the city skyline works with the uniforms. I would use the Space Needle in your designs for the main uniforms, rather than the alternative uniforms. I mean, it is the main element of your logos, why not the main jerseys?

 

The alternative jerseys with the Space Needle is really fun. It shows that the use of the black outline around the wordmark and numbers aren't needed.

 

Good start! Keep up the good work. I can't wait to see your next revisions.

[DoctaC]

1 hour ago, vtgco said:

I think the primary needs a bit of work... The basketball seams don't go very well  with the rectangular shape.

The NWSL Reign logo goes all in on the monarchy theme, while you go all in on the Seattle skyline. Neither really reference the weather. If you can find a middle ground between two or all three, that might be best.

 

I would switch the green and black on the home jersey, and/or replace black with silver.

 

Alt 3 is really beautiful! The green fade + white is a great color scheme for  Seattle. I'd wear that jersey quite a bit. When the Sonics return, I hope they do something like that as an alt.

 

Thanks for the compliment on alt 3, vtcgo! My original idea for the primary logo was to use a cloud with the space needle, but I wasn't really feeling it:

 

 

1 hour ago, nate.sweitz said:

Those are slick! Way better than what I had in mind! The white and green uniforms are especially gorgeous. Nice job!

 

Thanks Nate! I would've never made more unis had you not suggested it. 

 

1 hour ago, Pengin. said:

I like how you incorporated the Space Needle to the identity for the team, but there are too many clashing elements for the primary logos. I think that housing the primary logo in an outline holds the wordmark and the illustration together, but the space needle doesn't need the bottom line like the Secondary logo.

 

I like how the home and road uniforms fit this identity. I think the wordmark needs to be tweaked a little bit. It's hard to read the wordmark, numbers, and player name with the black outline. Maybe play with the kerning to space it out. I don't think the city skyline works with the uniforms. I would use the Space Needle in your designs for the main uniforms, rather than the alternative uniforms. I mean, it is the main element of your logos, why not the main jerseys?

 

The alternative jerseys with the Space Needle is really fun. It shows that the use of the black outline around the wordmark and numbers aren't needed.

 

Good start! Keep up the good work. I can't wait to see your next revisions.

 

Thanks for the feedback Pengin! I fixed the primary logo, and I think it definitely makes it look better and cleaner. As for the uniforms, I removed the outline from the home and road, and I agree it's now easier to read. However, I'm now trying to decide between a black or green road uniform.

 

 

New Primary:

 

 

Let me know what you think!

[Whittier S]

The name and logo really don't connect. It could be called the Seattle Generics with the same logo. Play around with the imagery.

[johnrafael]

9 hours ago, DoctaC said:

 

Thanks for for the kind words Johnny! By brand logos do you mean sponsorships on the left chest like in NBA uniforms, or just logos on the presentation in general? And what do you mean by jersey tags?

 

 

I've been thinking about it. Maybe isn't that necessary for your concept. I was referring to details like shirt patches, in the collar and in the hem, like those ones in real jerseys. Going a little deep in details in stuff like court lines, adding sponsors and stuff like that would also be nice. But maybe it's just plain old me, searching "wearability" in every detail.

[DoctaC]

I think I've now reached a point where I can say the Seattle Reign is completed! I also am thinking about possibly doing more expansion concepts, and posting them in this thread. 

 

 

The Logos

I removed the black outline below the Space Needle on the primary as @Pengin. suggested. I also removed the second outline from the secondary logo.

 

 

Home and Road Uniforms

I removed the outline from the wordmarks on both uniforms. I went with a black road instead of a green, because I wanted to go with the green alternate I had came up with. I also flipped the colors on the sides of the home uniform.

 

 

Alternate and City Edition Uniforms

I went with two new alternates. The home alt is what would be the team's city edition uniform, saying "Emerald City" with Space Needles on the shorts. The road alt is the faded green uniform with the Space Needle on the front of the uniform.

 

 

C&C Appreciated! I'm currently working on another expansion concept which I should hopefully have finished by Friday.

[_DietDrPepper_]

I know you’ve finished it and everything but here are my two cents if it means anything. The logo is bland. I like that prototype more than the one you decided on. Also ditch the black it’s unnecessary and makes the whole set darker than necessary. The alternate uniforms look much better because they lack black, speaking of uniforms. I’m in love with the alternates but the home and road fall short on many strides. The striping is generic and holds no character. The black road is pointless and should be green in my opinion. I like the font and numbers but the rest can be scraped and made to look much better. The court is okay, again the black could be replaced with green, im not her biggest fan of the entire inner three point circle being colored. I like the shading with the space needle. But the center court logo is to be seen nowhere else. I get it’s just the word mark but it’s diagonal where as all the other times it’s horizontal. Overall it’s better than a portion of the nba already but a few touch ups and it could exceed its potential.

 

Any ideas on the next expansion team?

 

Edit: Id also remove the skyline from the back, it’s not recognizable enough and looks tacky.

[DoctaC]

3 hours ago, BellaSpurs said:

I know you’ve finished it and everything but here are my two cents if it means anything. The logo is bland. I like that prototype more than the one you decided on. Also ditch the black it’s unnecessary and makes the whole set darker than necessary. The alternate uniforms look much better because they lack black, speaking of uniforms. I’m in love with the alternates but the home and road fall short on many strides. The striping is generic and holds no character. The black road is pointless and should be green in my opinion. I like the font and numbers but the rest can be scraped and made to look much better. The court is okay, again the black could be replaced with green, im not her biggest fan of the entire inner three point circle being colored. I like the shading with the space needle. But the center court logo is to be seen nowhere else. I get it’s just the word mark but it’s diagonal where as all the other times it’s horizontal. Overall it’s better than a portion of the nba already but a few touch ups and it could exceed its potential.

 

Any ideas on the next expansion team?

 

Edit: Id also remove the skyline from the back, it’s not recognizable enough and looks tacky.

 

Thanks for the feedback! I've already began work on my next NBA expansion concept, the Louisville Colonels (bringing back the ABA named Kentucky Colonels). I also have plans to do teams in Vancouver, Baltimore, and Las Vegas if you have any suggestions.

[_DietDrPepper_]

I was going to suggest Kentucky myself, we need a team anyway lol.

[JakeMetivier78]

Great work. Love the colors and especially the 2 tone used in the uniforms.

[HecEdHooligan]

On 7/17/2018 at 9:46 AM, DoctaC said:

Here are three more alternate uniform options, all utilizing the Space Needle, as @nate.sweitz suggested:

 

 

Alternate 1

The Space Needle is front and center, with the number shoved off to the left side of the jersey. The gradient is inspired by the Utah Jazz's city edition uniform, which I thought matched well with the two-tone gradient of Seattle's identity.

 

Alternate 2

This would be probably be Seattle's city edition uniform. Instead on a "Seattle" or "Reign" wordmark, it uses "Emerald City" Seattle's nickname. The Space Needle is used on the shorts.

 

Alternate 3

A green variant of alternate 1.

 

Gotta say, all 3 of these are awesome

[Pengin.]

jerseys look way better without the black outline. good job