67 replies to this topic

[rentz]

Hello, I enjoy these boards and wanted to contribute a bit so I decided to start this project. The idea is a sort of Minor Leagues for the NFL. Until I can come up with anything else it shall be referred to as the infinitely catchy NFL Development League. The NFLDL (Yes, I know League is in the Acronym twice... like the American Dodgeball Association of America) would give all 32 teams an affilate that targets an area currently lacking professional football.

AFC East Affiliates:

Toronto Bulls affiliate: Buffalo Bills
Logos
Uniforms

New York Jets affiliate: Hartford Spartans
Logos
Uniforms

Miami Dolphins affiliate: Palm Beach Pelicans
Logos
Uniforms

New England Patriots affiliate: Providence Narwhals
Logos
Uniforms

[rentz]

No comments yet... but I have a logo I have been working on.

Because New York Jets fans seem to love the Titans identity, I decided to center their developmental team on 'Titans'. Because Titans are figures in Greek mythology, I decided to make their logo a Spartan soldier...

I'm still working on it, but here it is so far. I really like the idea of a logo with a flowing scarf and think it would look great on a football helmet. In fact, my original idea was a team called "Aces" using a WWI era flying ace with the flowing scarf (Because the team is the Jets), but I thought it works here as well. The Negative space in the helmet is a T.
EDIT: updated with classic NY Titans colors. Here is the original, with a traditional Navy and Gold:
http://i610.photobuc...e42/spartan.png
Once again, all C+C is welcome!

[oo_nrb]

The loops at the bottom of the double f being the loops at the top of the double l is a stroke of genius.  Oh yeah, cool concepts too .

[dgnmrwrw]

Both of your logos so far are good starts, but right now they are both very detailed, almost leaning toward being photorealistic.  I'd definitely say simplify them, and look at line weight.  Right now, you've got a lot of very thin lines, and those wouldn't reproduce well (especially on a helmet).

Also, while both your names make sense, I don't think the NFL would be recycling identities and colors like that.  I think you're going to need some more original ideas.

[undead]

I agree with dgnmrwrw, simplify the logos and use thicker lines.  Sometimes it seems like thin lines are the way to go but thicker looks better and are important for the application.  
I like the idea of using Cody for the logo and I like how the 'ff's becomes the 'll's in Bills.  I think that Titans concept is awesome, it just needs a little work.  
Keep these coming.

[jayjackson3]

I love your ideas, and the logos are well done.  That Buffalo Bills Wordmark is great!  I agree that they need to be simplified, and I think you need to go with different names for the teams.  Maybe something that relates to the pro teams (much like what Minor league baseball clubs do)  Then you can use the same color schemes if you wish.  I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with these.

[G4ce]

Ditto on most of the replies from me.  In addition, I'm really liking what you are doing with the Titans concept.  

A few thoughts:
-maybe simplify/stylize the opening of the Greek helmet to more obviously represent a "T"
-I think if you make the scarf flow a bit more and/or end in less of a square manner to give the logo some forward motion it would look great on a helmet
-the circular scarf button/attachment is a Great place to add an "NY" or something that ties the concept to the city or the Jets

Good work.  Looking forward to seeing more progress.

[rentz]

Thanks for all the comments! With regards to the Buffalo Bill logo, yeah it was a bit over-detailed last time. Here is an updated version:

Better? Worse? I think it's far superior; thanks for the suggestions.

Regarding the recycling of identities, I would agree... these two were really the only two I wanted to do something like that with. I think the Bills concept is original enough to justify the recycled name, but I think I will take the Titans concept and make it another team's farm team, maybe change the colors and etc. Perhaps the Spartans? Though I'm not sure what team I could tie that in to...

Anyway, thanks for the comments.

[Heitert]

That Bills logo update looks a lot better. I like your Titans logo as well. But what I really love is that Bills wordmark, it's amazing, very professional looking, and above all, very clever.

Good work.
Can't wait to see more.

[rentz]

Big update to the Bill's uniforms, they are on the first post.

[Brave-Bird 08]

those Bills uniforms would be a good fit fot Tulsa. For some reason they kill that Buffalo vibe to me.

[d00a00v00e00o]

I think you did an excellent job with the wordmarks and I admire your creativity, but the primary reminds me of the Ole Miss logo and the gold just seems foreign for the Buffalo Bills.

I am looking forward to seeing what you do with the Titans.

[hettinger_rl]

IDK if its too much of a change, but... Buffalo bill had a distinctive hat that curled up on the side and always seemed to be tipped to the opposite side, maybe try to incorporate that.

[rentz]

I updated the Buffalo Uniforms again, I think for the final time. I'm pretty much happy with them now. While it seems as though the addition of gold wasn't very warmly received, I like it-- but I believe the problem was I was trying to make gold a primary color, along with royal and dark red-- but three primary colors is a bit outlandish. So I reduced it to just a trim color and used it only on the outlines and stripes.

I was worrying about the inevitable Ole Miss comment haha. Unfortunately the Southern Gentleman of Ole Miss and William Cody happen to have basically the same facial hair style. (It was quite fashionable back in the day). Also the colors are identical. So while I realize the resemblance, there is not much you can do of a logo of William Cody without having him resemble Southern Gentleman.

Yeah, I considered the hat thing hettinger_rl, but since it is a profile shot there wasn't much I could do to represent it and I gave up.

Now I've been working on the Titans/Spartans uniform set and they should be up soon. But this was an idea that occured to me while I was trying to make an interlocking-b logo for the bills. I thought if you position two Ps together, they can simultaneously make a B. Brilliant, but without application. I then thought about how I wanted to make a team in Palm Beach, Florida. I also wanted to name a team the Pelicans...
Aha! Palm Beach Pelicans. Life works in beautiful ways sometimes.
Anyways here is the logo-- it is a work in progress.

As you can see, the two P's represent Palm (beach) Pelicans, while they combine to form a B, which completes the acronym.
The Pelicans are the Dolphin's affiliate, so this was just a quick color scheme I came up with but now realize corresponds more with the Chargers. So I will probably change one of the colors to an aqua.

All C+C appreciated.

[ChuckDownfield]

Heh heh... pee pee

[sergeimakarenkov44]

ChuckDownfield, on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 - 22:00:41, said:

Heh heh... pee pee

Way to represent, Chuck.

Anyway, I think this is cool.  Feel free to go crazy with these.  I'm sure everyone would like to see some interesting things here.  If you have problems putting that head on the Bills helmet, you could always just use the letter "B" in the same script you wrote it with in the word mark

[JH42XCC]

I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.

By the way, if the Bills happen to stay put in Buffalo rather than moving to Toronto, then the Toronto Buffaloes (yup, you got the plural form of 'Buffalo' right, Nole42) would be the Bills D-League affiliate. But that's just me saying.

Either way, great work so far.

P.S.: The Palm Beach Pelicans logo kinda reminds me of the Montreal Expos 'eMb' logo.

[rentz]

Presenting...



The Hartford Spartans.
They are the Jets' affiliate. I came very close to calling them the Titans, but I couldn't bring myself to do it because there is a big-league team with the same name. As a result there is no direct correlation between the Jets and the Spartans.
The Logo is the Titans logo from earlier, simplified to eliminate the superfluous details. The colors have also been changed from navy and mustard gold to the greatest color combination ever, Garnet and Gold.
I wanted to think outside the box for this concept. Typically I'm not a big fan of piping in jerseys, but for this design, I saw some functionality. While the shoulder striping/piping on these is a bit out there, it's actually supposed to be a representation of plated shoulder armor. For an example, look here: http://www.mbohbot.com/Legionnaire.jpg . Yes that is a Roman Legionnaire but you get the idea. I realize a piping design like this would never fly in the NFL, it is a D-League concept, so I thought because these teams have absolutely no history I could try out some crazy unique looks. I was looking for a number font that would be original and I think I found one; it is also used in the wordmark. I thought it was vaguely- ancient Greek looking.
Home:

Away:

Now, onto my questions...
Should I keep the Titans colors?
Should I edit the logo, as it is on a Gold helmet and the Spartan helmet is gold? I was thinking that I could make the helmet white and the scarf/cape thing red, and then it would stand out.
What do you think of the side panel/ pant stripe? It started off as being a sword sheath and it sort of evolved into a modern striping design that connects to the shoulder piping.
All C+C appreciated.

[dgnmrwrw]

Wow, this surprised me.  Very VERY nice updates to the Spartans identity.  The colors look fantastic, much better than the old Titans colors.  The logo is improved, though I still think you could tweak the cape part so that it isn't quite so long.  The typeface used in the wordmark and uniform numerals is nice too.

I love the uniforms.  What you've come up with is a great example of piping/unconventional striping being used for a specific reason, and being well-executed.

As far as the helmet color, I think what you've got now is working, but I'd love to see if you could pull it off with a garnet helmet.  You'd have to play with the logo outline (either gold or white) to make it work, but I think a garnet helmet with a garnet facemask might look spectacular.  I really wouldn't go with a white helmet.

I'm very much looking forward to the rest of these.

[rentz]

Thanks for the reply. I changed the helmet to garnet and I really like how it looks, thanks.

I've been working on the Palm Beach Pelicans, they should be up soon. They are about as outlandish as these.