Heitert's NHL

[piratesfan16]

That Blue Jackets logo is a beauty. The only nitpick I can give you is the fact that the third red stripe at the bottom gets cut off at the point by the state outline. If it was moved up ever so slightly so it didn't get cut off, then it'd be perfect. Like I said though, just a nitpick.

[AHcreative]

Thanks for the reply, and I see what you're saying. But if I move it up to a point in which the border of the state outline doesn't interfere with the red stripe, the white stripe at the top actually begins to interfere with the stars and I already had a hell of a time trying to get the stars to fit just right (they're still not perfect).

[Philsphan]

I would take out the gray outline because gray was used by the Confederates and also I think it makes the logo look less eye popping.

[Chapeeko]

^Agreed

[AHcreative]

Well, I tried to get rid of the silver outline, but to me it just looked... off. I dunno. But this is what I have. Any suggestions on what to do to make it better? I may retry the outline a bit later, I just wanted to get this up to show y'all.

What I Did: The first thing that I did was change the logo. The Blue Jackets had a prototype logo that I always liked and I decided to incorporate that into my design, but making it just that; "my design". As I’ve already stated, I took the prototype logo and took it to take the shape of Ohio. I added 25 stars, each one to represent a state that was in the Union at one point. Also, I added an extra red line at the bottom to take up some of the empty blue space; I was thinking it looks like a patch that a Union soldier might wear. I think this way the residence and name are well represented. I kept the red circle in there so that it can double to represent the state flag of Ohio (even though there are only 17 stars in the flag I do believe). Now, Columbus’ uniforms aren’t too bad in my opinion. They were a 2000 expansion team and they look like one, which I think is a good thing. Unlike the Wild that have a fantastic logo but a horrible “we’re trying to brand like an ‘Original 6’ team”, but I digress. So in that respect I kept the general template that the Blue Jackets have because I like their uniforms, their logo is just a little less than to be desired. You’ll notice that on the sleeves, instead of having one star each, there are five stars. Each star represents one of the 10 major/costliest land battles of the Civil War. Now, I know that in a couple of those battles the Confederates won, but I figure each star can represent the men that died serving to protect our country’s name. I've also added some extra stripes to the arms, just to give the uniforms that extra flair. I really like how this type of striping looks on Florida's uniforms and I've decided to carry it over to Columbus as well. Another change is the font. I really dislike Columbus’ font (both on the home/away and on the alternate). Which brings us to the final part, the alternate jersey itself. Essentially it’s the same template that the Blue Jackets currently use, the only changes are obviously the logo and the fact that I don’t think the Blue Jackets are a team that should use two shades of blue. So I nixed the “Steel Blue” in favor of “Goal Red” and I chose to use the Blue Jacket’s current shoulder patch instead of the cannon logo. I just feel as though the cannon is too detailed to be used in a roundel and on such a simple template. And the last little thing is that I changed the name of the silver to “Soldier Silver” instead of “Capital Silver” because I thought that “Capital Silver” sounded too Washington-ish.

So, I hope you guys like it. I think this is one of my better concepts of the series, but y’all out there are the experts!

Thanks for lookin’!

[JackieMoon]

Hell of a lot better than what they have now!

[Chapeeko]

Now that I see that logo with secondary and shoulder patch, I don't mind the gray. In fact, I like it a lot. The uniforms are awesome, great color balance, great, logos, nice clean presentation. Great job Heitert.

[cohenj21]

First of all, I think this is a massive improvement on their current set, really great job. Just a coupla things for you to consider. First, try using blue pants on the road set, just because there should be more blue than red in a Blue Jackets set. The only other thing I would do is to get rid of the white yoke on the alternate jersey, it just looks a little loud especially with the big block striping you currently have on the hem and sleeves. I would go with a blue yoke, or you could try a red one if you're really feeling frisky. Also, "shoulder" has a U in it.

Really nice set overall once again. Will you be coming back to the Avalanche in the near future?

[Dbroalexander]

good work with the jackets... you spelled shoulder wrong in the presentation of the logos

[AHcreative]

Damn, I've always been a terrible speller Thank you guys for pointing out my error, it has been corrected. Also, my post has been edited to show my thought process though the whole thing.

Thank you all for the comments so far, I'm really glad you like this one because it's definitely one of my favorites.

Any more comments and/or suggestions? Next team y'all would like to see? Cohenj21 mentioned my Avalanche set, I'm still at a wall with that one I think I'm going to start all over with my idea, I think I'll do one more team and then come back to that.

[cohenj21]

Would love to see Washington or the Rangers if you are doing one or two before you try Colorado again.

[BigBubba]

I love the symbolism behind the stars both on the logo and the sleeves. I think you executed the latter well enough to avoid looking too much like the Capitals' retro alternate (something that I was expecting to happen).

I agree with cohenj about the shoulder yoke on the third. The striping is rather large and the yoke is a bit too much. Also, I think the alternate logos would work better if they "switched roles": the cap-in-the-oval logo would work better as a shoulder patch and the star logo works better as a jersey crest.

How 'bout Tampa Bay or Washington next? Both teams' identities have seen better days and are in need of a shakeup.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

Excellent. Let me start off by saying that I typically despise that arm-piping template, but it works here because it almost makes it look like a military uniform. Alternate is excellent and fixes exactly what's wrong with it now.

A+

[AHcreative]

Well okay then, it's time to dust off this bad boy!

Over the last week or so I've been working on the Washington Capitals, and I've finally come up with something that I like. So, I’ll just get right to it then.

What I did: Now a lot of thought went into this one, I don’t blame you if you don’t read all of this, but I’d like to explain my thought process. In 1995 the Capitals ditched the way overused red/white/blue combo and debuted their blue and gold combination which I thought was really unique and quite a refreshment from red/white/blue which is not only overused as a color scheme for a team from D.C. but overused in all of pro sports. The logos were very different too and I liked them, but I felt as though they were a little too complex for use today. In 2007 they re-introduced which is, in my opinion, the worst identity in the entire NHL. Not only is a wordmark their primary logo, it’s in red/blue, and the letters are all in lowercase (for a team nicknamed the “Capitals” I find this very ironic). Anyway, I’ll end my mini rant… The lone good thing that came out of the 2007 set was the beautiful ‘W’ eagle which I decided to use as my primary logo. I took the eagle logo and did very little to it, other than adding the beak to give the logo a little more depth and altering the colors, it is unchanged. Speaking of the color change, I went back to the general design of the mid-90s. The blue now changed to a greenish color, I wanted to emulate a monetary vibe so along with the green comes a copper color. I wanted to use the same general template as the Capitals did in the 90s but I came to the realization that the template was suited for the downward slanted eagle of the previous logo. With the ‘W’ eagle, there’s a bit more symmetry so I went with more of a symmetrical design. The old wordmark is now featured as the shoulder patch. Now the third jerseys I wanted to go “classic” sorta a “fauxback,” if you will. So I took the Capitol building logo and simplified it a little bit, removing the stars (which are now featured on the stripes) and the puck. Additionally, on the home/away you’ll see that I brought back the unique name and number font of the 90s. So, with all that being said, I’ll just get right down to it. Here they are!

Comments, as always, are greatly encouraged and appreciated. Thanks for your time!

[cohenj21]

The logo set looks great, I like the combination of eras with the Weagle and the old Capitol building logo and wordmark. I think the set could use some brighter colors though. Not neccessarily red-blue, which you seem to be against, but the jerseys now, especially the home jersey, don't have much contrast and don't "pop" so much. I'm not sure exactly what the solution is, maybe a brighter reddish color. Nice design, but I would liven it a bit.

[JCRGraphix]

Not bad. Just spell-check! I never really liked the Blue and Copper Caps, but I think you did a good job with them. One suggestion I would make is re-editing your original post so you can have your pictures linked there.

[BigBubba]

First off, Copper/Black/Blue >>>>>>> RWB for Washington.

I like how you've darkened the shade of blue to green-ish. While I loved the Caps' 90s colour scheme, I hated that shade of blue when used as the primary colour.

With regards to the jerseys, here are a few critiques:

• For the NOBs, stick to one outline. With an already thin font, the double-outline kind of muddles the names and renders them hard to read
  
• I don't think the "Capitals" script works very well as a shoulder patch. It just looks kind of thrown-on and looks clunky inside the box
  
• The home jersey could use a bit more white to lighten things up; as of now it looks a bit drab (perhaps making the parts between the stripes and cuffs/hem white - the same part that's green on the white jersey or making the NOB and numbers white with a copper outline). Also, I'd move the sock stripes higher or add more sock stripes, because not only do they look kind of awkward that low, but it would help break up the heavy monochrome look.
  
• The fauxback third looks kind of odd with traditional elements (such as simple striping and single-coloured block letters/numbers) combined with a very 90s, very detailed logo on the front. What I would do is add some copper to give the logo depth, and incorporate some copper into the striping - maybe making the stars and the thin stripes copper?
  

Still though, I really like where this is headed, and even now it's instantly a major upgrade over the cluttered garbage they wear now.

[StevenGrant94]

I agree with the comments that the colours are a bit too dark. I also agree with BigBubba that the wordmark doesn't make a good shoulder logo, it's too horizontal. Overall it isn't one of my favourite concepts in this series, but I was never a big fan of 90's Capitals set.

The striping pattern on the third is great though, perfect for a team in Washington.

[ElTeduardo]

I love this caps set, I miss that color scheme in DC

[Bmac]

I like this Caps set way more than I thought I would. Not that I thought it would be bad, I just can't see them going with anything other than navy, red, and white now that they've switched back to it. What you have here is pretty nice though. I'll echo what was said above about the home jersey being too drab. White/green/copper on the numerals would help a ton. I am in love with that alternate jersey. The design is fantastic. I'm not sold on the logo because it seems to modern for the design. It doesn't have to be full-on retro, but perhaps removing a outline or something would help.