[TimEOBrien]

Ok, So I've been working on some Olympic hockey unis and I plan on releasing all eight designs over the next few days and keeping the links here in the first post:

Canada
Czech Republic
Finland
Russia
Slovakia
Sweden
Switzerland
USA

Updates

**NOTE: All helmets for all teams include the Sochi 2014 patch and all jerseys have each country's Olympic Committee logo somewhere on the front (most on bottom left hem).

[TimEOBrien]

Canada:
Home Road


Using the new Canadian Olympic identity released late last year, I have meshed these new elements (the line extension leaf, the Stratum 1 font, etc.) onto classic, yet forward thinking, Canadian uniforms.

Canadian hockey uniforms have long been a bastion for bold, unique and powerful design ideas. With this in mind, I have taken some chances with these unis.

The uniforms feature the word "CANADA" (split into CAN and ADA) on top of the shoulders. In probably my most unique idea, all Canadian players will wear a helmet designed to mimic the provincial flag of their home province - a bit of individuality that still screams "Canada, United."

While the home uni mimics the Canadian flag, the pants on both home and road are black, a tribute to many great Canadian national teams that have won in the black bottoms.

**NOTE: All helmets for all teams include the Sochi 2014 patch and all jerseys have each country's Olympic Committee logo somewhere on the front (most on bottom left hem).

[BigBubba]

I love the red, but the away is really annoying. It would look better if it matched the red. This is a pretty creative concept. On a side note, I actually never heard of that logo before.

[wildwing64]

Love the white jersey, very creative. Though for the purpose of practicality it would be better off with white instead of red sleeves, which shouldn't take away from the flag inspired design you went with.

[aci]

With the white jersey, I think it needs a bit more white... either the elbow area could be white, or even just the cuff section being white could work. Either way, just a little too much red.

I love the "CAN ADA" shoulders; the idea is genius, and it'd look great when the players are at the faceoff dot... the very idea of playing against Canada should strike fear into the hearts of other hockey players, so why not remind them?

I don't really like the helmet idea because I think it takes away from the uniformity of the set. A small provincial flag logo on the helmet or jersey could look good, but not the whole helmets. I'm not even sure that'd look good if they all matched, just because hockey helmets are generally plain. I'd like to see a team take a stab at striping or something one day, but not a huge flag pattern.

[drdougfresh]

Interesting helmet idea, but that would look really bad on the ice. Too much individuality for a 'uniform', IMO. Patches, maybe. But a whole helmet would look weird.

As far as the jerseys, I feel like they're a bit 'blah' for such a powerhouse. I would look at some font modifications as well. The typography you used looks like it's designed to be used for print, and not on a jersey-- in short, it should be more of a block version.

[TimEOBrien]

Czech Republic:
Home Road


The Czech Republic has a great hockey tradition and this uniform set hopes to evoke that tradition.

In previous Czech uniforms, some of the colors of their great crest have been excluded from the rest of the uniform designs, leading to a team with a weak identity and a look very similar to Russia.

By bringing in patterns and colors from the crest, this team - home or road is - clearly and unmistakably - Czech.

[hockey week]

my eyes! my eyes! Those checkerboards need to be bigger, like Predators third jersey sized

[slapshot]

So what happens on the home Canada jerseys if someone has a long name? Do you use a different font, or make the letters different colors? Patrice Bergeron's name would run into his armpits.

And the checkerboards on the Czech jersey are Croatia's thing. Any time I see red checkerboards I think Croatia, not Czechosloviakia.

[drdougfresh]

Gotta rethink that Czech concept, man. This one's just not working for me either. A hem stripe that's two totally different colors than the arm stripes looks really out of place-- even if they are in the crest. The checkerboard should be bigger, too. It looks like a tablecloth when it's that fine, IMO.

[TimEOBrien]

slapshot, on January 22, 2012 - 23:10, said:

So what happens on the home Canada jerseys if someone has a long name? Do you use a different font, or make the letters different colors? Patrice Bergeron's name would run into his armpits.

Like so: Nameplate. And for particularly long names, just like teams do these days, you just uses tighter spacing and narrower letters.

[TimEOBrien]

hockey week, on January 22, 2012 - 23:02, said:

my eyes! my eyes! Those checkerboards need to be bigger, like Predators third jersey sized

drdougfresh, on January 22, 2012 - 23:18, said:

Gotta rethink that Czech concept, man. This one's just not working for me either. A hem stripe that's two totally different colors than the arm stripes looks really out of place-- even if they are in the crest. The checkerboard should be bigger, too. It looks like a tablecloth when it's that fine, IMO.

I disagree on the checkerboard size. There are eight rows visible in the top right eagle, and even at the widest in my concept, you can't see more than seven rows. I was going for accuracy in scale and a larger checkerboard pattern reminded me too much of Croatia.

I see your points, but I just disagree based on my intentions.

[Geoff]

Checkerboard on a hockey jersey has two proper places: the Charlotte Checkers and the Croatian National Team. That's it.

[crashcarson15]

What's the point of posting your concepts when all (now) five people that have commented are going to tell you the same thing and you're just gonna ignore it?

The checkerboard doesn't work. It's Croatia's thing, and it's too fine here anyways.

[TimEOBrien]

crashcarson15, on January 23, 2012 - 01:43, said:

What's the point of posting your concepts when all (now) five people that have commented are going to tell you the same thing and you're just gonna ignore it?

I didn't ignore it, I responded to it, argued my perspective and took their opinions into account, if and when I make edits (I will, as I always do, release this series which I have already completed and then possibly come back with revisions later) I very well may completely change how these unis look.

But these are my concepts , not any of yours, which is why you would not do those things, but I did. Hopefully you like Canada or will like some of the others I have coming down the pipe.

Also, this is Croatia's current uni set:

I doubt there'll be much confusion. Plus they took the big checkerboard, too!

[Delayed Penalty]

Quote

In probably my most unique idea, all Canadian players will wear a helmet designed to mimic the provincial flag of their home province - a bit of individuality that still screams "Canada, United."

No, it doesn't scream anything except, TACKY! Plus the Olympic committee would never allow it.

Not feeling the CAN ADA idea either. I think just a solid maple leaf on the shoulders, maybe with CDN in it, would suffice. I'd also ditch the black pants, make them red, since there's no black anywhere else on the uniforms.

[Fregus]

I'm usually a huge fan of your work, but this doesn't do it for me at all. Your ideas are creative but they just doesn't work.

[Perfect Zero]

I like your "CAN ADA" idea on the shoulders, and I think those uniforms work really well. However, I'm going to reiterate what others have said on here and say that the checkerboard doesn't work at all on the Czech uniforms. I know that it's part of the crest, but the Croats have that market cornered.

[TimEOBrien]

Finland:
Home Road


The Lions are currently the second ranked team in the world and these uniforms hope to raise their image to the level of their play.

While recent Finland unis have had red, yellow and even black in their color scheme, these classic uniforms stick to two shades of blue and white. SUOMI (Finnish for "Finland") adorns the crest just above the iconic lion for which the team is named.

[Geoff]

Finish for "Finish"? No, it's Finnish for "Finnish".

That's said, I like the finish set. Nice traditional look and leaves room for a darker blue alternate.