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[Soccer] Europeanized American Soccer - Amateur Divisions (Huntsville and Little Rock added!)


Naoned Pride

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Hey everyone !

To view the final concepts, go directly to page 3.

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I didn't find a member introduction topic, so I might aswell do it here.

I'm Naoned Pride, I'm 20 years old and live in Nantes, France - "Naoned" is the breton name of Nantes. As a european, you might have already figured out I'm more of a fan of the football you play with your feet !

I've been following Major League Soccer for quite a few years (2009, but I've really been focusing on it since Thierry Henry arrived in NYRB, so 2010.) and my favorite north american franchise is the New York Red Bulls. Though I'm really looking forward the return of the Cosmos in major events. I kind of like Philadelphia Union too (Le Toux's one of my favorite player in MLS... he's breton for God's sake !).

Now, about my project here, despite really enjoying MLS for non-so-obvious reasons, some things always kind of bothered me, as a ferocious European Football fan.

- The play-offs, which seems competly non-sensical to me. A league is won thanks to regularity, not on 2-3 matches at the very end of the season. Last year's Galaxy win really pissed me off for they weren't so good all season long and just played the play-offs magistraly. On the other hand, I completely understand that for the sake of the League's expansion, play-offs are important, as it is an institution in the US.

- The absences of a real federation and professional league that includes a real system as in every federations in the World. A system which includes several divisions, promotions and relegations. I really hope the MLS expansion will boost in the next few years in order to introduce a second division and therefore a real interest for lower level teams.

- And finally, but that's really personnal and hardly defensible, the names of the teams. These are really specific to North America, and I've never quite enjoyed it. In Europe and beyond, it's often more generic names such as FC Nantes, FC Barcelona, Manchester United, VfB Stuttgart, Olympique Lyonnais, etc. Of course you could say there also are clubs which names don't fit that such as Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham Hotspurs or Glasgow Rangers, but these are really a minority.

So, I've thought of the project I'm giving you: The American Premier League. A european-like Association Football league.

Now, I've looked up the first major League in the US: North American Soccer League. As it was established in 1968, I've decided to look up years by years until its decline in 1984 the winner of the final table, before the play-offs. The team ranked 1st won the championship.

Same goes for the teams. I've gathered the different franchises throughout the time from a similar city or town into one single association. For example, I've decided to name Los Angeles' team "Los Angeles Californians" (naming your team with the state you live in is a pretty common thing in Europe if you ask: Bayern Munich, Girondins de Bordeaux,...), now if Los Angeles Aztecs or LA Galaxy, both based in the same city, won the league, it would be given to Los Angeles Californians.

Now, here's the timeline of the leagues I've looked up.

1968-1984: North American Soccer League.
1985: United Soccer League
1986-1987: Western Soccer Alliance
1988-1989: American Soccer League
1990-1994: American Professional Soccer League
1995: The A-League
1996-present: Major League Soccer

I suggest http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/ if you're interested in the history of soccer in the US. This is where I've got my informations from.

Now, here is the Title History of my American Premier League.


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Concerning the US Open Cup, I didn't have to go that far, just looked up for the winners and applied my patch.

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Interested in following ? Here will follow the presentation of the 16 teams that take part in the 2013 season of the American Premier League. The top class of American association football.

Where do I come from ?


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Page 1:

Los Angesles Californians /// Washington DCFC /// Columbus AFC /// Sporting Seattle

Page 2:

New York City FC (Final logo) /// Atlético San Jose

Yet to be revealed (a.o.):

- Boston NEC

- Chicago United

- Denver Coloradans

- Deportivo Carson

- FC Dallas

- FC Portland

- Houston Dynamo

- Kansas City Union

- Philadelphia United

- Salt Lake City FC

New York City FC

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Los Angeles Californians

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Washington DCFC

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Sporting Seattle

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Columbus AFC

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I think Columbus AFC's crest would look better if you kept the letters in the white area instead of having them extend past it. Also is the eagle you used for Washington DCFC's crest taken from the Washington Capitals current alternate? b9hvwjslf7jzh18ej6y4.gif

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I'm not sure about New York. The grey and aqua sort of bleed together and it's hard to make anything out on the uniforms.

The other teams aren't that bad. I can tell you borrowed from other logos to make these, and there's nothing wrong with that, assuming you're new at making crests and logos.

So far, so good.

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I think Columbus AFC's crest would look better if you kept the letters in the white area instead of having them extend past it. Also is the eagle you used for Washington DCFC's crest taken from the Washington Capitals current alternate?

Damn, busted !

Well, I looked up for some material for an eagle silhouette/clip art and I found this one. In addition, the fact that it's from another team based in Washington comforted me into using it. I could easily change it though if it really bothers.

I'm not sure about New York. The grey and aqua sort of bleed together and it's hard to make anything out on the uniforms.

The other teams aren't that bad. I can tell you borrowed from other logos to make these, and there's nothing wrong with that, assuming you're new at making crests and logos.

So far, so good.

My first shot at NYC's crest was a White logo with Red&Blue as secondary logo. I found it too classical, I wanted something more original, new. Hence the color scheme, which are, to my knowledge, exclusive. Plus I'm really proud with how this team's kit worked out.

Concerning the logos, it's more or less on purpose. I admit I start from the original MLS logos on one hand because I'm not expert enough to make up my own completly, but on the other hand, it's also in order to keep in touch with the city's style and landmarks.

Seattle is definitely my favorite, and I would have loved if you encorporated the native-american logo somehow:

But I love how the kits and logo turned out.

Hum, Seattle is my favorite too here, that's why I won't change it one bit. ^^

Thank you all for your replies, I want to keep adding my teams before getting into change one. Except if it's really needed.

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Yea I will agree that the Capitals Eagle could be fixed, but it'd be cool if you kept the form of a "W" like it already is. I'm a fan of all the jerseys, my favorites are NY Away, DC's Third and Seattle's Third.

I'm excited to see what you do with Toronto! I hope you keep the red and white, or at least go blue and white :)

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Interested in following ? Here will follow the presentation of the 16 teams that take part in the 2013 season of the American Premier League. The top class of American association football.

Why just 16? The big 4 Euro leagues all have 20 and US+Canada are definitely big enough to have 20 teams.

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I'm not sure about New York. The grey and aqua sort of bleed together and it's hard to make anything out on the uniforms.

The other teams aren't that bad. I can tell you borrowed from other logos to make these, and there's nothing wrong with that, assuming you're new at making crests and logos.

So far, so good.

My first shot at NYC's crest was a White logo with Red&Blue as secondary logo. I found it too classical, I wanted something more original, new. Hence the color scheme, which are, to my knowledge, exclusive. Plus I'm really proud with how this team's kit worked out.

Concerning the logos, it's more or less on purpose. I admit I start from the original MLS logos on one hand because I'm not expert enough to make up my own completly, but on the other hand, it's also in order to keep in touch with the city's style and landmarks.

The criticism is not that the colors are original, but that colors for the crest become a mush to the eye. Maybe a darker grey, I don't know. The concept/idea of the green from the Statue of Liberty's copper skin is a good idea, you just need have another color, or possibly add a third, to highlight and compliment it.

Concept and ideas are great, but if they don't produce something pleasing to the eye, it won't work, no matter how clever the idea is. Now the Home and Away uniforms seem to work with that 2 tone color pallet, but that is probably because there is not as much fine detail to pull from as there is in a crest. In the crest, the words are lost in the color bleed. Maybe if the grey was a darker tone you could do the lettering in a white. You'll have to play with that.

As for the details of the crest, I like the idea and spirit of it. Again, the copper skin color is a nice idea. I personally would not mirror the Statue of Liberty in the crest. Since it is a unique landmark it feels, to me, odd to see two of them.

The other crests and kits are looking nice. I think Columbus could use a 3rd color to get more detail and contrast in there. The white and the green can play hard on the eye. Again, the concept of using Columbus' family flag for the colors is a nice touch, just don't let a nice idea ignore basic legibility issues.

On the DC kits, a small thing bothers me. I think I'd like to see the kits without the word mark of Volkswagen. Let the logo just stand on its own.

Outside of that, keep it up. It is always fun to see other people's take on MLS and American soccer in general.

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I like that your NYC logo creates a sort of Liberty Bell in the negative space between the Statues of Liberty. Pretty awesome.

On the other hand, I'm not sure if Air Emirates is actually a sponsor for MLS or not, but I'm not sure it's a great connection for a team in New York. I seriously can't be the only one to connect a team in New York sponsored by an airline named after an Arab country.

I'm not trying to get on a soap box about terrorism and Islam, but if that were a serious proposal for a team in New York, you'd probably have people rioting in the streets.

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The criticism is not that the colors are original, but that colors for the crest become a mush to the eye. Maybe a darker grey, I don't know. The concept/idea of the green from the Statue of Liberty's copper skin is a good idea, you just need have another color, or possibly add a third, to highlight and compliment it.

Concept and ideas are great, but if they don't produce something pleasing to the eye, it won't work, no matter how clever the idea is. Now the Home and Away uniforms seem to work with that 2 tone color pallet, but that is probably because there is not as much fine detail to pull from as there is in a crest. In the crest, the words are lost in the color bleed. Maybe if the grey was a darker tone you could do the lettering in a white. You'll have to play with that.

As for the details of the crest, I like the idea and spirit of it. Again, the copper skin color is a nice idea. I personally would not mirror the Statue of Liberty in the crest. Since it is a unique landmark it feels, to me, odd to see two of them.

Great suggestions. I echo the sentiment regarding the "mirroring" of the Statue of Liberty in the crest. I would prefer to just see one image centered in the crest. As far as the colors go, instead of the gray, what about a more sandstone or tan color. When the sun is hitting the statue's pedestal, it has a nice tan look to it as seen below:

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I like that your NYC logo creates a sort of Liberty Bell in the negative space between the Statues of Liberty. Pretty awesome.

I noticed that too...but given the hate between NY and Philly sports fans, I don't think that would go over well with fans in Pennsylvania.

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I'm excited to see what you do with Toronto! I hope you keep the red and white, or at least go blue and white :)

Interested in following ? Here will follow the presentation of the 16 teams that take part in the 2013 season of the American Premier League. The top class of American association football.

Why just 16? The big 4 Euro leagues all have 20 and US+Canada are definitely big enough to have 20 teams.

Well, my project is an American Premier League. I was projecting to create a Canadian Premier League afterwards. In MLS '13, there are only 16 american team. I did not want to expand with 4 other teams based in US for it would be a sujective choice between the american team in NASL (considered 2nd Division).

In addition, Germany only as 18 clubs taking part of the Bundesliga. ;)

I like that your NYC logo creates a sort of Liberty Bell in the negative space between the Statues of Liberty. Pretty awesome.

Haha, I didn't even notice the space between the statues ! My talent goes beyond my own will.

On the other hand, I'm not sure if Air Emirates is actually a sponsor for MLS or not, but I'm not sure it's a great connection for a team in New York. I seriously can't be the only one to connect a team in New York sponsored by an airline named after an Arab country.

I'm not trying to get on a soap box about terrorism and Islam, but if that were a serious proposal for a team in New York, you'd probably have people rioting in the streets.

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Fly Emirates has nothing to do with 9/11 whatsoever dude, that's a rather stupid statement if you ask me.

I obviously didn't put the RedBull logo on it for it would be a completly different club. I then remembered that NYRB took part of the Emirates Cup last year along with Paris and Arsenal (based in London), which both have Fly Emirates as main sponsor. This is as simply as that.

I thank you guys for all the replies and suggestions. I shall re-work on the NYC logo as I'm really interested in following your suggestions. I might give DCFC a shot aswell, but I was pretty satisfied with this one.

Concerning the kits, I will not change them. Those are just accessories here.

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You're right about it being racist and dumb... but remember that perception is reality. If a large part of your target market is likely to feel that way about your kit sponsor, do you take the chance of having them not support your team?

I find it interesting you choose to dump one of the "Europeanized" existing names, DC United.

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POTD 2013-08-22

On 7/14/2012 at 2:20 AM, tajmccall said:

When it comes to style, ya'll really should listen to Kev.

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Here's my attempt at the NYC logo:

1368932986-logo-3-wip.png1368933065-logo-4-wip.png

I first tried to follow the suggestions, but I couldn't get the fog right. So I came up with this. I slightly made it smaller in height, and darkened the grey.

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There's a lot going on there, and the colors are pretty washed out. The font is... well, I wouldn't choose it. The logos in the set, by and large, suffer from a lot of the same problems: busy concepts compounded by wispy line work and odd fonts.

I didn't mean this to be a condemnation, but I think you would be wise to go back and reconsider your designs.

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POTD 2013-08-22

On 7/14/2012 at 2:20 AM, tajmccall said:

When it comes to style, ya'll really should listen to Kev.

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First off, I think you are on a better track with this one crest then the first attempt. There needs to be more refinement but I think you are getting there.

I'm not going to "translate" what Mockba said, but expand on what he said. Right now I think a few things are working against the crest. First is that color for the Statue of Liberty's skin. While I'm not sure what actual color it is you picked (aka Pantone color), let's just call it oxidized copper. Oxidized Copper is a very tough color on the eye, there is just no way around it. When asked "what your favorite color is?" nobody jumps up and yells "Oxidized Copper!" :) This shade of color, and many in the green and green/blue tone, induces a sense of ill and unease in a person. Visually the color excites the eye (aka causes your retinal cones to go nuts) while psychologically makes the viewer ill. Not exactly the best combo punch there.

As a side story, I'm a theater/entertainment lighting designer by trade. I was working on a production of Macbeth, not as the main lighting designer, as part of the lighting team. The production was placed in a 1950s Deep South setting, having a very In The Heat of the Night or a Tennessee Williams play feel/setting. When Lady Macbeth and Macbeth kill the king, thus sealing their doom, they wash their hands in this glass punch bowl, which was lit from underneath to make the bloody water glow. At that moment, with the bloody punch bowl lit, the lighting design then did a dramatic shift. The rest of the show, until Macbeth is killed, was lighted with only lights with a color very much like your Oxidized Copper. This color has the wonderful property, in stage lighting, of leeching color especially out of the skin. We basically leeched the color out of the "world" of Macbeth and created this faux black and white/noir world. When Macbeth was finally killed, color returned to the world and normal lighting resumed.

It was a great concept on paper, but in actuality it was close to a complete failure on stage. First off, the designer used way too many lights and didn't give more shadow and darkness on stage. Noir is known for its shadow, not the light. That was the lighting designer's fault on that, but the color of that Oxidized Copper had a few unexpected side-effects. While it did a remarkable job of leeching all the color out of everything it lit, it made the audience feeling very ill. Imagine sitting for a few hours looking at nothing but that color? During intermission we saw people just standing in the lobby holding and pinching their eyes as they adjusted. The eye was over stimulated by the hue of that Oxidized Copper color, while at the same time people were feeling sea sick, as that Oxidized Copper has the same psychological association as turbulent ocean water. Not soothing blue green ocean water, but stagnant green blue turbulent ocean water.

Needless to say, the play ended up being a disaster. Why this long-winded story? Because some things work best on paper and not reality. I think the idea of using a green-esque color to represent the Statue of Liberty's skin is a good concept, just not the actual color. Find a color that shades more towards green to get to a more pleasant color. It would also make your marketing dept, if this was an actual football club, happy.

I think one of the elements Mockba also pointed out was how busy the crest is. For me, that means the skyline. Way too many buildings there. We don't need the actual, true representation of the New York skyline. Simplify it. Distill it to the essence of NYC.

Another element I think that needs work is the contrast of the thickness of the crest's border vs the thinness of the text. The very thick borders draws the eye away from the center (aka the most important area of the crest) to the edges. I'd thin those borders while thicken up the text.

As for the text, let's simplify that. First, I'd use a sans-serif font. New York Times font (or whatever it is that you actually used) is cute tounge-in-cheek-in-cheek choice, but makes the text too busy for something like a crest. Also, New York City Football Club is a lot to cram in that crest. The end result is small and illegible font. Once again it is a time to simplify. NYC FC is all you need to say. Going with NYC FC gives you more room and increases your legibility and design options. Besides, New Yorkers know what NYC means. As a native New Yorker, if I know what NYC means, I rightfully assume that the rest of the country knows what that means. If they don't know what NYC means, fine, what is important is that us New Yorkers do. Gotta love the inherent arrogance of us New Yorkers! :P

Again, I think you are on the right track with this crest then the first one. I might have over explained my critique, but I wanted to relay why I felt color wasn't working rather then saying "that color sucks." This is just my $0.02 and you can do what you will with it.

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So, I've read everything (including the MacBeth play story, YES I DID !) and I decided to reconsider my logo. I've kept the original frame from NYRB though.

I wanted to keep the colors related to the Statue of Liberty, so I came up with this gold and sea green color. The colors of the torch the lady's holding since the late 19th century.

Feedbacks are, of course, needed.

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Minus another Macbeth story, this looks great. I'm not nuts about the up/down layout of the NYC, but beyond that I think this is a much better crest. A kinder green to the eye but still in the color range of the copper skin concept; the gold compliments the green very nicely; the NYC skyline looks good in its placement; and the Statue of Liberty looks good coming out of the gold "sash" of the logo. Nicely done, just work a little more on the NYC letter placement.

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