Phoenix Suns Identity Concept

[mbannon92]

It's been awhile, but I'm back with a concept! This is actually a revision of a previous Suns concept I did, which can be seen here. Looking back at that concept, I don't really like the style of the sun. I was going for a southwestern blanket vibe, but it looks too much like a CD to me now (ha). I also wanted to go back and change up the uniforms and make the colors a little brighter.

For the primary logo, I went with more of a classic, triangular look inside the sun, and incorporated a basketball in the center of it. The secondary is the same, but with "PHX" replacing "Phoenix Suns", and the tertiary is a ball/sun combo. As for the uniforms, I arched the wordmarks, centered the numbers, and put the sun on the shorts. The court features a "SUNS" ambigram at center court (as they have now) and half-suns at mid court along each sideline.

[SFGiants58]

That looks gorgeous. I've always loved the 68-92 Suns look. So clean, so simple, so not trendy (no giant subliminated elements, no gray panels, no unnecessary beveling or black). The only issue I'm noticing is that the yellow outline on the alt blends a little too much with the orange base. Other than that, it's the perfect introduction of modern sensibilities into the classic Phoenix look. This is also the general direction that I want to take the Suns, and it's nice to see other people who like their old-fashioned branding. Well done!

[njdevs7]

Very good

[Word02]

Pretty cool but honestly I love the suns how they are I don't think they need a change

[eagle98]

I like this. Even before I read the description, I was thinking "Southwest art," so you definitely succeeded in getting the vibe you wanted. The logos and uniforms are good, though I agree that the orange and yellow blend together too much.

[BaseballJunkie]

I love the wordmark!

[AndrewSa888]

Love it, but could you do a black uniform too? Probably because of the 90's, but I prefer the Suns wear black instead of orange.

[KevinJohnsonThaTruth]

I agree with the poster above, I want to see a Black Jersey similar to the 90s one.

But for the court I think you should I think the center court logo should be the territary logo.

[Shadojoker]

Ok but too plain for me..good revision of their pre-90's uniforms though. Black uniform request?

[illwauk]

Probably the best Suns concept I've ever seen. The addition of gold works so well is because it's exactly as subtle as it should be.

[CAB]

This is awesome! I really like the color palette you chose and it works well for the shorts design. That tertiary logo is nice too, you managed to fit a basketball into a non-circular shape without making it look awkward. Just FYI- the images in your old thread have been moved or deleted, I'd love to see those again.

[mbannon92]

Thanks for the comments everyone, keep em coming.

I agree that the yellow and orange blend together a little, but I don't mind that. Especially in the logo, where I was going for a gradient vibe without a gradient.

As for the black jersey, I'm not gonna do BFBS. They can just wear the 90s throwbacks a few times a year.

[mbannon92]

Sorry about the images being down. Switched to imgur so they're back up now!

[Morgan33]

The faux gradient is spectacular. Especially when incorporated on the shorts. This is worlds better than their recent update, great work!

[Bellzibub]

Hands down the best NBA logo I've ever seen

[tv15]

Great work all around

[Western Michigan]

The arched font reminds me of their awful look from 2001-2013. Make it diagonal and throw in a white outline, and this would be an awesome concept. Love how the uniforms resemble the 68-92 look and the 92-00 look at the same time.

[BrandMooreArt]

i think you have an excellent base for an identity here. just need to go back and revisit a few details, mostly in the logos. its not a big deal, but a bit bothersome to me that you have arched wordmarks, but when placed in the logos the type is straight. i suggest arching all the type to get a more consistent look. i think you should also add a few points to the sun logo. i really dont know how to explain how it looks currently, but i think adding a few points and maybe making them longer would give it more of a sun feel and have a bit more energy.

i also dont like how 2 of the colors are turned inside the sun. its creating tangents (points meeting points) and looks odd because you only have this one rotation. i think you just need to keep them all on the same axis and have each color either the same size, or increasing/decreasing as the colors go outward. this will give the logo a much better flow and sense of upward/outward direction, made even stronger with the arched type. a rough example is below just so you can see what i mean

also, i like the use of 5 or 6 colors here, but the exact values of the swatches need work. just as your shapes should "flow" consistently, so should your values and color. right now, you have this very dark spot in the middle, but outside there is a very light difference between 2 shapes, then it meets a hard outline with purple. below is your values in the logo on the left, and what a more consistent, radeint value chart on the right. try to match that one

[mbannon92]

i think you have an excellent base for an identity here. just need to go back and revisit a few details, mostly in the logos. its not a big deal, but a bit bothersome to me that you have arched wordmarks, but when placed in the logos the type is straight. i suggest arching all the type to get a more consistent look. i think you should also add a few points to the sun logo. i really dont know how to explain how it looks currently, but i think adding a few points and maybe making them longer would give it more of a sun feel and have a bit more energy.

i also dont like how 2 of the colors are turned inside the sun. its creating tangents (points meeting points) and looks odd because you only have this one rotation. i think you just need to keep them all on the same axis and have each color either the same size, or increasing/decreasing as the colors go outward. this will give the logo a much better flow and sense of upward/outward direction, made even stronger with the arched type. a rough example is below just so you can see what i mean

also, i like the use of 5 or 6 colors here, but the exact values of the swatches need work. just as your shapes should "flow" consistently, so should your values and color. right now, you have this very dark spot in the middle, but outside there is a very light difference between 2 shapes, then it meets a hard outline with purple. below is your values in the logo on the left, and what a more consistent, radeint value chart on the right. try to match that one

Thanks for the thorough C&C Brandon. Your Creamer award is well deserved!

Regarding the wordmarks, I can see what you mean, but off the top of my head a lot of teams have straight wordmarks in the logo and arched on the jerseys. And I like the even, rectangular lower half of the logo. I can see how adding more points and extending them could work, but I was basing the logo off the teams previous logos, which had shorter, stouter points. And I like how the current setup works so well for the basketball/sun tertiary. To explain the way I worked the interior, I wanted the outermost color to be like separate points coming out of the round-ish sun. If you just Google "sun illustration" you'll see what I mean.

Where I agree with you is the colors. I can go back and look at them and try to get a better flow. Maybe using a red-orange in the center instead of red would help.