CRK Designs for the NHL

[crkraider22]

Over the past week I have been inspired to get my NHL design juices back together. My first league series was the NHL, over 6 months ago, seen here. Hopefully this time around, my growth in design will show in the concepts. Thanks to dgnmrwrw for the template, it was a pain to transfer to Photoshop.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Original, 1st Update

Tampa Bay Lightning: Original, 1st Update, 2nd Update

[crkraider22]

First is the Pittsburgh Penguins. For the Pens, I wanted to update the classic skating penguin. First, I updated the triangle, giving it more curve at the top. I did this because I felt that in the edge era, a sleeker logo would help "modernize" the franchise and accompany it into the new arena. I also changed the gold back to the "yellow" gold, I felt that the current shade made the logo to dull. To the penguin itself, I updated the belly, the eye, the skates, and the stick. For the primary uniforms, I went with the look from the back-to-back cup years, with some edge flair. It is sort of a combination between their current uniform and the Islanders. For the alternate, I created a slanted script with their newly discovered font that was similar to their 90's road jerseys. I tried to make these different from the Rangers by having the striping above and below the sleeve numbers.

Not sure who I will do next, but hopefully some of these will be recognized up there with the recent works by dgnmrwrw, elliott, and others.

[habsfan1]

It's a very good start. I can't wait to see which team you'll do next.

[sergeimakarenkov44]

Nice job on these so far. I really like the return to the original colors and the inspiration from the old striping without being too plain. One thing I would recommend doing is connecting the numbers on the alternate. Sort of NYR style. As is, they're slightly disjoint but not bad-looking.

By the way, I looked at your older Penguins concept and I love the alternate logo. I might not want to see it on everything here, but it was just really cool.

[charger77]

Wow that Penguins set is amazing!

-Dan

[Korbyn]

The names on the back seem really small, you may want to make it more proportional to the rest of the jersey.

As well why not try something with each edge of the triangle behind the Penguin? Each edge can represent a Stanley Cup. Nothing to special, but just add another element to the logo as an idea.

[dgnmrwrw]

Pretty good stuff here. The change to the old yellow is nostalgic, and it looks quite good. I've got no problems when the Pens using a more gold color, but the one they currently have is just too soft and desaturated for my taste. One could argue that your new yellow makes them almost exactly like the Bruins, but really it's not a big deal.

The Edge-ified version of the old jerseys looks pretty sweet. I was kinda afraid that the curvy edge at the inside of the sleeves would look weird in reality, but on the player models it seems to be fine. Good job using black sleeves on the white jersey; yellow sleeves would have been a bit much. The alternate is very, very nice. It's referencing an older era while still being unique and modern, and it's very different from the home and away set. Good job. (What you've done is freakishly similar to what I had in mind for my series. But it was still in the early stages; I'll come up with something different)

A few minor issues: I agree with Korbyn about the players names; also, the back numbers seem kinda spread (kerned) out, and maybe a little too large. Also, I think the thick white collar on the alternate looks a little out of place. Maybe try one with thinner yellow and white lines, like you're using for the sleeve stripes.

[crkraider22]

Thanks to those who have viewed this and left some comments.

@habsfan1: Thanks, I think I have an idea on who to do, but am working on sketching out some ideas for both the jerseys and logos.

@sergeimakarenkov44: I thought something looked off on with the alternate numbers, I couldn't pinpoint the problem though. With the other logo you mentioned, I felt that if I used the zeypher logo, the identity of the primary would be compromised with such a detailed secondary logo. That and I used it in the previous thread.

@charger77: Thanks, glad to see a lot of positive vibes from the return to the cup era designs.

@Korbyn: I wasn't quite sure if the names looked right when I finished, but part of me thought it was from looking at the design for so long. I am kind of hesitant with incorporating anything like that into the logos, the Islanders did that and how many cups have they won since then?

@dgnmrwrw: Sorry if this interfered with your concept. I can understand the concern with these colors looking like the Bruins, but with my idea for them taking shape, that isn't a concern. I can see how the numbers look far apart, I started using the Edge fonts, so I might go back to the older files. I have the numbers the same height as the logo on the front, and after looking at a few jerseys, I think that is about right, I will probabily move both those and the nameplate up a little though. I completely passed over the collar when I went back to edit the striping on the alternate, I originally had a second white stripe with everything, hence the all white collar.

I am going to start on the updates and they should be up later tonight or tomorrow.

[crkraider22]

Penguins Update:

-Updated alternate numbers

-Bigger nameplates

-Less spread out numbers

-Updated alternate collar

I'm gonna start on the next team, still would like to hear about this update though.

[crkraider22]

The next team is Tampa Bay. For the Lightning, I feel that they are still searching for an iconic logo, a circle with a bolt and the city's name just doesn't cut it. They upgraded the bolt itself when the edge cuts came out. For my concept I removed black, and used yellow as strictly an accent color in the logos. Dark blue became the primary color, and light blue the secondary. For the primary, I used a shield, with the state of Florida in the background, and the bolt coming across the state and out of the shield. The secondary is the bolt from a cloud. I tried to re-create the jerseys from when they won the cup, along with the arched nameplates they had shortly after the team started. The alternate jerseys eliminates all light blue, featuring just the dark blue and white.

I'll wait to see the comments I get with this before I dig deep into the next team, expect an update or two on the Bolts.

[Korbyn]

When I see the alternate logo is reminds me alot of Sideshow Bob:

I think the clouds are to puffy and shouldn't look so friendly with that Lightning coming out.

[kinger16]

Hello,im new here,can someone send me that template that he is using with the reebok dummy?king16_564@hotmail.com

[elliott]

It's got some issues. The logo seems decent with the shield, I like it, but let me say that the yellow is entirely useless. The cloud logo isn't great, the lightning bolt seems to be overlapped by the cloud, it should be coming out of it somehow. The two blues seems a little too close, lighten up the lighter one just a little. You are on the right track with the uniforms, nice design, but please, please make the widths of the stripes on the arms and waist the same, that annoys me to no end. The striping pattern is pretty good, but the overall striping layout makes me think devils, what if you used the simple two-stripe design they had pre-edge? Just a suggestion, moving on, the number font seems a little bubbly, I would like to see a more blocky font, I think it would match the straight striping better. The nameplate is not lookin too hot, that arch is pretty awful (and I thought it was "michalek"?). I think there is gray in the numbers on the home, it looks about as useless as the yellow, get rid of both of them, or use more of the gray somewhere else. The striping on the alt seems forced, I don't like the interaction between the arm and side striping. The lighter blue would help on this one, you are going for the simple look, but then the extra colors in the logo itself and the pants throws it off a bit. And why is the nameplate arched differently on the alt? That's about all I can think of, it's a good start, but as of now it's not there yet.

[BJBerthiaume]

The secondary logo is a little top heavy with the clouds dominating most of the logo. The wordmark and number fonts are a little too friendly for a team called the lightning also. Otherwise, it looks pretty good, especially the primary.

[Puck]

Tampa should probably always have black in the scheme, seperate it from the Maple Leafs.

[capn89]

For Tampa Bay; if you switched the dark blue to the lighter blue and the lighter blue to black you'd have a nice looking set there. I'd also make the third jersey black, rather than have two blue jerseys. Nice work on the logos, however.

[dgnmrwrw]

For Tampa, I like the idea of using two blues (I'm doing the same thing) and I like your primary logo. However, I think maybe your two blue are a little too close in terms of brightness and contrast. Also, you've got the yellow color barely used in the primary then never used again; why not make the yellow a tertiary color and use it throughout the uniforms? It would add some depth and pop to the uniforms, which seem pretty flat right now..

Other issues have already been mentioned: the soft numbers, the weak alternate logo, and the arching on the names. Also, the crests and shoulder logos on the jerseys look REALLY big. I think if you give this one some work, it could be quite good.

[NEW.ERA]

On Tampa make the storm cloud more empowering because it kinda makes the lightning mentality kinda soft but great job on the jerseys themselves.

[crkraider22]

I kinda thought the Lightning would get a mixed review.

@Korbyn: I wasn't sure on how to render the clouds to make it fiercer. I might scrap the logo and use just the bolt as the alternate.

@elliott: I originally had intended to use the yellow with the jerseys, but when I started to do that, I was ending up with a St. Louis Blues look, so I scrapped the yellow on them. I'll probabily add some curve to the striping to flow better with the shield logo. The numbers are based off of the font from the wordmark, I will re-think both of those elements. I used a different arching tool for the alternate, I got the two confused on what I originally used. The grey you see is from me trying to make the numbers look like the realistic fabric teams use.

@BJBerthiaume: I'm not quite sure how to make the cloud logo less top heavy. The font for both the numbers and workmark are based off of their current "Bolts" script.

@Puck: Understood, that is something I will take into consideration when I do the updates.

@capn89: I was thinking of going this direction with the update, and having the black as an accent color.

@dgnmrwrw: I can see how the shoulder logos are big, I'll probabily make them the same size as the sleeve numbers. As for the crests, I have kept them the same size for both teams now, so the only thing I could think of would be the cloud on the third is taller because it is top heavy.

@NEW.ERA.PANDA: Would making the cloud flatter and less round help make it more powerful, other than that I'm not sure what else could be done.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful C&C. I will take this back to the drawing table now for the updates.

[les3couleurs]

I have a tough time like many others with the color scheme you chose for TB. To me they're a black team. I also don't feel the roundness of the design. I think it should play more to the sharp edges of the bolt.

The Penguins, I wasn't sure at first looking at the home, then I saw the away and the alt and it won me over. Top notch. Strong design that reminds of the glory years, but with the edge twist. It works. Looking forward to the whole series.