Special Delivery! (Nah--for real..this one really is SPECIAL!)

[tBBP]

Okay...now that I got y'all in here, let me put this out there on front street:

IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO LIKE TO SKIP READING INTROS TO GO STRAIGHT TO THE PICTURES, YOU'D DO GOOD TO NOT DO THAT THIS TIME...THERE'S A SPECIAL SURPRISE IN THIS UNVEILING.

Now that that's out the way...let's recap the first three concepts in this series:

FedEx

UPS

DHL

Okay...so now we move on (most of you knew this one was coming)...the United States Postal Service.

I can bet at least 20% of this community has, had, or will have at some point, worked for the third-largest U.S. employer (Behind the U.S. Department of Defense and?wait for it?Wal-Mart). But how many of you know the HISTORY behind it? Hmm...

The U.S. Postal Service actually has a rather lengthy history so I'll condense it to the kep points. Although the first postal service in the country formed way back in the 1600's, the USPS as we know it today was founded in Philadelphia (which, for those who ain't know, was also at the time the U.S. capital) in the year 1775, the 26th day of July (there's a reason that number's italicized), by?who else?Mr. I-can-shock-myself-by-dangling-a-key-off-a-kite-in-a-thunderstorm-while-I-hold-the-string Benjamin Franklin himself. Seventeen years later it became the Post Office Department, headed by a Postmaster General (who, at that time, was the bottom rung of the Presidential line of succession--in other words, if everyone ahead of him died or something, he'd be President). Purpose of setting up the Postal Service? Follow me here...to establish posts for trading and/or delivering letters and other things to different locations, and setting up offices at these posts (everyone now see how the term post office came to be?), all of which were connected by postal roads. From then on to now, the system itself remains, for the most part, unchanged. Franklin himself was the first Postmaster General. Today, the United States Postal Service is an independent entity of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Goverment (it is no longer a "department").

So there's your history lesson, class. Did anyone learn anything new? (I know I wasn't the only one...)

Okay?now on to the concept.

As far as design goes, I saw one way to go with this: straight traditional, straight down to regular block numbers. I mean, after all, it's a concept for a 230-something-year-old organization--why not, right? The USPS eagle head logo is on the helmets, albeit in a modified way--that is to say, just the head itself, offset with a red "flash", to sorta emulate the negative white space in the logo. Primary and secondary home jerseys are "postal blue" (of course that ain't their actual PMS color?none of the colors I chose are?but it's the one I chose for them for this concept), with white numbers offset, San-Diego style, by "Express Red" (stay with me here). The pants on the primary home set are "delivery white" with offset red and blue stripes. I chose that style by studying postal uniforms?the same style stripe can be found on the sleeves and pants of those. That same style stripe is also on the sleeves. Socks are solid blue (I elected not to stripe them because, well, the helmet isn't striped, and I wanted to sorta keep a lil' bit of balance in the "stripiness" of this), and, because I ain't ran across a postal worker yet with any color shoes on other than black, the cleats also are black. Road jerseys are white (of course). The primary road pants? White, because I think an all-white look makes almost too much sense for a team representative of the USPS. Of course, the secondary road pants are blue (as are the secondary homes, for the dreaded "monochrome" look that I actually like in this guise), with white socks that ARE striped in the same style as the pants. For the 3rd/alt, the jersey is red, with BLUE numbers outlined in white (but not San-Diego-style outlined--done for a change-of-pace), with white pants and blue socks. I like it--it looks real "all-American" to me.

Okay...now I'd like you all to pay very close attention to what follows next...

Also debuting with this concept (and really, I couldn't think of a more appropriate one to do it for) is my brand-new, totally revamped and restyled display template?the subject of my sig for the past week or so. (I still got a few bugs to work out of it, but it's pretty much good to go now as you'll see). Not to toot my horn, but I don't think the boards have ever seen anything quite like it (I'm tryna set precedents here). A little over two weeks of intensive planning, executing and fine-tuning went into this, and I'm super-proud of myself at the result. This thing is really interactive, and also presents a couple new "quirks" as well, so let me know what you think about it. (Some of you may also notice I made one other little change...see can you point it out.)

And now, with no further ado, I present to the masses, two concepts in one: my newest display template, as well as my concept for the United States Postal Service!

Have at it, folks!

[SG30]

THAT TEMPLATE KILLS!

[Vicious]

that is one BAD AZZ TEMPLATE MAN!

i have to get my hands on that fo sho.

i really like the concept as well. although i think the helmets are a tad bland. maybe try adding in another color besides white for the helmet.

looks great.

can you post that template? or send it to me in an illustrator version at least?

[Rebels Baseball]

That is a sick job man. 9/10

[cappital92]

They look like the Pats,so it looks nice already, but that template............

Three letters can only explain it, O.M.G.

[HarperK]

yeah its a great visual template...only thing is its more art than a display of a teams full visual identity. but what you DID do is pretty fantastic. itd make about any uni look tight if displayed on that

[Eye]

Bucco, my god, that is a BAD ASS template, serious props man. The concept is dope too. I really like the home uniforms. They're my favorite out of the bunch. Even though the monochrome blue is in the secondary set, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing it as the primary home (and this is coming from a guy who doesn't like monochromes for the most part.) Personally, I'd like to see blue pants as the primary even though I like the primaries you already have. I really like the blue pants on the white because it gives more contrast on that uniform (as opposed to the current primaries you have with blue socks. Pants are bigger than socks, so naturally the pants will have more blue in the concept if you can see what I mean.) Either way, Bucco, you got skillZ with a capital Z. This is one helluva concept (and template too.)

-E.A.R.

[aragin66]

bucco b, that's the shiznit. So far out of the 4 the best.

[neo_prankster]

The action template looks awesome. Better than a lot of the other templates here.

The uniforms themselves are equally nice and inventive, especially the use of the logo on the white helmets.

[ManCalledAmp]

Awesome concept, excellent template.

I really don't have much of anything negative to say about it. Bravo.

[Hemi711]

This turned out really good. And the template makes everything a lot better. Good job.

[BlueSky]

Nice concept, nice template with just one concern - the helmet logo is a little tough to make out, especially with the chin strap extending over it. Realistic, but not good for trying to make heads or tails of a logo.

[Cooleyvol]

Being an 11 year USPS employee (delivery supervisor), I like the template.

My only thing is the blue used on our unis is much lighter. The navy is an accent color along with the red.

That being said, I fear if you'd used all three colors (lt blue, navy, red), it would have looked like a Titans concept.

I'd be interested in seeing a lighter blue jersey, however if you ever do one.

[gueman]

Besides agreeing with all of the above...i think the template would be more accurate if the ball was being dropped and the player was walking very very very slowly. Then it would be perfect for the USPS.

[Cola]

maybe it's my monitor, but the primary home and secondary home jerseys look like two different shades of blue when i look closely at them. am i losing my mind? top one looks darker.

[Epiphanic]

SCHelmet, you're losing your mind. I think the alternate home jersey looks lighter because of the blue pants.

[tBBP]

SCHelmet, you're losing your mind. I think the alternate home jersey looks lighter because of the blue pants.

You know, now that I look at it really good, he may be right. Imma have to go back and check that.

For Mr. Man who replied bout the lighter shade of blue, I'll keep that in mind (I was full aware of that, but, like you, I ain'y wanna end up with a Titans-esque roll-off--and ended up with more of a early-'90s Patriots look--but, since both are representative of America, then I guess that ain't so bad.)

As far as the actual template itself--yeah it's a lil' more artsy than most (I do agree with that point), but that also was half of my intention. Reason being, it's one thing to view an identity on a flat-style pin-up, but I wanted to challenge myself and see how good I can make my flat-work concepts look in action--sort of a good way to further push myself, not to mention let all of you see how an identity package might look in action.

Forward-thinking...that's the name of my new game...

[Keebe]

SCHelmet, you're losing your mind. I think the alternate home jersey looks lighter because of the blue pants.

You know, now that I look at it really good, he may be right. Imma have to go back and check that.

For Mr. Man who replied bout the lighter shade of blue, I'll keep that in mind (I was full aware of that, but, like you, I ain'y wanna end up with a Titans-esque roll-off--and ended up with more of a early-'90s Patriots look--but, since both are representative of America, then I guess that ain't so bad.)

As far as the actual template itself--yeah it's a lil' more artsy than most (I do agree with that point), but that also was half of my intention. Reason being, it's one thing to view an identity on a flat-style pin-up, but I wanted to challenge myself and see how good I can make my flat-work concepts look in action--sort of a good way to further push myself, not to mention let all of you see how an identity package might look in action.

Forward-thinking...that's the name of my new game...

The template just doesn't work on so many levels. The legs and arms are way out proportion and it looks like the player has some sort of disabilty or deformity. I guess it's ok for your own personal desktop or to tape pictures of your work up on your bedroom wall, but it has no functional use when it comes to the real purpose of a template for this kind of work.

Keep working at it if you have a lot of spare time and good luck.

[tBBP]

SCHelmet, you're losing your mind. I think the alternate home jersey looks lighter because of the blue pants.

You know, now that I look at it really good, he may be right. Imma have to go back and check that.

For Mr. Man who replied bout the lighter shade of blue, I'll keep that in mind (I was full aware of that, but, like you, I ain'y wanna end up with a Titans-esque roll-off--and ended up with more of a early-'90s Patriots look--but, since both are representative of America, then I guess that ain't so bad.)

As far as the actual template itself--yeah it's a lil' more artsy than most (I do agree with that point), but that also was half of my intention. Reason being, it's one thing to view an identity on a flat-style pin-up, but I wanted to challenge myself and see how good I can make my flat-work concepts look in action--sort of a good way to further push myself, not to mention let all of you see how an identity package might look in action.

Forward-thinking...that's the name of my new game...

The template just doesn't work on so many levels. The legs and arms are way out proportion and it looks like the player has some sort of disabilty or deformity...

Really?

Well jeesh...I really didn't realize Teddy Ginn Jr. of the Ohio State Buckeyes has such alienistic limbs...but hey--who am I to judge? I mean, after all...

That's exactly who I replicated that template from. Hah well...

guess it's ok for your own personal desktop or to tape pictures of your work up on your bedroom wall, but it has no functional use when it comes to the real purpose of a template for this kind of work...

Maybe one of these days I'll be fortunate enough to have my personal desktop...outside of work. But um uh...how exactly, pray tell, does this serve a definitive zero amount of functionability? True, it ain't a typical style sheet pin-up of an identity package, but that also, as was mentioned previously, wasn't the goal. And yes, I realize not everyone will agree with my goal and conclusion for concocting this particular design, but it is my way of advancing myself...forward thinking (note the sig), in the third dimension. My other line of logic: note the recent re-designs of several NFL teams. May have looked good on paper, but translated onto a live uniform some of them look straight-up butt ugly, and thus my challenge with this template design (and I use the word "template" loosely): devise a design that looks good both ways, if not better in action than in flat work.

Oh--one other thing: I have no bedroom...I stay in a studio apartment...

[Jimmy!]

Bucco,

When I first looked at this, I thought, "Now why is he doing a New England Patriots concept?" Read, Jimmy, read.

Nicely done. Golf clap.

Can't wait to see what you do with the other sports. That is, if Keebe doesn't send you crying to your bedroom first.