My (Personal) Football League Redesign

[CJworks]

The NY Lightning concept was going to be up by Friday. It's been 2 days and still no NY Lightning concept. Maybe there has been a delay or some kind of change in plans.

yea maybe. maybe he actually had things to do. because he probably has a life, with other things to do. and maybe you should stop keeping tabs on this guy like the creeper you are, and find other things to do yourself. just a hunch.

GREAT work CJayZ btw, this has been a sweet topic to watch. you're logos are really unique I can't wait to see what else you come up with.

No, I actually had my weekend schedule suddenly filled. On Friday I just had some final tweaks on the Lightning and just finished them tonight as we speak. Just need to upload them and throw em on here.

[JH42XCC]

The NY Lightning concept was going to be up by Friday. It's been 2 days and still no NY Lightning concept. Maybe there has been a delay or some kind of change in plans.

yea maybe. maybe he actually had things to do. because he probably has a life, with other things to do. and maybe you should stop keeping tabs on this guy like the creeper you are, and find other things to do yourself. just a hunch.

GREAT work CJayZ btw, this has been a sweet topic to watch. you're logos are really unique I can't wait to see what else you come up with.

Don't you call me a creeper, JayLo1112. I have a life, too. I'm a college kid.

[Drew22]

The NY Lightning concept was going to be up by Friday. It's been 2 days and still no NY Lightning concept. Maybe there has been a delay or some kind of change in plans.

yea maybe. maybe he actually had things to do. because he probably has a life, with other things to do. and maybe you should stop keeping tabs on this guy like the creeper you are, and find other things to do yourself. just a hunch.

GREAT work CJayZ btw, this has been a sweet topic to watch. you're logos are really unique I can't wait to see what else you come up with.

Don't you call me a creeper, JayLo1112. I have a life, too. I'm a college kid.

Oh, you're a creeper alright. You've proved that in many of threads.

[CJworks]

#10 New York Lightning

Next Up: #11 Portland Huskies

This next concept turned out to be extremely frustrating to me as I've trying to fit this into my busy schedule. I've also had trouble developing an identitity for a team with such a long history for the same color scheme, green and gold, that in a way was very difficult to stick with. To modernize this, I went with 'midnight teal' and athletic gold with touches of silver and neon. I've ended up deciding to stick with what I have as far as the concept goes thus far. As for the team itself, I decided to go down a different path than others may associate with the word lightning this time around. I recently took tabs on the Greek god Zeus for this project, having some rough knowledge on the subject that he was the god of lightning. This sparked me, and is the reason for the menacing head of Zeus with a beige outline as the primary. I've had many tries at this logo and couldn't get it to the point where I felt I've perfected this, and the current one I feel met most of my standards. The secondary was going to be a Medusa head on the shield of Zeus (after researching the subject, I found out that Zeus' shield is the head of Medusa, correct me if I'm wrong.) After many goes at that logo as well, I felt as if the product wasn't presetable, so I decided to work more with it on the side. To take it's place is an 'NY' monogram with a bolt. The script follows the same font style, the word 'Lightning' on a dark teal backdrop. I may go back and add an updated version of the fist and bolt logo, it wasn't as strong as the other two, I feel. Again, the bolts were used on the uniforms more prominantly, specifically as pant, helmet and sleeve stripes

Home

Away

Alternate

All in all, I feel as if this might be one I wanna go back to when I have more time, but I decided to hear out all of your opinions before I start again. And before anyone says anything, YES I tried adding a bolt stripe to the helmet, but the fact of the matter is, it did not look right on the type of design. It would be very hard to render a symmetrical lightning bolt down the middle without making it look like a pine tree. It just looked awkward. Anyways, C&C if you will...

**UPDATED 7/12/10**

[chickenfish13]

I like everything about this, except for the primary. I just dont see Zeus, or any face for that matter. Can't help you there, never been good with those kind of faces, but it just looks a little abstract. I really like the NY mongram though, and the jerseys are nicely done.

[illwauk]

WAAAAAY too much like the Chargers...

[JH42XCC]

(To Drew22 and JayLo1112): OK, I admit that I've been a creeper. Besides, that was off-topic.

(on the NY Lightning concept): Anyway, the New York Lightning concept screams San Diego Chargers WAAAY to much! But at least I like the 'Zeus' logo.

[CJworks]

Thanks for the comments.

I knew it was going to look like the Chargers, that's who this franchise was modeled after. I'll try to turn away from that look, somehow.

Chickenfish: do you mean you literally can't see a face or does it not look human enough?

[kbaker19]

Add more lime green to both the logo and home/away uniforms. It's like the alternate was just made for kicks, since there isn't any other lime green at all.

[JJSCOTT]

Like others have said too close to the Chargers... your other teams are very original so I think that is why the similarities of this one to the Chargers stands out.

I like the idea of using Zues for a logo but maybe somehow add a hand holding a bolt somehow.

[chickenfish13]

I kind of see the face I guess, but that's it. You haven't done a bad job on it, I just think something is out of place. I think for me it looks like anyone from far away, but I don't really see zeus in it. Sorry, that doesnt help to much

[CJworks]

I kind of see the face I guess, but that's it. You haven't done a bad job on it, I just think something is out of place. I think for me it looks like anyone from far away, but I don't really see zeus in it. Sorry, that doesnt help to much

Well I decided to try new styles, this is one of them. Maybe it is just because of the style itself, again I tried using geometric shapes. I also simplified alot.

[GDLions]

I am really new to this site and so far this is my favorite topic that i have seen! That being said I was a bit disapointed in the unis of the Lightning only because the rest of the teams have a pretty original feel to them and like everyone eles has said they are the chargers. I agree with kbaker1819, if you are going to do the neon alt then you should try to put some of that neon in the home/away/logo that might also help separate them from the chargers.

One last thing, idk how it would go over have two teams with almost the same alt uni, just a thought.

All in all am loving this cant wait to see what you have for Detroit

[ESTONES6]

i don't think the green works at all. I would kinda push away from the lightening bolt concept unless you can really make it unique to where it makes you think C Jay Z and not SD.

[CJworks]

I'm taking all comments into consideration on this one, and I'll try to have an update within the week.

JJSCOTT: I primarily considered that idea, but I thought that it'd be too predictable. With a Zeus you almost know that there's going to be a bolt and fist logo to it. I'll take a whack at it, however.

chickenfish: I dunno, there's not much I can tell ya. I'm not sure how I could alter this without changing the actual contour of the design. If I change the style of it now to make it look realistic, It may clash with the other 'blocky' lettering.

ESTONES: I'll work with this concept a bit more. Like a said, the entire franchise itself when I made it in '05 was pretty much a SD knockoff. I'll work towards developing a whole new identity for it and lean towards more originality.

I appreciate you guys' two cents, I'll have the update as soon as I can.

[dgnmrwrw]

I think the Lightning set has a lot of really nice disparate elements that aren't quite coming together. First off, as you already know, the uniform set is just too similar to the Chargers. The colors, white helmet, shoulder bolts, it's all too similar. You've shown that you have the talent to do very intricate and well-thought out designs before, and I'm sure you'll do it for this one when you update it.

As far as the logos go, I really think you've done a great render on that Zeus head. Unfortunately, it still has problems. First, there's no real connection to "Lightning." Unless you already have been told that this is Zeus, you're probably never going to make the connection. This could be remedied pretty easily: you could turn that bottom curve of his neck into a lightning bolt that flows backward. Or something similar. Secondly, I just don't think it's a very good helmet logo. As your logos have gotten better and more refined, they've also become more and more detailed, and this one is pushing that to the extreme. I'm just not sure it would resolve on a helmet from even a moderate distance.

However, I freakin' LOVE that NY/bolt logo. It's simple, clear (in terms of representation), and easily reproducible. THAT is your helmet logo, imo. Especially since (as far as I can remember) all of your other helmets use images for logos, this one would really stand out.

Finally, I'd look at your color choices here. A lot of your teams are using dark blue and gray/silver, and a lot of your helmets seem to be dark blue or white. To help further push this one in a different direction from the rest of your league (and the Chargers), why not tweak the colors? I don't want to hijack your work--so I won't post the image--but here's a link to a very quick mock-up I did of what I propose for your helmet set up. Dark purple, gold, and silver, which reminds me of a stormy sky.

It's just one of many possibilities, but I'd really love to see you use the NY logo and push the colors a bit. (Maybe forget my purple suggestion and play up the green. Really dark green paired with bright green, that would be very unique.) I very much look forward to seeing an update on this one.

[CJworks]

Actually dgnmrwrw, I was looking for a spot to place that bolt on Zeus, and I think you've shown me the perfect spot.

As far as the colors go, I'm not necessarily open to changing them because of the fact that they've always had greenish colors. I will however try different secondary colors and possibly more variations of the green itself. What I have right now is what I like to call 'midnight teal', and I tried to go with a more bluish color. Either way, I'm keeping a color of green no matter what.

I'm glad you like that secondary. I thought that it would be too simple for anyones liking, but I threw that one out there for kicks. As a helmet logo, I think it'd look pretty cool, but I dunno about you, but when a player is on the field and another is charging at him, you'd think that player would be scared. But you wont necessarily be as scared from a NY monogram on their helmet rather than a Zeus logo on it, would you? (I know this is a horrible example, but it's hard to put it in words. ) The point is, I like to put more menacing logos on helmets to add more of a 'fear factor', you can call it.

[dgnmrwrw]

I get what you're saying, though I'm not sure that any player on the field is looking that carefully at the decals on the opposing player's helmet. I just felt like it would be a nice change to have a simpler logo that wasn't image-based, and it's such a strong logo. But it's your league, so by all means do it your way.

I also definitely understand about not wanting to change the colors. But I'd still recommend slightly tweaking the palette to play up the green. It would help them not resemble the Chargers, and it would help differentiate them from so many of the other teams you've done.

Good luck with the update.

[CJworks]

**UPDATE**

I decided on a few different things here. I dumped the 'bolt' look altogether, I personally thought it'd be better off after being convinced by the comments. I used a simple side panel design with a modern touch, kind of like the AZ Cardinals, and on the shoulder pads I threw the Zeus on there (kinda like the Pro Bowl unis), I figured it'd be more affective pn the jersey. I also dropped the alt. I tweaked the teal a little more so that it's midnight blue. I didn't completely drop the green, I just used a very blue variation of it, and it still kept the same contrasting affect on the gold. I added the bolt into the primary as suggested; very subtle, though. JJ, I drew a bolt n' fist logo, but my cameras acting up so I can't upload it right now, so I still have to trace it in Inkscape. I also switched the Zeus for the NY on the helmet, let me know what you think.

Updates;

Primary, Helmet, Home, Away, Script, Secondary

[CJworks]

Any comments on the update?