My (Personal) Football League Redesign

[CJworks]

I'm obviously in the extreme minority, but I don't think this concept is working. The primary logo is certainly an interesting idea conceptually, but I think it suffers from a few noticeable problems. Fist off, the "claws" portions of the logo don't really look like claws. Look at them in the secondary logo especially, when they're by themselves. They just look like curved swooshes. Crayfish and lobster are arthropods, so it seems like there should be some sort of indication of jointed pincers. But there isn't; it's just an abstract curve. The second problem is also in the claws: they (and the "arms" connecting them to the body) appear to be backwards. The claws should come outward from the body and point back at the head, not the body. (Claws pointing at the body would be pretty ineffective and useless.)

I get that you really wanted to make the form of the subject resemble a fleur-de-lis. (I also think that this particular symbol has become an overused icon for New Orleans in sports branding--especially in concepts on the boards--but that's another conversation.) By nature, that dictates that the imagery of the animal must be somewhat abstracted. But if you're determined to use the fleur-de-lis, I really think you should do your best to make it work without compromising the anatomy of the crayfish: i.e. smooth forms/lack of joints, backward-facing claws, etc... especially when the parts that are compromised the most are the claws, the nickname of the team. Basically, you got the fleur-de-lis part of the logo mostly right, but the claws (and thus the animal) themselves were compromised badly to do so.

The other issues are that the secondary logo feels like an afterthought, another team location monogram with an element quickly slapped on; and the colors, which I actually really like but I think need more contrast between light and dark. But going back and trying to rework the primary logo would really help this.

I agree with your comments on the claws simply looking like curved swooshes and needing a little work, especially on the secondary NO logo, but on the rest of this logo, I think it is effective. I dont think logos have to always be anatomically correct, especially ugly animals like lobsters which need some fixing up to look good in an illustration. Logos allow for the images to be somewhat abstract or stylized as long as they are still recognizable. This is obviously a lobster/crayfish. The Houstan Texans logo has only one eye, and that eye is a star. It makes sense for a team in the Lone Star state. Maybe that's not a perfect comparison because the Texans logo is very abstract and general, but I think you know what I mean. Sure, real crayfish dont have claws facing backwards, but this illustration isn't getting in any real fights so he doesnt need them to face forward. Plus, the average person does not sit an analyze logos to the extent that most of us here do. They will look at this and say "Oh cool, it's a lobster and fleur-de-lis in one".

dgnmrwrw, your work is some of the best on here with the way you make your logos so realistic and detailed, but some logos dont need that realistic detail to be effective, and in my opinion, this logo is one of them.

That was actually my main philosophy for this logo. I didn't to simply create a regular flat out rendering, I tried to be abstract, sort of like davidson's work. Alot of the fleur-de-fish references had the claws in the same position, so I kinda just went with it (it looked better that way anyways).

As far as the fleur-de-lis moniker, I didn't orinially want to go with that, but when I googled it I fell in love with the idea of the crawfish.

As far as the secondary goes, I'll go back to that one. I didn't want to "break up the flow" of the logo by separating the claws, so I just left it.

Thanks for the comments guys.

(Sorry for the long post.)

[JH42XCC]

As soon as I finish the rebranding of each team, I may try out some wallpapers, stadium designs, league realignments, and uniform as well

as logo histories. After that, a new series that'll be sure to get the attention of some of you.

Stay tuned!

About the stadiums for the teams in your league, will you be using real stadiums (such as the L.A. Memorial Coliseum for the Aztecs, Sam Boyd Stadium for the Crows, etc.) or completely made-up ones... or maybe a mix of both? Just thinking about it.

[winghaz]

That New Orleans Claws creation is absolutely fantastic. Just super.

And I generally like the San Jose Outlaws concept, and it's simplicity, but one question -- why Outlaws for San Jose?

[dgnmrwrw]

I agree with your comments on the claws simply looking like curved swooshes and needing a little work, especially on the secondary NO logo, but on the rest of this logo, I think it is effective. I dont think logos have to always be anatomically correct, especially ugly animals like lobsters which need some fixing up to look good in an illustration. Logos allow for the images to be somewhat abstract or stylized as long as they are still recognizable. This is obviously a lobster/crayfish. The Houstan Texans logo has only one eye, and that eye is a star. It makes sense for a team in the Lone Star state. Maybe that's not a perfect comparison because the Texans logo is very abstract and general, but I think you know what I mean. Sure, real crayfish dont have claws facing backwards, but this illustration isn't getting in any real fights so he doesnt need them to face forward. Plus, the average person does not sit an analyze logos to the extent that most of us here do. They will look at this and say "Oh cool, it's a lobster and fleur-de-lis in one".

dgnmrwrw, your work is some of the best on here with the way you make your logos so realistic and detailed, but some logos dont need that realistic detail to be effective, and in my opinion, this logo is one of them.

Completely agree with your assessment that logos don't need to be perfectly realistic (all things considered, it's better if they aren't) or perfectly anatomically correct. The issue I have with the logo is that the claws--which, as the emphasis from the nickname--should probably be rendered as faithfully as possible, and I think it's just a little too distorted, a little too much of a stretch to represent the claws this way (i.e. backwards facing and so heavily abstract). Other portions of the critter's body are abstract while still staying pretty much true to form; why not make the claws the same way?

I still think this idea can work, but it would involve the time and effort to redo the logo, with the lobster/crayfish facing the viewer (so that we see its belly instead of its back) sort of in the style of the Hornets' Fleur-de-Bee. It just seems worth it to me to go back and redo the perspective and composition a bit if it means nailing the all-important "Claws" connection and turning what is right now a great concept but okay logo into a fantastic, well-executed logo. CJ has clearly grown light years in skill and execution throughout this project, and I'm confident he could really make this work without compromising the claws.

[CJworks]

Thanks guys, I'll take all of these suggestions into consideration. I haven't had much time to do any updating on the Claws yet, so I'll save that for this weekend or so. But in the meantime...

#29 Houston Longhorns

Up Next: #30 Tennessee Hornets

The Longhorns aren't a relatively new team, but they're not an old one either. Starting up in '07, they're loosely based the NFL's Houston Texans, with their first logo being a two toned longhorn, (which I recreated here) featured on their uniforms from 2007-2009. That's pretty much been their identity. I tried to stretch it a little bit and go with a more Texan-styled theme. I created the logo while inspired by Davidson's animal logo tutorial, so everything is a reflected version of the other side. I added "the lone star" into the longhorn, which plays out later in the uniforms. The secondary is a horned H, in the same style of the primary. The font I used is actually "Big Noodle Tilting", in case anyone wanted to know. The numbers on the uniforms, however, are custom.

The striping: I tried to model it after the Texas flag, and on the shoulders, the striping tapers to "horns" with a lone star on each sleeve. Failry simple for the last blue and red team, but hopefully not "boring".

3 teams to go, tear this one to shreads.

[north dakota]

I would put horns on the helmet for this team, similar to what the Vikings have on their helmet. Other than that it's amazing.

[mbannon92]

Another great job. The logos and uniforms all look really good. The font works really well. I like the Arizona-esque two color striping, and it works well with the team's identity.

I like North Dakota's idea of putting the horns on the helmet. Other than that, the only change I would make would be to make the star on the primary logo white, to match the state flag and the star on the sleeves.

[Brave-Bird 08]

Great! I know that every sports team in Texas has red, blue, white, stars, and a longhorn, but this is a grrreeeaaattt rendering. You never seize to impress.

[GeoTheo]

I really like the Longhorns. The bull is very well rendered, I love the "H" secondary logo, the uniforms are nice. There is one problem, the Bull does not look like a Texas Longhorn, in fact the horns are fairly normal in length. I am sure that Longhorn cattle come with varying lengths of horns but I would make the horns much longer.

[JH42XCC]

Great work on the Houston Longhorns set. The logos look phenomenal and so do the uniforms... especially with the very unique striping detail.

On a side note, the Houston Longhorns set is basically what I thought the Houston Texans of the NFL should've looked like.

[BengalErnst]

wow actually i think this is my favorite one so far..

[DomTheAthlete29]

Very well done uniforms.. However I don't know what it is about that logo, but its not screaming longhorn to me.. GeoTheo said it best, it looks like the horns aren't long enough and they are too bulky! Good work however!

[GeauxColonels]

The Houston secondary logo might just be my favorite out of the entire league. Fantastic.

On the primary, I feel like there is too much blue. Maybe eliminate some of the blue from the steer's snout. I think it would help to balance it out.

[jaha32]

It looks good. There seems to be a lot of gray in the primary though. What I mean is with a thick gray outline of the longhorn and then another equally thick outline on the back shield, it's a lot of outlining. I dont even think the shield is necessary because it is barely visible. The outline of the shield is almost as thick as the red area of the shield that is able to be seen, and they are competing for attention. On your Viper logo, the shield help frame the logo, but the longhorn is strong enough alone in my opninion to not need that shield and excess gray to clutter up a nice looking longhorn. You would lose a lot of red if you did that, but then you could make the snout or some of the highlights/lowlights on the face or horns red.

[CJworks]

I'll post an update of the Longhorns sometime this weekend if I get the chance. Anyways, here's the second to last team:

#30 Tennessee Hornets

Up Next: #31 St. Louis Rivermen

Not too much to explain here. I've had this one done for quite awhile now, but I added the finishing touches today. I tried going for a "subtle" bee-vibe here, with the blue and gold combination. My initial idea was to go completely black-n-yellow stripes, but it seemed too Pittsburgh to me, and I've already got a primarily black and yellow team. I went relatively Florida Sharks-esque, primarily just because I thought it looked good. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it fit so I just settled on it (feel free to suggest some color choices). The primary is a hornet-like T on a honeycomb shield, which is used pretty frequently throughout the package. The secondary is a stylized hornet (which was originally the primary, on a shield) and the teriary is a honeycomb shield with wings, made to look like the Tennessee flag. The font and numerals are completely custom, as well.

The uniforms are fairly simple, but I couldn't really get them to look exactly how I wanted them to, but I was pretty satisfied with this look. I was looking to go GT gold n' blue, but it didn't seem to provide enough "spark" as the athletic gold did.

Anywho, feel free to suggest any changes. I'm pretty set on the logos, maybe not the color scheme too much.

What do you guys think?

[capitalcanuck]

the white reminds me of the chargers away

[drdougfresh]

As someone who has recently attempted a Hornet logo... this is great. Nice work!

[crashcarson15]

I really love that tertiary logo. Real nice work here, and I think the colour scheme actually works quite nicely.

That said, I'm not in love with the jerseys. I feel like there's no light blue in them, while that tertiary logo has a lot of light blue in it. I think finding a way to incorporate all three could work nicely.

[mbannon92]

I actually really like the color scheme here. Sure, there's no blue on hornets or in a beehive, but the combo just works really well. All three logos look great, but I would eliminate one of them. Not that I don't like all three, but three completely different logos is too many for me. I really like the unis as well, except for the wordmark above the NOB. I just personally dislike the LANOB though (unless it's the manufacturers logo).

And on a side note, I'm not calling you out or anything, but that font looks a lot like Hammerhead.

[EJ_Barlik]

Longhorns....winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Hornets....somebody hand me a whiffle ball bat so I can beat myself silly...

'nuff said