WideRight

Just finished a few more teams, but will release them 2 per day. Today we start with my favorite CFL team, the Argos. TORONTO ARGONAUTS With this one I wanted to combine an aquatic (wave) theme and a Greek Warrior theme. Toronto has had some very good logos (Ship, Warrior with shield, shield alone), so I wanted to do something different. I focused on the warrior's helmet and built a wave motif as his cloak. You will see that I did two very different attempts at this. My first attempt was a warrior with shield, and that became the essence of the secondary logo, while the helmet/wave logo became the primary. For the uniforms I called back to the look I remember from my youth (ship-logo era, pre-Flutie). This uniform emphasizes the double blue by using a simple thick double stripe motif. I tried a bunch of Greek key pattern but it always felt overdone, so we stick with the wide stripes. On the jerseys I use the cuff as one stripe and just add a thick 2nd stripe above it.

Getting close to the end of the actual 9 franchises as we enter Ontario. Hamilton Tiger-Cats This was tough for several reasons. First, the actual Ti-Cats logo is great. The roar, the pounce, it is a solid tiger logo. Second, there are so many tiger logos out there that doing something original is tough. I would not call my side-shot of a tiger head original, but the key for me was to try to come up with a design where the black would disappear on a black helmet and all you would see is the gold and white. It is not the greatest tiger-head logo ever, but I still like the way it turned out. I had downloaded about 10 different side-shots and logos and this is something of an amalgam of different styles, but I think it comes together as a coherent single vision of a teed off tiger. The paw is a variation of a tiger paw logo found at https://www.logolynx.com/. I did some minor modifications, but it is not original. For the Ti-Cats uniform, I wanted to retain a lot of elements from their classic look. Their sleeve striping is somewhat iconic, so not much here which I would call divergent from what you might expect. I did throw a bit of tiger striping around. Hopefully not too much (helmet stripe, collars, pant stripe on black pants only.)

And, because it is in the hopper, the 5th CFL team (West to East). Winnipeg Blue Bombers Here I wanted to keep some aspect of the traditional W, but add more. I found an intereresting concept with a bomber plane, and I liked what they did with the W, so I took their more subtle W but I did not want a full-on bomber plane or bomb as the logo, so I went with military insignia as the focus. This aligns with what the Jets did in the NHL and still allows the W to be a big part of the logo. On the Uniforms, I tried to capture some elements of some of the recent designs, while maintaining the traditional sleeve striping to a degree. and yes, the wordmark is an homage to Top Gun (which is not at all Canadian, but still... Danger Zone!!!!)

Two quick things. Blizzard has 2 'd"s in it, and I agree with the earlier comment that the Outlaw's hat looks more like a fedora than a cowboy hat. The shape of the hat is too straight (needs to be wider at bottom than top) and the crease is not typical. I also think the brim could be more curved for a cowboy hat. Those two comments aside, I like a lot of the identities you have created.

First of two CFL reimagined teams for today, as we work our way from West to East. Saskatchewan Roughriders I have always viewed this team as one of the most traditional, back to basics, barely more than 1 color (Green) identities, similar to the NY Jets or Indianapolis Colts. Sure, there are hints of silver or black, but it's basically a green & white team. So I wanted to keep that in play. That, the central iconography of the "S" and of wheat, seemed key. I opted for a 2 stripe motif, which runs from the bottom of the shield logo to the uniforms (helmet, pant & jersey stripes). Decided to go with a more traditional shield shape to allow for a more angular "S" and wheat stalks. The wheat motif appears in a few places as well, such as the back of the helmet and the top of the pant stripes. Not the most "modern" look in the league (which feels appropriate) and not the most exciting (also appropriate). Last note, i decided to go with a bright Kelly green to distinguish the green from that of Edmonton, and also as a nod to the brighter green used in past decades (50's-70's). C&C Welcome, of course.

I agree that the BC identity needed some changes, so... I created a new body for the stalking lion. I like this one much better. Let me know if you think it is an improvement. I changed the "Lions" font to be similar to the BC font. I adjusted the chest/sleeve stripes. Decided to stick with a 2 stripe motif, even with the 3 stripes elsewhere.

Sorry Skycast. No outlaw. I went a different direction. Calgary Stampeders When your city name starts with C and your theme is horses, you better expect a horseshoe logo. And you get one. I combined a horse with the C-horseshoe. I also wanted to retain a predominantly red color scheme with black and silver accents. Also, something about a yoke just makes me think "Western", like a cowboy shirt, so I wanted to hint at a yoke on the home and go full yoke on the away. I also went "Old West" with the font and the numbers. Thoughts and critiques welcome.

I see what you guys are saying about losing the EE. What do you think of this version (I also recolored the football at the bottom to add a bit more yellow.

Hey all, Some great suggestions to improve the BC design. I do need to do something to strengthen the full-body cougar, even if it does not appear on the uniforms at all. I am going to stick with the offset numbers, even though it is a bit weird and may not fully work in the real world, because it makes such sense with the offset BC as a nod to that identity. Moving East (I decided to go West to East with redeigns) we get to Alberta and their two franchises. FIrst up are the Edmonton Eskimos. I wanted to keep the tradition of the interlocked "E" logo, but also wanted to add something new, so the new logo incorporates the EE, but also an igloo and a football shape, all in a neat circular logo. The EE motif returns with the sleeve stripes, while all the rest of the striping is based on a classic 5-stripe pattern. For the secondary logo I pulled some elements from my fantasy team (Toronto Tundra) and its secondary moose logo. How can we have a CFL without at least 1 moose logo? Hope you like it. Always open to critiques and suggestions.

Over on "Requests" you will see the premise of this project, and a request for possible cities for CFL expansion (in Canada and USA). But, we are beginning this reimagining of the CFL with the BC Lions. Just as a reminder: Existing team names will stay the same, but logos will be new, and colors can change as needed. After the current 9 teams are done we will look at expansion in Canada (3 more teams) and then the USA (4 teams) to reach a 16 team CFL. BC Lions: Perhaps my favorite identity in the CFL, so I kept the colors, kept the BC monogram, but wanted an updated cougar/puma/mountain lion logo. Tried to create a new lion head logo about 5 times from different photos of cougars, but hated them all. I found a great logo at https://logodix.com/mountain-lion and decided to use that head as the focal point. I built it into the monogram, then added a secondary logo by creating a full body to go with the head. For the uniforms I combined offset numbers (to align with the monogram) with a shoulder treatment akin to recent BC designs, but with orange, black and white all present together (unlike the recent unis). I am going West to East, so Edmonton will be next.

And here it is, with almost no logo modifications, and just my take on a consistent striping pattern across the logo, jersey and pants. Blue-red-white-red.

I almost forgot to add the Dallas Desperados. I decided 2 big things here: 1--Since they are owned by Jerry Jones I would go full Cowboys with their look, with only a few alterations. 2-- The actual Desperados logo is not great, but the Dallas Renegades (XFL) logo is perfect, so I swapped out the Desperado for the Renegade, added a Dallas star and colors. Not the most original, but definitely something Jerry would consider doing. I believe the Washington Valor are the only team left. Let's see: EAST New England Steamrollers New York Dragons New York Knights Philadelphia Soul Washington Valor NORTH Chicago Bruisers Detroit Drive Indiana Firebirds Milwaukee Mustangs Pittsburgh Gladiators SOUTH Carolina Cobras Memphis Pharaohs New Orleans VooDoo Orlando Predators Tampa Bay Storm WEST Arizona Rattlers Dallas Desperados Denver Dynamite LA Avengers San Jose SaberCats Yup, the 20 team Arena Football League, with only DC still to go. Sorry folks, but I set out to do 20 teams, and that is where I will cap it off. Moving on to another project (when an idea hits me for one.) Maybe a revisiting of the CFL? Maybe a Global League, who knows.

And one more, the Philly Soul. I again tried to use as much of their original identity as I could, including using Graphite instead of Black as a main color. There is some black trim, but only in small amounts to sharpen edges. I made some minor tweaks to the logo itself, and the jersey's are based on one of their earlier looks. (Their look this last season was way over the top for my taste.)

And my first new team of the day, one of my all-time favorites, the New Orleans VooDoo. No changes to the logo and secondary, as they are great. I did adjust the font a bit, but tried to keep the same theme. The uniforms are based on the original 2004 design, where the shoulder stripes were more asp-like. I also tried to repeat the crossed-viper motif in the pants.

Brian in Boston, thanks for the very helpful critiques. I decided you were right about LA as well. So, here are modifications to both the Carolina and LA helmets.

I love the idea of the snake's tail becoming a Titans/Ravens dual stripe. Kind of upset with myself for not seeing that. I will try that out and repost Carolina.

One more for today...New York gets a second team. This one started off at the Nassau Coliseum, but would now almost certainly play in Brooklyn. And what better foil for the Knights than the Dragons. Here is what I decided to do here: 1. I am not a fan of either the Chinese Dragon used by the actual NY Dragons, or of the Green, more European style dragon created but never used by the team. So, I used perhaps the most famous dragon (among certain circles) as my inspiration. Yes, that is the head, flame, and tail of the dragon-shaped "&" in Dungeons & Dragons. 2. There is not much green in the Arena League, so I made green the primary, and added red (from the original team) as the secondary. Gives it a bit of a Barcelona Dragons vibe. 3. Not sure about the shoulder yokes, but I had not done much with shoulders, and it seemed a natural way to add the flames into the jersey. 4. For the pants, I love the idea of a dragon-serpent as the stripe itself. 5. I also tried green and red helmets, but the white just works best with the simple 2-color scheme, and besides, there are not that many white helmets in the AFL, so they were due for one.

OK, two teams for you this morning, but two very different situations. 1. Carolina Cobras I really struggled with this one. I hate the actual Carolina Cobras logo. I just don't think it works. I loved the LA Cobras' much simpler logo, so i tried to merge the two a bit. I spent hours looking at other Cobra logos, tried various configurations, attempted to get the snake to form a C, but hated that. This is the best of my many, many attempts, but I am still not sure about this. So, the question for the day... Should I just drop the Cobras all together and just replace them with the Nashville Kats, Georgia Force or Florida Bobcats? If not, what would you do with a Cobra to make it work? (And please do not suggest I use the Cobra logo from G.I. Joe. I stared at it for a long time and decided I didn't like that either. 2. LA Avengers Here is a team where I love the logos, both the head-only and the flexing Avenger too. Just seems so LA to have a basically naked guy flexing as he poses and preens. So, I love the logos, but I hate the colors. The red was way too bright, and the two yellows were cheese-like instead of metallic. So, I got rid of the red completely, and focused on Navy with different metallic shades such as a light gold, medium brass/bronze and a dark bronze. Sort of like different levels of tan on Venice Beach. It comes off a bit LA Xtreme, but I avoided the bib look on the jersey, so I hope not too much. I just like these colors better for LA, especially if metallic qualities could be built into the pants (which NIKE cannot do anymore, but maybe someone like Under Armor would go back to retro metallic pant materials. Who knows? So, here is a Carolina Cobras identity I am not at all confident about and an LA Avengers design which I like quite a bit.

Last one for today. The Memphis Pharaohs. Here's the deal: 1. Loved the original helmet, so this is just an update of that using the new 2ndary logo as part of the helmet's front piece. 2. The shape of the striping on the helmet is supposed to parallel the shape of the cowl on the logo. Not sure that comes across on the helmet. 3. The original logo was just horrible (wordmark with the stiping) so I created a Pharaoh logo using several existing ones on the net as inspiration (a shape here, a feature there, a facial structure over there, etc.) 4. I decided to add U. of Memphis Blue to the color combo, but only in a very small way. 5. Decided that I liked the idea of a blue scarab jewel as a secondary logo. You will see it in a couple of places. 6. The yellow/black striping from the logo/helmet becomes the dominant motif throughout the entire look. 7. Yes, the font in the logo is more Middle Earth than Egypt, but I wanted to do something different, that feels old, and still could be an ancient script. I was afraid of going too hieroglyphic with it. Thoughts, feedback, banter?

Based on fan reaction, the Milwaukee Mustangs have adjusted their logo so that it is clearly a horse with a flowing mane and not either a feisty squirrel or a horse with an ill-fitting toupee. I agree, it needed to be adjusted a bit.

Thanks guys, the Barnstormers real world identity gave me so much great stuff to work with that I really felt that there was not much I needed to do to create a look that I loved. This is one of my favorite team looks of all time. So, I have a version of the SaberCats ready to go. Here is what I did: 1. I never liked the logo. Too photorealistic for a team logo, and not a great shape overall. So I created a new cat logo, trying to incorporate something akin to the old Michigan Panthers. 2. I tried to to do the full helmet swoop like the old Panthers, but I just could not get it to look right, so I am just cutting it off where the logo cuts off. 3. I also did not care for the font used in the real SaberCats logo. Too minor league for my taste, so I went a totally different direction. 4. Decided that the Cats needed a somewhat simple uniform desigh with tooth-inspired swooshes on the shoulder and pants. Enjoy. Next up will be Memphis and then probably LA.

And now a team that for many is the epitome of Arena Football identity, forever linked to the league's greatest success story, Kurt Warner. The Iowa Barnstormers. So much to love about their identity that I did not feel the need to do a lot that has not already existed in reality. So here are the basics: 1. Had to have the gold helmet with the goggles, right? 2. Wings on the jersey, prop on the pants, so classic. 3. I did go with 3 color numbers and used a font that many will recognize as the former Titans'. 4. The one aspect of the Iowa identity I have never cared for is the very complex standalone logo. The wings work, but the rondel with a barn, several silos and the biplane, then all the text around it, always felt too busy to me. So I went with a simpler central rondel, transforming it into the propellor setup of a classic prop plane/crop duster or barnstorming biplane. Hope you like it. SaberCats are next.

I may revisit Arizona. I love the snakeskin pattern on the actual jerseys, but I don't think my recreation of it works well, so I might redo that. Not sure what the problem with the Jags font is. Seems to go well with the angular qualities of the logo/pants. I will consider. But first, our 3rd reveal of the day. A team with a wild, but pretty good-looking color scheme, but, in my mind a logo that does not work at all (looks like SMU had a baby with U. Michigan), so I reinvented the Mustang Logo (and not the one they went with in the late 2000's, which I did not like at all), but stuck with a lot of elements from the original Mustangs identiy. Black, Purple & Teal Green. What a weird combo for the Upper Midwest!!! Your Milwaukee Mustangs!!!

Next up today are the Arizona Rattlers. Their R-rattler is one of my favorite logos of all time, and I love their original color scheme of turquoise, copper and black. The changes made in later years I generally don't like as much, with one exception, the snakeskin sleeve pattern, so I tried to incorporate it here, with midling success.

First of 3 for the day. Indiana Firebirds. Why Indiana? Well, Albany is just not a large city, and while I like the look of the team when they were in Albany, in this imagined league, they would have sought out a larger market once the league hit bigger TV money. So, they move to Indianapolis but retain much of the look of their time in Albany. I also decided to mix up the colors just a bit. There is a lot of black in the AFL, so I went with a dark grey, sort of a soot or ember color, rather than black. I have not mucked about with too many teams' color schemes, but might as we move forward. And yes, I am aware that by using most of the body but not the head on the sleeves, and then having the head and the state silhouette on the pants, it could be interpreted as the bird being decapitated like a chicken at slaughter. Not my intention, and hopefully not too obvious. I just wanted flames alone on the sleeve and I thought the head could stand alone as part of a secondary logo. And, one final note, just to show where I am thinking of going. Here is my vision for a 20 team AFL: EAST: New England Steamrollers New York Knights New York Dragons Philadelphia Soul Washington Valor NORTH: Chicago Bruisers Detroit Drive Indiana Firebirds Iowa Barnstormers Pittsburgh Gladiators SOUTH Carolina Cobras Memphis Pharaohs New Orleans VooDoo Orlando Predators Tampa Bay Storm WEST Arizona Rattlers Dallas Desperados Denver Dynamite LA Avengers San Jose SaberCats I could bump the league up top 24, but 20 seems good for now. I am just not sold on some of the other teams (logo-wise) that were longstanding AFL teams (Kats, Force, any Portland identity).