PHOENIX: Rise (Phase 2) VOTING

[bigmike]

I suppose I'll give a description behind my UTEP design.

My requirement was fairly simple, UTEP wanted to own their shade of orange with an orange monochrome home set.

Basically, I just tried to find inspiration with their logos, UTEP has a really great logo set IMO. It was difficult trying to choose between the logos for the helmet. I do like this logo a lot. However, I wanted to make the Miner the focus of the concept and create a striping pattern that looked modern but wasn't over the top. I thought it worked pretty well because it ties in with the logo. The number font was hand drawn, I tried to match it with the word mark I used and added the silver bevel since it ties in with the striping pattern as well as the word mark. I feel like there are some possible ways I could improve it but overall I was happy with the design. I thought about using navy pants for the away but I didn't want to make them look like Boise State.

There were a lot of really great concepts! I missed out on voting but I'll be sure to vote next time, I think the Judge's and Public's top choices were well deserving.

[marble21]

I had Colorado State and the brief was to design a new ram helmet design unique to Colorado State which was not simply a recolour of the St. Louis Rams.

I am relatively happy with what I produced but I think the below C+C was very fair:

• Colorado State: The inclusion of their wordmark on the chest was smart and the color balance/choice of shades seems perfect, but it was a little weird to have the horns appear on the shoulders and the back

I was happy with the new ram horn helmet design as well as the colour balance but wanted to do something with the shoulders and back patch. It seemed very bare without anything but choosing to repeat the ram horn pattern was probably not the best choice in hindsight.

[GeauxColonels]

• GeauxColonels (Old Dominion) — I'm honestly not sure why this didn't get more love. The color balance was good, the design was really nice, and everything just looked great. One of my favorites.

Thanks, this makes me feel a bit better. When I submitted the design, I felt really good about it. My task was to create a uni set which balanced the schools unique sky/navy/gray color scheme. I feel like I was able to create a good balance on both sets. Sure, it was a fairly safe look, but I still thought it would get a bit more love. And, at the risk of sounding a little cocky, I thought I was certain to get votes after going through all of the entries. Below is the entire set that I created. I swapped helmets and pant sets with jerseys until I arrived at sets which best balanced the colors. You can also see on the sky blue jersey that I originally had planned on using Copperplate for the numerals and nameplate since the school uses the font in their logos. After putting on all of the jerseys and trying different stroke widths, I decided to go out and search for a new font and found one which I thought worked very well.

[jdp]

I'd like to start off by thanking everyone that participated in Phase 2! We had 38 entries submitted, though one had to be disqualified due to using an existing school's proprietary font. Additionally, 11 members signed up for this round and did not submit a concept — they will be barred from competing in Phase 3.

...

Fair enough. My apologies for not submitting all the same. The holidays and unexpected travel did me in.

[chuckymack]

I had a death in the family and couldn't post my design in time (but I did post it). Does anyone mind if I post it here for some C&C, or should I create a separate thread for it?

[GeauxColonels]

OK, here are my assessments of each design without taking into account the instructions provided by the "schools"

• Appalachian State - A nice simple look, but there was nothing that really stood out in my mind and made it memorable. I think the Yosef logo gets lost a bit on the black helmet.
• Arkansas State - The design itself is nice, but it reminded me of Cincinnati with the "tears" in the design. I didn't really care for the addition of the silver/gray/chrome either. I think a red or black shell would have made me like it a bit more.
• Ball State - The addition of yellow killed this for me. The design also looked rushed with spots on the red jersey and yellow pants that were white that I don't believe were intended to be white.
• Boise State - This was a design that I wrestled with being in my top 5. It's a very "Boise-ish" look, which is good IMO. The asymmetry works, but the hip logo is a little big. The thing that kept this from my top 5 was the lack or orange in the gray uni set. Without it, the color seemed a bit flat. The inclusion of orange would have provided much needed contrast.
• BYU (#5) - An absolute classic look for BYU. The use of the Northwestern style stripes across the shoulders was a nice idea. The thing that kept this from being higher than 5 on my list was the "BYU" on the helmet instead of just the "Y" which they have used for years.
• Cincinnati (#2) - A great look that screamed "Bearcats" to me. And, while I typically don't care for random use of "anthracite," I think it worked here quite well. In hindsight, I may actually drop this one a notch or 2....but I still think it was a top 5 design.
• Colorado State - I wanted to like this, I really did. The style of the horns on the helmet is great. The use of the horn pattern on the shoulders was pretty good too. But I couldn't get past the horn pattern on the small of the back. It just didn't work for me. Also, one minor nitpick (which I think bears mentioning in a competition like this) was that the mesh under the collar on the green jersey (front view) should have been gold. Lastly, i would have liked to see something done with the pants rather than just keeping them a solid color.
• East Carolina - Not a bad look, but it just wasn't memorable enough for me. I'm not a huge fan of the collar treatment (it reminds me too much of the Nike collars in the NFL. One thing that I think could have been done would have been to use the pointed end of the pant striping on the sleeve striping for better continuity.
• Eastern Michigan - This one was probably my #6 of the designs. And, in looking back at it, I probably should have put it in my top 5. I like the unique wings on the sleeves and the simple green and white look. Very clean and classic. The one nitpick I have would be the "E" on the helmet being rotated slightly counterclockwise. That just threw me off a bit. One question on the green helmet though, I see a slight gradient on it...was that intended to convey a certain type of finish on the shell?
• Fresno State - The submitted design is classic Fresno St. The block shadow, while something I typically hate, is a feature that has been part of their look for as long as I can remember. I would have preferred if the "V" on the helmet was smaller and lower on the shell. Also, I felt like the "V" logos on the sleeves were overkill, so that kept it off my list.
• Georgia Southern - The idea here was good, IMO. However, the execution was ultimately lacking. The numerals on the helmet are way too big, IMO. i also didn't care for the use of the old logo on the jersey and would have preferred seeing their current logo instead. I liked the inclusion of gold on the helmets and pants as well. Turning to the sleeves, I see what the goal was....but I don't think it was executed properly. Looking at the font view and then the back view made it appear that there were separate sleeve designs going on. If you look at the front, the gold takes up the entire sleeve panel. However, when looking at the back, it was obvious that the gold would not reach the top and bottom of the panel if carried all the way to the front. As a result, it lost consistency in my mind.
• Hawai'i - Hawai'i was another set that I REALLY wanted to like. My problem with this set was that the jersey didn't appear to go with the helmet or pants. I think both needed some of the rainbow added to them while the jersey could have benefited in some form or fashion from including the tribal pattern either on the cuffs or collar at least. Lastly, the two-tone green didn't work, IMO.
• Houston - I think that the oversized logo on the helmets works here. The sleeve striping coming on to the chest was OK...not my favorite though; the pant striping also seemed a bit too much. But the sublimated logo on the front and back just didn't work in my eyes.
• Kent State - I don't think that the logo chosen for the helmet works on the gold shell - another instance of the logo getting lost there. Overall, i think the design was a bit inconsistent. The massive helmet stripe was smooth on the sides while the sleeves featured lightning bolts. I didn't like the gradients on the shoulders, but the pant treatment was a bit more bearable. A couple things that could have been cleaned up were the white areas inside the "K" logo on the hip and the odd, straight lines on the sleeves going up from the ends of the lightning bolts (they can be best seen on the blue jerseys).
• Memphis - This was a really good design that again just missed on my initial top 5. I like the return to the blue helmet shell and think the tiger striping is done well. Really nothing critical to say about this one.
• Miami (OH) - I like the large logo on the helmet. Having said that, I think the helmet needed to either lose the stripes or the logo needed to be smaller with the striping. The rest of the design is nice and clean, very traditional...but just wasn't enough to make it to my top 5.
• Middle Tennessee (#1) - A great design all around. I loved the use of the bolts from the logo on the shoulders and pants. And the number font was a great choice.
• Navy - I didn't like the use of the existing helmet...plain and simple (keep in mind this is my gut reaction to the design without knowing was you were tasked with). I would have much preferred an original helmet design. Also, I didn't care for the blue jersey AND pants. Monochrome looks don't get much love from me.
• New Mexico State - This one was WAY outside the box - which isn't necessarily bad. But the rip-off Navy helmet knocked it down. The large logo on the front didn't work for me. And the numerals are WAY too big, which is a big pet peeve of mine when looking at concepts.
• North Texas - The mint green killed it for me. It's as simple as that.
• Northern Illinois (#4) - A very nice, modern design that I could easily see NIU wearing. The gray yokes worked and the piping alongside was a nice finishing touch. The design carried very well down to the pants. I would have liked to have seen some red on the helmets though. I think that would have finished it off and probably moved this into my top 3.
• Old Dominion - Mine
• Rice - A very plain look, IMO. I like the idea of the helmets, but I think that the wings needed to be brighter to be seen better. I'm not sure why the wing treatment on the white pants didn't make it on to the blue pants....but it should have. A better number font is needed as well. With the Olde English "R" it just doesn't work well.
• San Diego State - This is another one of the designs I had to eliminate in my last round of deciding. Definitely a top 7 or 8 design. I like the imagery used on the sleeves, but wasn't as big of a fan of how it gave a pinkness to the panels. That's one of the things that kept it out of my top 5. The others are a few minor inconsistencies in the execution of the design (which I feel is important in competitions like these): the placement and size of the TV numbers on the shoulders; the placement of the NOB of the jerseys. Lastly, the collar treatment should have been different on the white jersey, IMO. The bottom needed to be white instead of black, and I think the cut-off point for the red should have been worked better into the flow of the shoulder yokes.
• San Jose State - An OK design. I like the spear as the helmet and pant striping, but I'm not sure why the designer didn't go that route on the sleeves as well.
• SMU - This was a good design...but I didn't care for the blue helmet. Plain and simple, that's what I didn't like for it. Not sure if it was the way the red doesn't show too well against the blue...but I just don't like it.
• Temple - I like the pant striping and how that was carried on to the collar and the cuffs (although the execution could have been better on the cuffs). However, the helmet stripe and use of that on the sleeves destroyed the look for me. It just doesn't work. Also, the incredibly small shoulder numbers are just weird.
• Toledo - There's nothing wrong with Toledo's look, I just don't think it was one of the top 5. Perhaps adding a little white on the blue unis would help. I do LOVE the blue helmet and the logo used on it.
• Tulane - OK, Tulane. I'm probably being too hard on this design but, seeing how I'm from the New Orleans area and have relatives that played football there and are huge Tulane fans, I tend to be a bit more critical of designs for teams I know well. First off, I think a traditional look was ABSOLUTELY the right way to go. Anyone that says Tulane doesn't feel like a "traditional" looking school just isn't familiar with the school or its history. I like the choice of font - I think it works well with the logo and wordmark. The thing that kills this for me is how much the sky blue gets lost in this look. When you have it against the lime green, i don't think there is enough contrast there, and it creates an almost teal-like effect. I would have much preferred if the design kept the lime and blue apart from each other either separated by white or olive green. Had the design taken that approach, I probably would have had it in my top 5.
• Tulsa - A very nice look; but the jersey was lacking continuity with the helmet and pants using the hurricane flags in the striping. I think they needed to be on the jerseys somewhere.
• UL-Lafayette - This one just had way too many inconsistencies between the 2 uniforms for me to give it any serious consideration. I also didn't care for the choice of helmet logos either.
• UMass (#3) - This design completely surprised me because I actually liked it. Despite the gimmicky gray, I LOVED the treatment it was given in this set. There was great consistency between the white and maroon jerseys, and the look was a solid one from head to toe.
• UNLV - I wasn't really sure what was going on here. I hated the loss of the gray and the sleeve panels and pant striping were just completely odd to me.
• UCF - This just seemed really plain to me. No NOB, no additional logos on the jersey or pants. Then you had the inconsistent striping between the gold helmets and pants. Lastly, the numbers on the backs were entirely too small.
• USF - BIG NUMBERS absolutely killed this for me....that and the lack of white other than the Russell logos on the green shirt and gold pants. I will say that the two-tone green didn't bother me and I like the sleeve striping....very clever.
• UTEP - A very good design here. It was one of the others on my top 8 or 9 that just missed the cut. I think I would have paired the white pants with the orange jerseys and vice-versa.
• UTSA - I think the helmet logo needed to be bigger, for starters. Also, the logo just didn't show up well on the blue helmet at all...perhaps orange would have made for a better choice. As much as asymmetry works for Boise, I don't care for it here.
• Wyoming - Definitely a "fill tool" approach that doesn't work. The numbers are WAY too large on the back and the font itself seems very outdated. The shade of yellow doesn't even appear to match the yellow color of the logo on the white helmet. This needed a LOT more work.

[rsaline]

OK, here are my assessments of each design without taking into account the instructions provided by the "schools"

• Eastern Michigan - This one was probably my #6 of the designs. And, in looking back at it, I probably should have put it in my top 5. I like the unique wings on the sleeves and the simple green and white look. Very clean and classic. The one nitpick I have would be the "E" on the helmet being rotated slightly counterclockwise. That just threw me off a bit. One question on the green helmet though, I see a slight gradient on it...was that intended to convey a certain type of finish on the shell?

Thanks for the feedback. I tilted the helmet logo because that's the way it would look on an actual helmet. The decals are placed so that they are horizontal when they are on the players' heads. This helmet appears to show the helmet on the ground, which would make the logo 'tilt' backward, like this:

As for the helmet finish, the intent was to have a matte finish similar to the Vikings, which I believe appears somewhat metallic. I wanted a similar finish on the white helmet, but obviously there would be no gradient.

[GeauxColonels]

OK, here are my assessments of each design without taking into account the instructions provided by the "schools"

• Eastern Michigan - This one was probably my #6 of the designs. And, in looking back at it, I probably should have put it in my top 5. I like the unique wings on the sleeves and the simple green and white look. Very clean and classic. The one nitpick I have would be the "E" on the helmet being rotated slightly counterclockwise. That just threw me off a bit. One question on the green helmet though, I see a slight gradient on it...was that intended to convey a certain type of finish on the shell?

Thanks for the feedback. I tilted the helmet logo because that's the way it would look on an actual helmet. The decals are placed so that they are horizontal when they are on the players' heads. This helmet appears to show the helmet on the ground, which would make the logo 'tilt' backward, like this:

As for the helmet finish, the intent was to have a matte finish similar to the Vikings, which I believe appears somewhat metallic. I wanted a similar finish on the white helmet, but obviously there would be no gradient.

Yeah, now that you mention it I see that the helmet isn't completely flat or rotated like a player is wearing it. It's kind of in between.