The Professional Quidditch Association- UPDATE: San Francisco (2/29)

[Spartan24898]

I think you should try to create a little more distinction between the mane and the head on the secondary. It looks like the Pegasus has a really fat neck.

[Red-Knight]

really happy you did this as well, I look forward to updates! Was the Dallas logo inspired by the old mls dallas burn any? I like it regardless, cool design.

[suplauren]

Dallas looks great!!!

My guesses for the colors are

New York: Top Row #4

Chicago: Bottom Row #3

Ohio: Top Row #1

Toronto: Top Row #3

LA: Top Row #2

Dallas: Bottom Row #2 (Already unveiled)

Vancouver: Bottom Row #4 (Already Unveiled)

San Fran: Bottom Row #1

You got Ohio and SF!

Liking everything I'm seeing so far except for the font on the PQA. I know you probably don't want to go sterotypically Harry Potter-style fonts, but I'd maybe play around with font choice that evoke something a bit more ancient and magical and timeless than that block font.

I'm definitely intentionally steering away from Harry Potter connotations. The sport in general has had a very, very strong move away from HP associations over the past few years. I can't think of a single competitive team that's popped up in the past 2 years that's uses a HP reference in their branding.

I think you should try to create a little more distinction between the mane and the head on the secondary. It looks like the Pegasus has a really fat neck.

I tried with that line coming down from the ear, but I think the neck does still need to be thinned down.

really happy you did this as well, I look forward to updates! Was the Dallas logo inspired by the old mls dallas burn any? I like it regardless, cool design.

It may have been subconscious. I really like investigating the region's other teams before I do a design, so I may have come across it during research. I do like it, though.

[ren69]

DALLAS

Everything is bigger in Texas. Especially quidditch. Texas has made a name for itself in recent years as the home of the top quidditch programs in the world: UT Austin, Texas State, Baylor, and Lone Star QC are all perennial powerhouses, among other teams. Texas style quidditch is known for being unforgiving- tackles are heavily emphasized, and players and teams are extremely serious.

I chose to base my Texas franchise in the largest metro area in the state- Dallas. Then I started looking around for mascot ideas. I quickly came across the Flying Red Horse. The Magnolia Petroleum company (later Mobil Oil) erected a large neon light of their logo, the red pegasus, long ago. It's since become a symbol of the city in general. I found this emblem from the Magnolia Building, and I knew I had my mascot:

Proudly presenting the first team in the MLQ, the

DALLAS LIGHTNING

The logo set is fairly straightforward. The secondary logo is heavily inspired by the pose of the Flying Red Horse. Team colors were chosen as a combination of the very Texan red, white, and blue, and the Cowboys' blue and silver.

I love feedback! Let me know what you think!

Glad to see your series off & running. I'll be following it for sure. Your Lighting logo is pretty solid, personally I like the secondary much more than the primary. On your primary the mane seems to be the first thing I notice as soon as I see it, not sure why but it is. maybe it's the gray lightning bolt on the forehead that draws my attention to the mane that makes it stand out & look a bit to rounded. Did you try leaving the bolt blue when you were working it up? Other than that it's pretty slick. Keep up the good work!

[ECUFan25]

It may just be me, but I'm seeing a football on the primary

Yeah but holy crap that is an awesome logo!

And, starting from TOP left, Ohio Toronto LA Chicago San Fran Dallas New York and vancouver

[suplauren]

DALLAS

Everything is bigger in Texas. Especially quidditch. Texas has made a name for itself in recent years as the home of the top quidditch programs in the world: UT Austin, Texas State, Baylor, and Lone Star QC are all perennial powerhouses, among other teams. Texas style quidditch is known for being unforgiving- tackles are heavily emphasized, and players and teams are extremely serious.

I chose to base my Texas franchise in the largest metro area in the state- Dallas. Then I started looking around for mascot ideas. I quickly came across the Flying Red Horse. The Magnolia Petroleum company (later Mobil Oil) erected a large neon light of their logo, the red pegasus, long ago. It's since become a symbol of the city in general. I found this emblem from the Magnolia Building, and I knew I had my mascot:

Proudly presenting the first team in the MLQ, the

DALLAS LIGHTNING

The logo set is fairly straightforward. The secondary logo is heavily inspired by the pose of the Flying Red Horse. Team colors were chosen as a combination of the very Texan red, white, and blue, and the Cowboys' blue and silver.

I love feedback! Let me know what you think!

Glad to see your series off & running. I'll be following it for sure. Your Lighting logo is pretty solid, personally I like the secondary much more than the primary. On your primary the mane seems to be the first thing I notice as soon as I see it, not sure why but it does. maybe it's the gray lightning bolt on the forehead that draws my attention to the mane that makes it stand out & look a bit to rounded. Did you try leaving the bolt blue when you were working it up? Other than that it's pretty slick. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the feedback Ren! I'll probably be doing edits to these sets later. I haven't tried the bolt in blue, but I definitely can. I was trying to make it look like the white blaze that many horses have.

It may just be me, but I'm seeing a football on the primary

Yeah but holy crap that is an awesome logo!

And, starting from TOP left, Ohio Toronto LA Chicago San Fran Dallas New York and vancouver

You got Chicago!

Next team coming up!

[suplauren]

OHIO

In our universe, the newest region in US Quidditch is the Great Lakes. They are a booming area, and it's become necessary to separate them from the midwest. The most notable team from the Ohio area is probably Bowling Green, though Michigan has a number of strong teams as well.

In the MLQ's universe, a team in Ohio would largely draw from players based in Ohio, Michigan, Eastern Pennsylvania, and perhaps some states further south. They would be based out of Columbus.

Ohio started out as the Skyhawks. I knew I wanted some sort of airborne mascot for the league (besides the Lightning), and Skyhawks sounds cool. But I researched the name further, and it turns out Skyhawks are actually Naval planes, and there's no Navy base in Ohio. I delved a little deeper into Ohio's strong aviation history, and I was reminded that more astronauts have come out of Ohio than any other state. Perfect!

Going where no team has gone before, the

OHIO COMMANDERS

Commander is the highest rank in NASA. The logo design is based off of the pin that NASA awards to astronauts:

There are some notable differences. The added circle at the top and the adjusted lengths of the rays are meant to symbolize the 3 hoops in quidditch and their different lengths.

Color choice was a bit of a challenge. I went through probably 8-10 different pallets. I settled on gold, because I didn't have any other gold teams at that point, and also the astronaut pin is gold if the astronaut has actually been to space (silver if they haven't). I wanted to use red as the other primary color, but it just looked really... USSR, haha. It also just wouldn't be a quidditch league if at least one team wasn't gold and black.

I may see about coming up with a secondary logo for them in the future. I have a couple ideas.

Let me know what you think!

[ren69]

I really like the primary for the Commanders & the wordmark is fitting. Not sure about the two together though, it seems as if the wordmark is just pasted on top & obstructing the view of the primary. Perhaps have the wordmark arched above the logo or just straight if you prefer. A roundel might not be a bad idea for this one either (I'm a sucker for roundels)! Nice overall work.

[suplauren]

I really like the primary for the Commanders & the wordmark is fitting. Not sure about the two together though, it seems as if the wordmark is just pasted on top & obstructing the view of the primary. Perhaps have the wordmark arched above the logo or just straight if you prefer. A roundel might not be a bad idea for this one either (I'm a sucker for roundels)! Nice overall work.

I totally didn't even think of a roundel! So far I only have one other roundel in the league, and it's a secondary/tertiary logo. I'll have to make that change, it's a great suggestion.

[Wildcomet]

I really like the primary for the Commanders & the wordmark is fitting. Not sure about the two together though, it seems as if the wordmark is just pasted on top & obstructing the view of the primary. Perhaps have the wordmark arched above the logo or just straight if you prefer. A roundel might not be a bad idea for this one either (I'm a sucker for roundels)! Nice overall work.

I totally didn't even think of a roundel! So far I only have one other roundel in the league, and it's a secondary/tertiary logo. I'll have to make that change, it's a great suggestion.

Like ren I quite like the primary and wordmark but put together something seems a little off. The roundel idea could work really well so I look forward to seeing it. If it turns out not to work, something that could integrate them a little more would be to have 'Commanders' go inside the white ring from the primary logo.

Like I said I think the two pieces separately are nice. The only thing I'd suggest would be maybe on the primary to give the white ring some gold highlights or something as well, rather than just white; it feels a bit jarring to me to have that ring be so bright compared to most of the remainder of the logo. Overall it's a great concept!

[davidmiller5]

I would at least think about rotating the star so it doesn't look like an inverted pentagram. I know that there are several meanings for this symbol, but it is frequently used as a symbol of evil or Satanic forces.

[suplauren]

I really like the primary for the Commanders & the wordmark is fitting. Not sure about the two together though, it seems as if the wordmark is just pasted on top & obstructing the view of the primary. Perhaps have the wordmark arched above the logo or just straight if you prefer. A roundel might not be a bad idea for this one either (I'm a sucker for roundels)! Nice overall work.

I totally didn't even think of a roundel! So far I only have one other roundel in the league, and it's a secondary/tertiary logo. I'll have to make that change, it's a great suggestion.

Like ren I quite like the primary and wordmark but put together something seems a little off. The roundel idea could work really well so I look forward to seeing it. If it turns out not to work, something that could integrate them a little more would be to have 'Commanders' go inside the white ring from the primary logo.

Like I said I think the two pieces separately are nice. The only thing I'd suggest would be maybe on the primary to give the white ring some gold highlights or something as well, rather than just white; it feels a bit jarring to me to have that ring be so bright compared to most of the remainder of the logo. Overall it's a great concept!

These are really good ideas. I think I'm going to try to set aside some time this weekend to make edits (And post the next team!). I'm definitely going to play around with highlights/shadows on the white ring.

I would at least think about rotating the star so it doesn't look like an inverted pentagram. I know that there are several meanings for this symbol, but it is frequently used as a symbol of evil or Satanic forces.

I definitely didn't even see this, haha! I just thought it was cool to have the star off its normal axis. I'll see what I can do about the rotation.

[suplauren]

Hi guys, sorry I've gone so MIA on this. My social life decided to pick up RIGHT as I posted this thread. With school coming up we'll see how the rest of it goes. I have most of the teams done, and I'm planning on finishing no matter how long it takes. It just might be longer than I was originally hoping. Edits may take a while too. I will be posting the next team writeup right after this post.

[suplauren]

VANCOUVER

Canada has the second strongest quidditch teams in the world, after the USA. British Columbia has a small cadre of strong teams, especially the UBC Thunderbirds (as a side note, they have one of my favorite jerseys in the sport). Teams from the Vancouver have a recent history of competing with the small number of teams in the Pacific Northwest, though recent changes in international quidditch policy have put this healthy competition into upheaval.

In my MLQ universe, though, international competition is alive and well. In fact, Vancouver is the pride of the Pacific Northwest. My original concept for Vancouver was to draw on tribal art from the area. They were originally named the Ravens. But the more I looked into they myths of those tribes, the more I became unsure about my abilities to properly represent their art and traditions without stereotyping or dishonoring them. So I changed course.

Representing the Northwestern Wilderness, the

Vancouver Evergreens

Overall, Vancouver has a classic and straightforward design. I was inspired by vintage hockey and (obviously) baseball when doing the wordmark. The Logo was inspired by mountains, axes cutting wood, and (again, obviously) a V. Color inspiration definitely came from the Eugene Emeralds.

I'm back and forth about how to best use the neon green in the wordmark. I also don't have any ideas for a secondary logo, except maybe trying to come up with a V/E combo. Let me know your thoughts.

[ren69]

The Primary is pretty simple but gets the point across. The wordmark looks kinda rough & I don't think that lighter shade of green on the tail is needed since you don't have it anywhere else on the wordmark. I would just get rid of it or add highlights to the rest of the wordmark if you want to keep it.

[Wildcomet]

I like the primary, it is kind of simple but it's effective and looks good; simple can often be a real good thing. For the wordmark I'd agree that having the lighter green only on that tail works that well, but I'm not sure that highlighting all of them is the answer either. A compromise could be to put the highlights on the capital letters; that would make it a little more prevalent (but not too much) and it would make sense for the capital letters to look different from the lower case letters.

A 'VE' logo could work for the secondary- similar in vein to the Virginia Tech logo. The key would be meshing the letters together with that font style but I think it could be done. Another possibility could be something like a pine cone going through a hoop or something along those lines. Nice start to this!

[suplauren]

The Primary is pretty simple but gets the point across. The wordmark looks kinda rough & I don't think that lighter shade of green on the tail is needed since you don't have it anywhere else on the wordmark. I would just get rid of it or add highlights to the rest of the wordmark if you want to keep it.

Do you think you could clarify what you mean by rough? I can see it, but I think I could use more direction.

I like the primary, it is kind of simple but it's effective and looks good; simple can often be a real good thing. For the wordmark I'd agree that having the lighter green only on that tail works that well, but I'm not sure that highlighting all of them is the answer either. A compromise could be to put the highlights on the capital letters; that would make it a little more prevalent (but not too much) and it would make sense for the capital letters to look different from the lower case letters.

A 'VE' logo could work for the secondary- similar in vein to the Virginia Tech logo. The key would be meshing the letters together with that font style but I think it could be done. Another possibility could be something like a pine cone going through a hoop or something along those lines. Nice start to this!

I love the pine cone and hoop idea, that'd be super cute and could co really well with this set.

[ren69]

Sorry, What I mean is...for it being a script font it just doesn't look very smooth. Try smoothing out some of your flat edges, also the R in Vancouver doesn't match the R's in Evergreens same goes for the N. The top of your C is almost touching the O which causes a bit of visual tension IMO & last, all your letters are slanted except the V. I would try straightening up the rest of the font to match it or slant the V & see how that looks. Hope that helps.

[suplauren]

Sorry, What I mean is...for it being a script font it just doesn't look very smooth. Try smoothing out some of your flat edges, also the R in Vancouver doesn't match the R's in Evergreens same goes for the N. The top of your C is almost touching the O which causes a bit of visual tension IMO & last, all your letters are slanted except the V. I would try straightening up the rest of the font to match it or slant the V & see how that looks. Hope that helps.

Awesome, thanks!

[suplauren]

I'm going to keep forging ahead with this project, although interest seems to be kind of low. I don't have time to make edits now, but I may find a way with winter break coming up!

TORONTO

The second half of the Canadian teams, Toronto represents the largest metropolitan area in their country. I new I wanted to represent them with something storied, but also something intimidating.

Swooping in from the rooftops, the

TORONTO GARGOYLES

Toronto was a little rough. Gargoyles had been a name my friend and I had kicked around a lot as a quidditch team name, and I thought Toronto may be a good fit. I googled around, and it turns out that Toronto does have prominent gargoyles in its history, on its Town Hall:

You can pretty clearly see that this gargoyle was my inspiration!

As for the colors, I wanted someone to be purple, and Toronto seemed to work well. The bronze alludes to how when Toronto replaced the original crumbling sandstone gargoyles on the Town Hall they used bronze.

C&C and even redlines are encouraged! Thank you for any feedback!