AAF Concepts

[BradyIvie]

Now that the AAF has unveiled their eight teams' logos, I've started working on some concepts for uniforms and fields for the teams. With Starter coming in so late in the game, I figured using an old Nike template with switched-out logos would make sense, as they would be playing catch-up with the big boys of the uniform world. Each field, however, is identical, minus team branding and colors.

First up are the Orlando Apollos. The stripe on the pants and helmet comes to a point from the bottom like the arrow in the team logo. The helmet, sleeve caps, pant stripe, and gloves all follow a gradient between the two oranges the team uses in the logo.

 

Next team up are the San Antonio Commanders. With the unique color scheme of maroon, red, and silver, the Commanders' uniforms feature silver helmets and pants that match because that's something you should be able to do as professionals (here's looking at you, Cowboys). Maroon is the featured color with red used as an accent, and the home uniform features the wordmark and maker's mark reflective in silver. With such a bold color scheme, I didn't want to busy up the uniforms, so there's no striping to be found, although the numbers have a double outline to keep from feeling boring.

 

The Memphis Express are the last team I have ready right now. The team's split wordmark and logo inspire the jersey, as the numbers are split with differently-colored tops and bottoms. To make sure the numbers are legible, they are outlined. The outlines don't match the same half between home and road uniforms to give the team a little extra quirk.

 

Comments and criticism welcome.

[1991]

looks good, nothing outrageous keep up the good work.

 

[raz]

San Antonio field looks more brown than maroon. You can see in the end zone that it doesn't match the logo color.

(now I've always thought brown and red could work ... )

 

Otherwise, nice!

[BradyIvie]

13 minutes ago, rjrrzube said:

San Antonio field looks more brown than maroon. You can see in the end zone that it doesn't match the logo color.

(now I've always thought brown and red could work ... )

 

Otherwise, nice!

I’m using Darth Brooks’ template for the fields and when editing the end zone color  it doesn’t come across as the actual hue I want it to due to the texture, while the logo is placed directly on top and doesn’t have an existing texture or effect so it comes across cleaner (if I knew how I’d match them). As for red and brown as a color scheme, Brown University makes it work.

[Pengin.]

I can't get over how good the Express jerseys. Nice work 

[GT Designs]

I love the Express jerseys but I’m not so sure about the multicolored numbers. They could be hard to see from a far

[BradyIvie]

6 hours ago, GT Designs said:

I love the Express jerseys but I’m not so sure about the multicolored numbers. They could be hard to see from a far

That's an issue I'm trying to work out still. I love the concept and how it looks, particularly on the road uniform. However, that home uniform really wouldn't be easy to read with the blue outline. A white outline doesn't help it, either. I'll keep toying with it and seeing what I can do.

 

While I work to fix it, I've completed the next team, the San Diego Fleet. For the Fleet, the anthracite mixed with yellow and gray was a little difficult to work with. The team goes mono-anthracite at home, as they only have anthracite pants. The shoulder yoke is inspired by US Navy uniforms, but end in a trim around the shoulder cap to keep it unique. The team also has players' last names on the front of the uniforms,  also inspired by the US Navy. The helmet stripe matches the pants stripe, with the only difference being the city name on the pants between the stripes.

 

C&C welcome.

[Darknes]

The Fleet need some more White or some more Yellow on those home Jerseys, it feels very muted..

[BradyIvie]

On 9/28/2018 at 2:58 AM, Darknes said:

The Fleet need some more White or some more Yellow on those home Jerseys, it feels very muted..

I definitely see what you mean. I changed the numbers on the home uniform to white and the sleeve cuffs and undershirt to yellow to try brightening and lightening it up.

[MJWalker45]

For the Fleet, those shoulder boards need to have something more added to them. They're just strips of yellow at the moment. 

 

For San Antonio there needs to be something added to the sleeve, either striping or the logo set.

 

I'd also increase the size of the front numbers and shrink the wordmark for Memphis as well as picking one color instead of the gradient look it has now. 

[BradyIvie]

On 10/3/2018 at 10:40 AM, MJWalker45 said:

For the Fleet, those shoulder boards need to have something more added to them. They're just strips of yellow at the moment. 

 

For San Antonio there needs to be something added to the sleeve, either striping or the logo set.

 

I'd also increase the size of the front numbers and shrink the wordmark for Memphis as well as picking one color instead of the gradient look it has now. 

I've taken your suggestions and made a few changes. For Memphis, I shrank the wordmark down 33%. I also couldn't find a way to keep the multi-colored numbers that I liked, so I changed them to a single color with an outline.

 

Also as recommended, I spiced up the sleeves a bit by adding the team logo to each sleeve. However, to keep the uniform from being too flashy and overdesigned, I made the logo the same color as the rest of the uniform and reflective.

 

With San Diego, I haven't been able to find a way to modify the shoulder stripe that I like yet. I might try to make the shoulder striping more of a piping like on the pants. If anybody has any suggestions, I'd love some feedback on how to make it work best.

 

To add a little extra new content to this post, I've also finished up the Arizona Hotshots. With their bold color palette, I tried to utilize the orange and yellow together as a gradient as often as possible. Under no circumstances was I going to go with a gradient uniform, however, as I want to keep that unique to my home state and the Jazz. As such, the team uses a green helmet and orange home uniform with plenty of fiery gradients mixed in. As with every other team so far, the field is fairly cookie-cutter.

[BradyIvie]

Also completed are the Birmingham Iron. With two shades of gray accompanying black as their colors, it was fairly difficult to avoid looking like the Raiders. To keep that from happening, I gave them black helmets and black road pants. The numbers on the sides of the helmet are a tribute to the Crimson Tide. Certain elements, like the helmet numbers and stripe, pants pattern, and sleeve pattern, are meant to look like corrugated iron and are reflective. The numbers on the uniform itself, however, are not reflective as a way to improve visibility. The field, again, only changes in colors and turf material.

[walkerws]

2 hours ago, BradyIvie said:

Also completed are the Birmingham Iron. With two shades of gray accompanying black as their colors, it was fairly difficult to avoid looking like the Raiders. To keep that from happening, I gave them black helmets and black road pants. The numbers on the sides of the helmet are a tribute to the Crimson Tide. Certain elements, like the helmet numbers and stripe, pants pattern, and sleeve pattern, are meant to look like corrugated iron and are reflective.

 

This is where I think you go wrong. It's a step up so the look shouldn't emulate the lower level as this has. The logo on both sides and the middle stripe being a metallic but not necessarily reflective. 

[BradyIvie]

44 minutes ago, walkerws said:

 

This is where I think you go wrong. It's a step up so the look shouldn't emulate the lower level as this has. The logo on both sides and the middle stripe being a metallic but not necessarily reflective. 

The Carolina Panthers’ blue was chosen because it was between UNC and Duke’s blues and the Thunder got their orange from mixing the Sooners’ crimson and OK State’s orange, so I felt that a tribute to the closest powerhouse to Birmingham would be fitting. Also, I tried the team logo  on a variety of helmets and it always looked off to me, so I went with something different.

As for the metallic/reflective part, you are correct, it would not be reflective. My brain is just running on too little sleep.