Arena Football Project

[WideRight]

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. 

 

[BengalErnst]

So much better and free flowing. Now it’s great 

[WideRight]

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?

 

[Josef_Bretones]

The uniforms, the helmet and especially the logo seem very good to me. The wordmark not so much. Not because it is elvish but because it seems to me that it is too much script for such an "Illustrator" logo (I don't know if I mean it).

[MilSox]

Massive upgrade on the Mustangs logo.  Still not feeling the colors or side panels though.

Phenomenal job on Memphis.  I forgot how much I loved those helmets and what you did with the numbers just works.  I even like the minimal,yet just enough blue.

[mkg74]

Pharoahs remind of what KC chiefs do with black, just in their logo and no where else on the uniform. I'm a big fan of that kind of stuff.

[Mvdbutler]

Too Cool But Prefect

[neo_prankster]

19 minutes ago, mkg74 said:

Pharoahs remind of what KC chiefs do with black, just in their logo and no where else on the uniform. I'm a big fan of that kind of stuff.

 

And also the Steelers using red and blue in their logo without putting it on the uniforms.

 

The Niners did the same with black till the 94 throwbacks.

[JerseyJimmy]

it's kind weird seeing the Pharaohs with a logo that isn't a complete trashfire. good job.

[neo_prankster]

8 minutes ago, JerseyJimmy said:

it's kind weird seeing the Pharaohs with a logo that isn't a complete trashfire. good job.

 

I know, right?

[Guest darkpiranha]

14 hours ago, WideRight said:

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. 

 

 

The fans approve of the new logo!  Such a robust gorgeous flowing mane of NATURAL hair.  The kind of hair that FLOWS in the wind.  (Seriously, though, great job on this and on the Pharaohs.)

[WideRight]

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. 

 

 

[BengalErnst]

1 hour ago, WideRight said:

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. 

 

 

have you looked at the new Carolina Cobras logo from I believe the IFL?  I’m a fan of that logo and color scheme. Your jerseys for them are great tho.

 

i love everything you did with the avengers here. Perfect color scheme. No changes needed there at all

[WideRight]

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. 

 

[Brian in Boston]

On 4/24/2020 at 4:53 AM, WideRight said:

 

Brilliant upgrade of an iconic Arena Football League team identity! A wonderful example of how a brand can be imbued with new life via measured evolution to one or two design elements, rather than engaging in wholesale changes to the entire package.    

[Brian in Boston]

4 hours ago, WideRight said:

I concur with your decision to adapt the simpler Los Angeles Cobras mark to the Carolina color scheme, as the original Charlotte-based Cobras AFL team logo struck me as too detailed and fussy.

I had a thought regarding the application of the full-body Cobra to the team's helmets. While the cobras do work as currently positioned on the headgear, imagine extending the tail of each snake forward, along to the edge of the bumper and then having them loop up and back over the top of the helmet as a pair of tapering stripes akin to those that were on the original Tennessee Titans' helmets. From the front of the helmet, one would see a pair of Venom Gold stripes outlined in Black edging along next to the upper portion of the facemark cage, then curling under the bumper for a moment, before looping up and back as the pair of tapering gold stripes with black trim.

Other than that one possible tweak, I wouldn't change a thing about this logo and uniform package. Top notch work.                   

[Brian in Boston]

6 hours ago, WideRight said:

 

I like your decision to swap-out the Yellow of the original Los Angeles Avengers team palette for the metallic Gold and Bronzes, as well as the elevation of Navy to the primary color in the uniforms. These changes take the identity package from the realm of comic book Avengers to that of avenging archangels. Long-term, I think that allows the team - and, by extension, its licensed products - to be marketed to a wider consumer audience.

That said, there are some suggestions I'd like to share.

First, the Avengers upper-body mark doesn't strike me as being optimal for use as the helmet logo. While the White "LA" pops against the metallic Gold of the helmet, the Avenger figure - primarily rendered in Gold and Bronze - fades into the background. What's more, while the logo faces forward on the righthand side of the helmet, it faces to the rear on the lefthand side. I'd suggest using the stand-alone Avenger head as the helmet logo. Applied at a size akin to that of the "Flying Elvis" mark on the headgear of the New England Patriots, this mark's  larger sections of Navy would be much more legible against the metallic surface of the helmet, even at a distance. Further, said mark would be easily flipped so as to be facing forward on both sides of the helmet.

With a large, stand-alone Avenger head adorning the helmets, I think I'd opt to leave the sleeves of the jersey plain, as I like the positioning of the Avengers upper-body/LA ligature on the hips of the pants.                    

 

 

[Guest darkpiranha]

8 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

I like your decision to swap-out the Yellow of the original Los Angeles Avengers team palette for the metallic Gold and Bronzes, as well as the elevation of Navy to the primary color in the uniforms. These changes take the identity package from the realm of comic book Avengers to that of avenging archangels. Long-term, I think that allows the team - and, by extension, its licensed products - to be marketed to a wider consumer audience.

That said, there are some suggestions I'd like to share.

First, the Avengers upper-body mark doesn't strike me as being optimal for use as the helmet logo. While the White "LA" pops against the metallic Gold of the helmet, the Avenger figure - primarily rendered in Gold and Bronze - fades into the background. What's more, while the logo faces forward on the righthand side of the helmet, it faces to the rear on the lefthand side. I'd suggest using the stand-alone Avenger head as the helmet logo. Applied at a size akin to that of the "Flying Elvis" mark on the headgear of the New England Patriots, this mark's  larger sections of Navy would be much more legible against the metallic surface of the helmet, even at a distance. Further, said mark would be easily flipped so as to be facing forward on both sides of the helmet.

With a large, stand-alone Avenger head adorning the helmets, I think I'd opt to leave the sleeves of the jersey plain, as I like the positioning of the Avengers upper-body/LA ligature on the hips of the pants.                    

 

 

 

This echoes my thoughts.  The full logo gets kind of lost on the helmet and the just the head would be strong and bold.   While the blue and gold is perfectly fine, I've always loved a blue-gold-red combo when done right.  The Avengers hasn't been done right yet, but I'd still make an effort to make it work.  While the branding isn't Greek or Roman, the statue part of the logo still feels classic and ancient, so maybe try going for a deeper, darker, slightly less saturated red and blue.  More of a 300 Spartans red, but even darker.  

 

I love everything about the Cobras, especially the uniforms, except that the head of the Cobra doesn't feel finished yet.  Feels like there needs to be some more definition between the head and the hood elements.  

 

Dragons.. I'm not feeling the flame.  At least as a helmet element.   If you really want to use it, I think it needs some more work.  It doesn't really feel like a flame being expelled from a dragon's mouth yet.  The shape and curls of the flame don't feel right.  This will be tricky.  Probably a reason why we've never had a dragonflame logo before.  

 

[JerseyJimmy]

don't know why you're so unsure about the Cobras, I think they're one of the best-looking teams so far. not as good as the Avengers, because hoo boy, but still.

 

fun fact: one of the high schools around here goes by the Cobras, and they use a blue version of the old logo

[WideRight]

19 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

I concur with your decision to adapt the simpler Los Angeles Cobras mark to the Carolina color scheme, as the original Charlotte-based Cobras AFL team logo struck me as too detailed and fussy.

I had a thought regarding the application of the full-body Cobra to the team's helmets. While the cobras do work as currently positioned on the headgear, imagine extending the tail of each snake forward, along to the edge of the bumper and then having them loop up and back over the top of the helmet as a pair of tapering stripes akin to those that were on the original Tennessee Titans' helmets. From the front of the helmet, one would see a pair of Venom Gold stripes outlined in Black edging along next to the upper portion of the facemark cage, then curling under the bumper for a moment, before looping up and back as the pair of tapering gold stripes with black trim.

Other than that one possible tweak, I wouldn't change a thing about this logo and uniform package. Top notch work.                   

 

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.