Tampa Bay Buccaneers Unveil New Uniforms

[Sport]

20 hours ago, andrewharrington said:

If people need a single entity to “blame” for these things, there just isn’t one. Everyone, the team execs, the league’s design team, the outfitter’s design team, and sometimes even an outside agency has a hand in the final product. Even within an individual design team, there’s a structure where designers bring initial ideas that are subsequently filtered through an art director and/or creative director. That’s typically who decides what goes in front of the team and what gets left on the idea board, and also how (and how aggressively) it gets presented or “sold” to the team execs and/or league.

 

I think a fair way to look at it (at least for what I understand to be the NFL’s process) is this: the NFL is usually responsible for the concept and execution of the branding (incl. the helmet), while the outfitter is usually responsible for the concept and execution of the uniform, and the team acts as a guide and guardrail through the whole project. Obviously, teams vary in how liberal or conservative or how hands-on or -off they are through it, but that just reflects how different every project is and is a perfect example why it’s short-sighted to always blame the same entity or a single entity at all. It’s tough to know where it went wrong without having been there. That particular workflow alone makes it difficult to connect everything, in my opinion.

 

Sometimes a team tells you exactly what it wants. Sometimes it even sends you artwork. One time we presented a full set of four uniform and identity designs for a third jersey, and the team came back with one of our logos on a uniform that they had an agency design. There’s a basic, flexible structure to these type of projects, but they’re all unique in their own little ways.

I don't know who should field the blame because it falls on the shoulders of so many and there's certainly talented people working in the NFL, but it's been a while since I was wowed by a new logo or uniform to come out of the NFL. The Panthers, Buccaneers, Jaguars, Dolphins, Browns, and Vikings all revised their logos in the last 10 years and each one has curious and head-scratching decisions. Of those I think only the Vikings aren't a downgrade. Many of them are overly-detailed, with thin lines, poor execution, fundamental flaws, and oddly not optimized for modern usages like social media avatars, TV scorebugs, or embroidery. The event logos are unstirring at best or actually angering like the Super Bowl logos. The Super Bowl 50 logo is one of the least inspiring things I've ever seen for an event of that magnitude. 

The uniform track record isn't great either. The Browns, Jaguars, and Buccaneers have all bailed on their ugly modern uniforms as fast as they could. Opened to jeers upon release and never won the hearts of their own fans. The Jaguars two tone helmet is one of the dumbest looking pieces of sports equipment ever tried. Each team reverted back to something similar to what they had been wearing before. The Titans new look is every bit as bad as those three with a number font that is simply unacceptable. As unacceptable as the Bucs number font. The Dolphins tweaked theirs after only a couple years after their redesign, and the Lions are on their second set of new uniforms in a ten year stretch.

 

That's not even mentioning the color rushes, the relaxed socks policies, or that teams (like the Saints white pants) can now introduce a new pair of pants seemingly whenever they feel like it. 

 

The only uniform redesigns I haven't hated in recent years are the Vikings and the Lions and with each one I still have some pretty big bones to pick, but the standards for good design in the NFL are lower than they've been in the digital age. I don't know why that is and I think we need to keep asking why that is. 

[Survival79]

1 hour ago, PaleVermilion81 said:

I like this a lot actually. I mean, I like the orange in there better, but the removal of silver from the outline on both logos does wonders. 

 

I also like the orange better.

 

I think removing the silver would help clean things up and making the logo a reasonable size again would work wonders.

 

[Lights Out]

2 hours ago, bucky_bleichert said:

i agree with the previous poster who said this update, along with the jags' and the browns upcoming redesign, is a strong repudiation of nike's aesthetic.

 

Couldn't disagree more. Anyone who's paid attention to college uniforms in recent years can tell you that Nike has moved towards a very boring aesthetic. Every football team has to look like Alabama, every basketball team that isn't a blue blood gets minimal striping at best.

 

The current Jaguars uniforms and that Bucs mockup are right in Nike's wheelhouse. They've overcorrected from debacles like the two-tone Jaguars helmet and are now afraid to use more than two colors at once.

[The_Admiral]

1 hour ago, andrewharrington said:

I don’t mind it at all. Isn’t she... a tugboat captain? In my opinion, it’s a fun way to describe someone whose name you don’t want to reveal. The other option is to type my girlfriend, my partner, or my significant other every time, but that could refer to anyone he may be dating at a given time. “Tugboat Captain” is specific and personal; it gives her a name and identity without having to reveal her actual name.

 

I had no idea Paul Lukas is straight inasmuch as he's John Waters's Simpsons character in real life.

 

What! Don't glare at me! My man collects vintage foot measurers!

[SFGiants58]

12 hours ago, andrewharrington said:

Absolutely. The art is going to get less and less accurate with every incarnation if the artist doesn’t bother to verify it by doing the research and going to the original source.

 

To be completely honest, I don’t think I’ve ever pulled the “official” vintage logo for anything I’ve done because I either don’t trust the accuracy of it or I inevitably find through my own research that it is, in fact, not accurate. Even most “authentic reproductions” simply aren’t. I find Ebbets Field very trustworthy, but that’s about it. I always try to start with a genuine game-worn piece or at least an authentic action photo.

Heck, one of my big pushes when doing “retro” concepts is fixing vintage graphics to be more accurate.

 

 

I bet you never knew about this variation, did you?

[HOOVER]

15 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

So basically make the swoosh an official part of the uniform.  Game.  Set.  Match.  Nike.  

 

It's clear who you work for.

 

 

I've already stated that I do not work for Nike.  I sell their product, but I also sell Under Armour and many other brands.  Sorry you can't accept that Nike is the manufacturer and that they don't design all NFL uniforms to your specific desires.

[Htown1141]

57 minutes ago, Lights Out said:

 

Couldn't disagree more. Anyone who's paid attention to college uniforms in recent years can tell you that Nike has moved towards a very boring aesthetic. Every football team has to look like Alabama, every basketball team that isn't a blue blood gets minimal striping at best.

 

The current Jaguars uniforms and that Bucs mockup are right in Nike's wheelhouse. They've overcorrected from debacles like the two-tone Jaguars helmet and are now afraid to use more than two colors at once.

I'm gonna have to push back on this kind of thinking, as far as college football goes. One thing that I've come to notice is how large the AD and coaches' presence is in creating a uniform set for a team. This can be done by only using certain combos (Jimbo has drastically reduced the combos at A&M) to creating an entirely new set (Rhule at Baylor, Fleck at Minnesota, Brown at WVU, AD Heather Lyke at Pitt, and so on), and often timmes are done to bring a new "culture" or something into a building. I use these coaches as examples because each one of them has admittedly simple uniforms, but that doesn't mean that they're boring. Each has a uniquely created number font that doesn't feel overly designed or needs any nikespeak explanation, and Nike themselves do get to show a certain level of creativity with each of these sets. The numbers have become the new striping, and I don't know this for a fact, but with the success of blue-bloods in recent years, and the trend of recruits enjoying "clean" uniforms, the focus has been less on striping and what can make a uniform unique, but instead focusing on what can make your brand unique. Say what you will about each uniform set, the numbers and font are distinct, and the introduction of a widespread theme of sublimation or two-tone numbers (IMO stared with RichRod at Arizona with their dumb :censored:ing dots or whatever) create a unique and identifiable pattern to represent the school with varying applications. If you wanna see an example of that specific pattern used on uniforms in creative ways, look at Pitt's striping, or (since I'm going there) North Texas' feather pattern used on their sleeve caps. They're trying to introduce subtlety into their designs without looking like garbage

 

Nike isn't truly moving towards a "boring" aesthetic, rather a more nuanced aesthetic that has to creatively circumvent the trends that Athletic Directors, coaches and recruits continue to push for.

 

Also, if you want to see some interesting/non-"boring" Nike designs that have come out in the last 3-4 years, when they kinda got on this kick of simplicity, look no further than Oregon State with their interesting number sublimation and shoulder stripes, Syracuse's solid 2019 update with a decently unique font and basic yet effective striping, UNT's 2017 update, Purdue's 2016 update, so on and so forth. We just don't focus on those because for every one of those, there's a West Virginia or Minnesota or Jacksonville or Tampa. I'm fine with 2 of those because they incorporate all the team's colors into a cohesive look, but the NFL one I'll give you are very uninspiring.

[IceCap]

4 hours ago, Sport said:

*snipped for space*

This. So much.

The Bills are probably the last NFL team to unveil a uniform I actually liked. Probably because they had a really clear vision for what they wanted and weren't interested in a lot of trendy alternatives.

 

The Lions and Vikings are probably my favourites of the Nike era, but they both have these weird little things that keep me from enjoying them. My hope is that the Browns are as committed to a traditional look as the Bills were, and that they go with classic sleeve striping at the very least. That might kick off a trend where teams like the Lions and Vikings go "oh hey, yeah, we CAN go with something more classic if we want to."

[BadSeed84]

1 hour ago, IceCap said:

This. So much.

The Bills are probably the last NFL team to unveil a uniform I actually liked. Probably because they had a really clear vision for what they wanted and weren't interested in a lot of trendy alternatives.

 

The Lions and Vikings are probably my favourites of the Nike era, but they both have these weird little things that keep me from enjoying them. My hope is that the Browns are as committed to a traditional look as the Bills were, and that they go with classic sleeve striping at the very least. That might kick off a trend where teams like the Lions and Vikings go "oh hey, yeah, we CAN go with something more classic if we want to."

 

I myself have never cared for the lions current set, I think the previous was better (yes even with the black accents).

The thing is, there seems to be certain guidelines all the teams along with nike abide by. For a while it seemed like no outlines was heavily pushed, but now outlines are a bit back.

But since the trend is if you have outlines they have to be thin, when some try to do double outlines like the dolphins, it looks like cap.

The Bills really did nail a great look.

[hormone]

I’m with the crew that says the lack of orange is disappointing, even when it’s been minimal. Just don’t want the makers mark to be orange as it’s not technically, nor should it ever be, an element of the uniform itself. Don’t forget, they had an orange sock option with the last set and wore them once (if memory serves right) and to make it worse, I think it was during the pick October years to make it a real head scratcher.

[DouglasQuaid]

18 minutes ago, hormone said:

Don’t forget, they had an orange sock option with the last set and wore them once (if memory serves right) and to make it worse, I think it was during the pick October years to make it a real head scratcher.

Yup that was in 2014.

[habsfan1]

I love the Super Bowl unis. That look with the new logos has the potential to be their best look ever, if they hit the mark.

 

They can't just go and re-modernize to their roots like the Padres and Brewers because it's not their original look.

 

What they need to do is avoid the ridiculous templates and over abundance of outlines. They need to make a nice modern looking football uniform without going over the top.

[andrewharrington]

8 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

Heck, one of my big pushes when doing “retro” concepts is fixing vintage graphics to be more accurate.

 

 

I bet you never knew about this variation, did you?

No, but I would have had I been hired to recreate it.

[Beer Barrel Man]

As a member of Creamsicle Iland, I am disappointed by the latest news. And it'll be even more of a shame if the team completely abandons the color orange. 

[CS85]

The helmet logo still has the orange football, no?

[BBTV]

I hate when people lazily throw out the word 'generic', but if these are them, then they're pretty close to falling into that category.  The orange - even though minimal - was what really set them apart from any other red/black team.

 

I wonder if Nike influenced them to remove it due to some BS like 'the extra outline will add 0.03% more weight, and the players will be in slow motion"... and if so, I'm super disappointed that the team would have agreed.  I have to assume that the team just wanted to drop the color... just don't understand why.

[MDGP]

29 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

I have to assume that the team just wanted to drop the color... just don't understand why.

This screams focus testing to me

[BBTV]

15 minutes ago, MDGP said:

This screams focus testing to me

 

I have to disagree, because while the relatively small number of Bucs fans on these boards certainly aren't representative of a large sample, I can't imagine that their affection for the orange in the scheme is the minority.  I think the team simply didn't want it for some reason.  Maybe it'll be featured prominently in the rumored pewter alt set.

 

The more I think about my previous thought that maybe Nike talked them out of it because of the extra size/weight of the numbers, I don't think that's the case, because they could have worked it in everywhere else if they wanted to, but chose not to.  It's 100% on the team.

[FiddySicks]

We still don’t have any confirmation that orange is actually gone, right? We’re still working on a description PL gave, correct? Maybe he’s just wrong. It sounds like while he got a look at them, it might not have been the best look. 

[JayMac]

18 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

We still don’t have any confirmation that orange is actually gone, right? We’re still working on a description PL gave, correct? Maybe he’s just wrong. It sounds like while he got a look at them, it might not have been the best look. 

I'm cautiously optimistic that he is wrong or misinformed.