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OHL Redesign (14/20; Flint uniforms added June 13)


jwinters

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Hello all, I'm pretty new to graphic design, but I think I've reached a point where I have some concepts worth posting. I see a lot of concepts for major professional teams here, but one area I don't see explored as much (understandably) is junior hockey. I may get to the WHL and QMJHL later on, but I'm going to start with the league I know best, the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). I've been attending Kitchener Rangers games since I was a little kid, so a lot of the existing logos carry nostalgia for me, but I also recognize that a lot of them are poorly designed. I'm not saying my versions will be better, but I'm going to try.

 

I won't go in any particular order. Here's Kingston.

 

KINGSTON FRONTENACS

 

When I was growing up, Kingston used this logo. It's a guy in a sort of colonial French hat, presumably it's supposed to be Louis de Buade de Frontenac, but it doesn't particularly look like him. Other than that they've used a series of Boston Bruins-esque logos, and now they've moved to a simple block 'K'. While I didn't love the execution of the man in the logo, that's the most distinctive mark they've used, and I think there's room for improvement. Hence my attempt at a new primary:
 

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My idea for a shoulder patch uses shape of Fort Frontenac, with a block 'K' inside:

 

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And I'm planning to design an alternate jersey using this cannon logo, which has an eight-spoked wheel as a callback to the Bruins-based logos Kingston has used in the past:

 

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I'll post uniform designs once I have them finished. In the meantime, I welcome any constructive criticism of these logos!

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This is actually a pretty solid set! The Fort/Cannon logos are both pretty great! The Frontenac logo may need a few tweaks though. I would try to rework the nose shadowing a bit. Where its at right now, the lines look kind of awkward between the shadow and nose, maybe try thinning out the shadowing between the bridge and the eye before the nostril curve, and contour the shadowing a bit more around the nostril? I would also cut off the extra black lining at the far right of the logo, it looks a bit lost in the context of the rest of the logo. Overall though, very nicely done. Can't wait to see what else you have!

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Visit my website at SSmith Designs (google.com)

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Sorry I haven't gotten back to this sooner; I don't get much chance to work on my designs during the week. Here are the uniforms for Kingston (home, away, alternate):

 

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I'm hoping to get logos for the next team up some time tomorrow.

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KITCHENER RANGERS

 

Now for my hometown Kitchener Rangers. As you might expect, they borrow very heavily from the New York Rangers, including their own take on the shield logo. I wanted to separate Kitchener from New York a little bit, without leaving 57 years of Kitchener Rangers history behind. I'm using the colours from Kitchener's alternate logo and the basic shield shape, but I've created a shield with a 'K' in it, and one that depicts the Victoria Park Clock Tower, in downtown Kitchener. The Clock Tower originally stood on top of the old city hall building, but was preserved when old city hall was demolished. It is Kitchener's most iconic landmark (that's right, we don't have many iconic landmarks) and is used in the City of Kitchener logo, among other places.

 

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Let me know what you think!

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I think that if you added more red in the primary, maybe in the bottom between the legs of the k, and more blue in the secondary in the form of maybe a thicker outline or in shading on the tower. Other than that they’re both very well done and compliment each other nicely.

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Thanks for your comment @kb105, you make a good point about colour balance! I've thickened up the outlines, made the outline on the 'K' shield red, and made the flag on the clock tower blue. Hopefully these versions look better---I think they do.

 

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And here are my versions of the Rangers jerseys. I didn't change much, since it's such a classic look, but I did simplify the pants striping, and add an alternate jersey that uses my clock tower logo. I wanted to put "KITCHENER" diagonally on the away jersey, but it's just too many letters.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

WINDSOR SPITFIRES

 

The Spits have gone back and forth over the years on whether they should be a blue team or a red team. I decided to focus on double blue, with red accents, much like the flag of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The primary is an update of their previous logo, which I've always liked, but which warranted a refresh. I made the frame the shape of a hockey rink, and tried to emphasize the hockey stick shape of the contrails.

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The shoulder patches are based on the RCAF roundel, using a 'W' for Windsor, and an 'MR' for former captain Mickey Renaud, who died of a heart condition during the 2007-08 season.

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I'm going to do a wacky, "Turn Ahead The Clock"-style alternate as well, but I wanted to have something more classic to replace the old throwback jersey. I came up with this 'W'-propeller logo:

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It seems a shame to relegate this to an alternate, as I think it's better than a lot of teams primaries will turn out, but I like the plane-on-a-rink even better.

 

I'll have uniform concepts up as soon as I can, but please let me know what you think of these logos!

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On 8/11/2020 at 12:03 AM, jwinters said:

WINDSOR SPITFIRES

 

The Spits have gone back and forth over the years on whether they should be a blue team or a red team. I decided to focus on double blue, with red accents, much like the flag of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The primary is an update of their previous logo, which I've always liked, but which warranted a refresh. I made the frame the shape of a hockey rink, and tried to emphasize the hockey stick shape of the contrails.

l4azhzv.png

The shoulder patches are based on the RCAF roundel, using a 'W' for Windsor, and an 'MR' for former captain Mickey Renaud, who died of a heart condition during the 2007-08 season.

J9JPNvs.png

hltOcnf.png

I'm going to do a wacky, "Turn Ahead The Clock"-style alternate as well, but I wanted to have something more classic to replace the old throwback jersey. I came up with this 'W'-propeller logo:

0py7Saf.png

It seems a shame to relegate this to an alternate, as I think it's better than a lot of teams primaries will turn out, but I like the plane-on-a-rink even better.

 

I'll have uniform concepts up as soon as I can, but please let me know what you think of these logos!

I like the "W propeller better as your primary with the "w roundel" as your throwback primary and plane-on-a-rink as your secondary. This would give you a nice set with vintage vibes.

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9 hours ago, Karnage84 said:

I like the "W propeller better as your primary with the "w roundel" as your throwback primary and plane-on-a-rink as your secondary. This would give you a nice set with vintage vibes.

Interesting, thanks for the feedback! I'll try that out!

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OK, time for the Spits' jerseys. I did end up using the 'W' propeller as primary; here it is on the home and away:

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And here's the alternate, using my version of the plane logo:
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Finally, as promised, a "Turn Ahead the Clock"/"Stadium Series" style "extreme" jersey. Not the sort of thing I'd really expect to see on the ice, but it would be an interesting experiment.

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That is exactly what I was thinking of when I was looking at the logos. You get a really nice throwback vibe from the "throwback" logo and you were able to carry that whole theme over in that jersey set. You'd assume that set was used by them in the 70's-80's. 

 

Nice job overall. 

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9 hours ago, jbird669 said:

I love the Windsor set!

 

Thank you!

 

7 hours ago, Karnage84 said:

That is exactly what I was thinking of when I was looking at the logos. You get a really nice throwback vibe from the "throwback" logo and you were able to carry that whole theme over in that jersey set. You'd assume that set was used by them in the 70's-80's. 

 

Nice job overall. 

 

Thanks, and thank you for the idea to make the 'W'-propeller logo the primary! I think it worked out well; the classic look suits the Windsor franchise, which was one of the original OHL members, and the Air Force theme.

 

I have ideas sketched out for every OHL team; it's getting time at the computer to clean them up in Illustrator that's the bottleneck. My tentative plan is to do the four canine teams next (Niagara IceDogs, Soo Greyhounds, Hamilton Bulldogs, and Sudbury Wolves), but I'm willing to take requests if anyone wants me to prioritize a different team.

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10 hours ago, jwinters said:

 

Thank you!

 

 

Thanks, and thank you for the idea to make the 'W'-propeller logo the primary! I think it worked out well; the classic look suits the Windsor franchise, which was one of the original OHL members, and the Air Force theme.

 

I have ideas sketched out for every OHL team; it's getting time at the computer to clean them up in Illustrator that's the bottleneck. My tentative plan is to do the four canine teams next (Niagara IceDogs, Soo Greyhounds, Hamilton Bulldogs, and Sudbury Wolves), but I'm willing to take requests if anyone wants me to prioritize a different team.

Agreed - it did work out really well. I'm looking forward to seeing what else you have up your sleeve. It's nice to see good quality concepts for other leagues than just the usual NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, etc. 

 

Keep up the great work. 

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Loving the designs.  Windsor colours are really distinctive, the red and light blue really pop.

 

On the Frontenacs primary the nose is a little jarring to me.  It seems like it should be farther to the left to align with the dimple on his chin.

 

Keep up the great work!

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On 8/19/2020 at 5:21 PM, cw20 said:

Loving the designs.  Windsor colours are really distinctive, the red and light blue really pop.

 

On the Frontenacs primary the nose is a little jarring to me.  It seems like it should be farther to the left to align with the dimple on his chin.

 

Keep up the great work!

 

I hadn't noticed that about the Frontenacs before, but you're right, the chin does seem a bit misaligned. I'll take another pass at that later on and see what I can do.

 

Thanks for your kind words!

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