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NHL’s New Seattle Kraken Announce Name & Logos


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1 minute ago, Dexter Morgan said:

old doesn’t  mean good. 

doesn't mean bad either.

 

7 minutes ago, habsfan1 said:

I miss this logo.

There are better Sonics logos out there. This one reminds me of a relish label.

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1 minute ago, Cujo said:

 

The NHL is basically embracing the minor league mentality. As we've stated before, the cute MiLB names, wonky new playoff format, 3-man overtime, and "hey look at me" post-game routines (see Hurricanes) are all proof. None of the other three major sports embrace things like this. In fact, after reading much of today's thread, I'm seeing many comparisons to MLS, which is where the NHL has been gravitating to when it comes to overall popularity in the States. 📉

Your favorite team name is Chicago Cubs and you’re using the term cute as a negative. Do you hear yourself?

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1 minute ago, Corvus said:

Are names for young/baby animals any more respectable or professional than cryptids?

 

ArE nAmEs FoR fAkE NaUtIcAl cReAtUrEs ReSpEcTaBlE?

 

According to 90% of the people chiming into this thread, no.

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8 minutes ago, Dexter Morgan said:

Your favorite team name is Chicago Cubs and you’re using the term cute as a negative. Do you hear yourself?

 

Hmu when the Cubs, or any MLB/NBA/NHL team, break into a *cute* game of limbo following a win

 

Far from just a 'bunch of jerks,' Hurricanes figure to be a ...

 

🚮🚮🚮

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6 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

Peak 2020.

 

Nah, this is peak 2014-18 - the age of Braindose Cancer. It's handled better than anything from Brandiose, but it has its roots there (like The Cramps had their roots in rockabilly, goofy but no shame there).

 

Just now, Cujo said:

 

Hmu when the Cubs, or any MLB/NBA/NHL team, break into a *cute* game of limbo following a win

 

299x223px-ll-52e196e1_lighten_up_francis

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"Cubs" was a nickname that the club adopted later as their official name. It's also a name from the 1900's, this is a name in 2020. It's not exactly fair to say "Kraken is fine because the Cubs exist" when one has been around for far longer than many of us have ever been alive and isn't a name trying desparately to ride trends.

 

"Kraken" is beer-league hockey "we're so cool, look, we named ourselves after a sea monster"-type kitschy trash. It's not even fun, it's just really campy and silly, exactly like the name "Minnesota Wild". And that's only really stuck because they seem adamantly against just doing what a fair few people would love and going back to the North Stars.

 

The Thrashers were at least named after an actual animal. "Kraken" is just the complete epitome of the Brandiose-type "wacky names for the sake of wacky names" trend that plagues minor-league baseball. It's like if the Florence Y'alls were an MLB team.

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Just now, Ridleylash said:

"Kraken" is beer-league hockey "we're so cool, look, we named ourselves after a sea monster"-type kitschy trash. It's not even fun, it's just really campy and silly,

 

 

I'd argue it's fun. It might not be traditional, but it's fun.

 

Just now, Ridleylash said:

exactly like the name "Minnesota Wild". And that's only really stuck because they seem adamantly against just doing what a fair few people would love and going back to the North Stars.

 

Well, the Dallas Stars not dumping their name complicates that. If Dallas had to throw away the name they won the Cup in, then I'd say it's OK.

 

Just now, Ridleylash said:

The Thrashers were at least named after an actual animal. "Kraken" is just complete Brandiose-type trash.

 

But Kraken isn't trash. It just isn't. It has its roots in the Brandiose school, but I'd argue it transcends it.

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9 minutes ago, IceCap said:

The whole "Scandinavians live in Seattle!" thing seems like an afterthought, to be honest. The whole "Kraken" thing was born out of the "RELEASE THE KRAKEN" meme that people thought would be cool for Seattle because...ocean. Some people replied with "what does a monster from Scandinavian folklore have to do with Seattle?"

At which point the first group of people stumbled across the history of Scandinavian immigration to the Pacific Northwest and went "see it works!" and thought nothing else of it.

That is to say that the "Scandinavian people live in Seattle" thing has always felt like an afterthought of a justification for a name chosen for the memery potential.

 

I'll give you a lot of props though. The logo is beautiful. The sweaters are very nice. The font chosen/designed for the numbers is perfect. It reads cleanly but still gives me an old timey seafaring vibe. The identity itself is great.

And you didn't just start making up fake viking runes to try and appeal to the Scandinavian heritage of the area like Nike did with the Timberwolves in Minnesota. So points there 😉

 

On that note though...

That Timberwolves/fake viking runes thing is the most egregious example of a problem I still see here though. And that is...

I'm going to be frank here. And also state up front that you're a very talented designer and by all accounts a great guy. And I do appreciate that you're able to talk about and share some insights into how this stuff works with us. So I want to make it clear I respect your work a great deal and what I'm about to say is not meant as an insult.

 

You (and other pro designers) are not historians. You are not scholars of mythology or folklore. You are not literary scholars. It irks me when so many designers TRY to be these things, as if a Wikipedia skim session is enough to go "yep I got it. I'm totally down with this area's local history."

 

You said "[t]o characterize it as “mis-understanding the history and folklore” is off-base" to which I disagree wholeheartedly.

I've got two history degrees. I've got a minor in English literature. I've written finger-numbingly long research papers on medieval Scandinavian history, mythology, and literature. That's what I ended up studying because I care about this stuff. Both as an academic and as someone who just finds the history, mythology, and culture interesting.

So any attempt to try and tie a giant squid to the idea of the kraken is going to trigger that part of my brain that goes "that's just the result of travel guide literature in the 18th century conflating two separate myths."

 

You're right to say that that the popular conception of the kraken is that of a giant squid, but popular history isn't always correct. And while I don't expect a top flight pro sports team to market directly to "historians who studied medieval viking stuff" I'm also not ever going to like the idea they went with on a personal level. 

 

Good job on the identity though. Looks sweet.

 

It's the NBA and it's not even close.

 

Agreed that trying to justify a branding identity based on 'history' is silly and dangerous (in that you're opening yourself up to fact-checking).  But at some point, "historical accuracy" takes a backseat to "cool factor".  There are a bajillion pirate-themed logos and identities. I would venture that maybe 0.5% of them have ANY sort of historical accuracy, either to real pirates, or even moreso to pirates that operated in that city's region.  At some point, the baseline of a branding subject is just the decades or centuries of commonly-used visual shorthand for something.  I don't know if I've EVER seen a historically-accurate pirate ANYthing.  Or Viking.  Or knight.  Or Spartan.  Or whatever.  DID Trojans ever use they repeated square border pattern you see on all Greek stuff? Maybe not!  But does it matter if technically it was only the late-stage Athenians who introduced that look?  No, of course not.  So with Kraken, I could NOT CARE LESS how accurate or not the legend of the Kraken is to the northwest.  It's nautical. It's cool.  It's fun. I will accept any nautical imagery along with it, regardless of whether or not that was the kind of map icons or anchor styles used in the region at any point in history.  

I think branding justification is in the same level of silliness and eye-rolling as the excessive overblown item-by-item, color-by-color breakdown of a logo.   But I know you can't introduce a logo nowadays without at least pretending to care about justifying each item to people who will raise a stink if every color and every element can't be definitively tied to the city or region.  

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3 minutes ago, Ridleylash said:

"Kraken" is beer-league hockey "we're so cool, look, we named ourselves after a sea monster"-type kitschy trash. It's not even fun, it's just really campy and silly, exactly like the name "Minnesota Wild". And that's only really stuck because they seem adamantly against just doing what a fair few people would love and going back to the North Stars.

 

How many Minnesota hockey fans right now would trade WILD!!! in for something more traditional and less childish, like North Stars? My guess would be all of them.

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1 minute ago, SFGiants58 said:

 

But Kraken isn't trash. It just isn't. It has its roots in the Brandiose school, but I'd argue it transcends it.

 

I'm starting to lean towards this way of thinking. Hey if you can't beat them (change the name), join them (find the positives).

I'm Danny fkn Heatley, I play for myself. That's what fkn all stars do.

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So I know it's sooo soon, but who has the better logo? Seattle or Vegas? My vote is Vegas. Seattle's is good but Vegas' is much stronger IMO.

I'm Danny fkn Heatley, I play for myself. That's what fkn all stars do.

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1 minute ago, Bayne said:

So I know it's sooo soon, but who has the better logo? Seattle or Vegas? My vote is Vegas. Seattle's is good but Vegas' is much stronger IMO.

 

Has they just been called the "Las Vegas Knights" instead of MiLBing the entire thing with "Vegas Golden Knights"

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7 hours ago, Point1 said:

The logo and uniform package really looks like one of those classic @GFB 2008-era NHL rebrands. Much better than the crappy name.

high, high praise for the Kraken logos right here

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6 minutes ago, darkpiranha said:

I don't know if I've EVER seen a historically-accurate pirate ANYthing.  Or Viking.  Or knight.  Or Spartan.  Or whatever.

I mean...

There are a thousand ways to answer this, but the easiest way to do that is to just say that historical fiction exists that presents these things as accurately as possible. It's out there.

 

6 minutes ago, darkpiranha said:

But I know you can't introduce a logo nowadays without at least pretending to care about justifying each item to people who will raise a stink if every color and every element can't be definitively tied to the city or region.  

Which is what fosters this idea that designers need to be historians. And they're not.

 

6 minutes ago, darkpiranha said:

I could NOT CARE LESS

I'm not a fan of insistent ignorance. @andrewharrington explained the needs of balancing accuracy with accessibility. And while I don't like the ideas that this approach leans on in this case, I do get it.

Whereas I DON'T CARE NERD is an active rejection of knowledge, and that's just, well, dumb.

 

3 minutes ago, Bayne said:

So I know it's sooo soon, but who has the better logo? Seattle or Vegas? My vote is Vegas. Seattles's is good but Vegas' is much stronger IMO.

They're both very similar in so far as they both try to work the team name into the locale's initial. The Kraken have the tentacle and eye with the S, the Knights have the knight helmet with the V.

 

I'd give the edge to the Knights, but the logos are very much from the same school of thought.

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4 minutes ago, Ridleylash said:

"Cubs" was a nickname that the club adopted later as their official name. It's also a name from the 1900's, this is a name in 2020. It's not exactly fair to say "Kraken is fine because the Cubs exist" when one has been around for far longer than many of us have ever been alive and isn't a name trying desparately to ride trends.

 

"Kraken" is beer-league hockey "we're so cool, look, we named ourselves after a sea monster"-type kitschy trash. It's not even fun, it's just really campy and silly, exactly like the name "Minnesota Wild". And that's only really stuck because they seem adamantly against just doing what a fair few people would love and going back to the North Stars.

 

The Thrashers were at least named after an actual animal. "Kraken" is just the complete epitome of the Brandiose-type "wacky names for the sake of wacky names" trend that plagues minor-league baseball. It's like if the Florence Y'alls were an MLB team.

And the difference there is that locally, the Florance Y'alls make sense.  There's a whole thing behind that.  Outside of Florance, yeah, it sounds like the redneck Yankees, but to Florence itself...there's actually a reason they're named Y'alls (tldr; there's a water tower that says it right across the highway.  Why does a watertower say that?  Well, it's a long story and I'm a lazy guy).  So there's more than a meme here.  

 

With the Kraken it feels like they looked over and we're all like "Dave, got any ideas?" and Dave just went "Man, wouldn't it be awesome if we just said Release the Kraken?  That'd make for a cool name, and a thing, right?" and they went with it.  And I feel like that's why it consistently did so well in the vote.  It's hokey and campy.  Feels more at home, as you said, as a Beer League team, or a creation on NHL20, and less the actual name of an NHL franchise.  It feels so desperately like the Seattle identity is yelling "hey guys, we get memes.  See?   We're hip.  We're cool."  Like the 45 year old guy at the hipster party drinking PBR because the college kids are.  

 

Thankfully they did a good job with the visual brand.  It certainly belongs in the NHL, I feel, from a logo package/uniform design.  Credit to those guys.  They took what could have been a disaster and came out with a very subdued set in that ilk.  But I just feel like the whole thing is grounded in such, cringey "we're cool" vibes that I cringe myself at the name.

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