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NHL’s New Seattle Kraken Announce Name & Logos


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21 hours ago, Ridleylash said:

I think that's the biggest reason this identity has turned out so well in terms of reception, despite how controversial the name itself was before now here and elsewhere; it feels like an identity that had a single direction to it, a single endgame instead of an identity that had 30 different endgames at various points.

 

The entire package has a vintage simplicity to it that I think a lot of people, myself included, weren't expecting with a name like "Kraken"; they were expecting stuff that was much louder, much more...well, kitschy. A logo of a cartoony giant octopus tearing apart a hockey stick with some goofy snarl on it's mug, jerseys with tentacle-shaped stripes, wacky colors, that sort of deal. Sort of a peak 90's minor league look. The fact that Bruckheimer was involved didn't exactly assuage my worries at the time, but I'll be damned if this wasn't a huge success.

 

There's tasteful reservedness with it; the logo feels like it's been around for decades without actually having been around for decades, if that makes sense. The similarities to the Metropolitans logo helps in that regard, but the use of negative space kinda hearkens back to the Whalers logo. The secondary is fantastic, as well, very classic in style.

 

I actually like both versions of the primary a lot, but I gotta agree that the eye was a good call in the end. Without the eye, it still evokes the kraken image with the tentacle...but it loses a lot more than I thought it would. Just that little splash of red completes it visually:

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I'll be honest; as loud a hater of the Seattle Kraken name as I had been before? The actual identity has fully converted me into a fan with just how much it shys away from actually depicting the titular creature. It evokes the imagery without...well, evoking the imagery, if that makes sense. The eye and the tentacle imply the monster that the team is named for, but they don't show it; which makes it even more intriguing.

 

In a leagues-deep sea of direct and to-the-point logos, something that focuses more on the implication of the name is a really smart move, especially with a name like this. It's also a great use of negative space. What does the Kraken lurking in those shadowy depths look like? Well, it has a tentacle and a red eye...and everything else about it is purely up to the imagination of the fans.

 

I think my one minor quibble with the identity is with the format of the wordmark; I don't really care for the combo arch+straight format of wordmarks, and much prefer both words be consistently either straight or arched. But that's just personal preference speaking; the design is still great, and the calligraphic font is a perfect choice.


The Whalers’ logo was pinned up on the board as a benchmark the entire time, so I’m glad you saw that.

 

The arched text on top of the wordmark is another device we used to ground everything with historical roots (along with the blackletter/calligraphic style). I was always imagining it on the back of a boat or a sign above a marina or an old storefront window in Ballard. I like how the final wordmark turned out, too. All caps and blackletter are normally not compatible, but Matt did a great job making these letterforms modern enough to work in all caps, and I especially like how their shapes evoke tentacles and seaweeds without going completely off the deep end.

 

4 hours ago, TaylorMade said:

Obligatory

 

 


I can’t help but feel this scene was an “art imitates life” moment for JB, because he always said Krāken, with the long a. 😂

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1 hour ago, andrewharrington said:

The arched text on top of the wordmark is another device we used to ground everything with historical roots (along with the blackletter/calligraphic style). I was always imagining it on the back of a boat or a sign above a marina or an old storefront window in Ballard. I like how the final wordmark turned out, too. All caps and blackletter are normally not compatible, but Matt did a great job making these letterforms modern enough to work in all caps, and I especially like how their shapes evoke tentacles and seaweeds without going completely off the deep end.

 

 

100%. The arched 'Seattle' reminds me of something you would see in a marina. It seems like a no-brainer. Overall I'm not that impressed with the wordmark but it's fine. I don't get too worked up over the wordmark unless it's terrible, which this isn't.

 

I have to say though, I know the bevelling was given some silly rationale about how it mimics the carved look you get in boat lettering or something (I'm not sure, my brain glazed over a bit during that bit), but I think it's absolutely integral to the look of the main logo. If that S didn't have the bevel shading it wouldn't work for me nearly as well. The bevelling gives the tentacle shapes of the S motif that added effect and feel of a sea creature. I really do appreciate its effectiveness in this case.

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On 7/24/2020 at 12:10 AM, sayahh said:

Glad they didn't go with Liam Neeson's other film and named them Seattle Taken.

 

Liam Neeson has a way with delivery, to be fair.

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2 hours ago, andrewharrington said:

The arched text on top of the wordmark is another device we used to ground everything with historical roots (along with the blackletter/calligraphic style). I was always imagining it on the back of a boat or a sign above a marina or an old storefront window in Ballard. I like how the final wordmark turned out, too. All caps and blackletter are normally not compatible, but Matt did a great job making these letterforms modern enough to work in all caps, and I especially like how their shapes evoke tentacles and seaweeds without going completely off the deep end.

Holy eff how did I not see that before? That's awesome.

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It's funny to me how people hate this name because it's different or "minor league" sounding when there are so many boring team names in pro sports. Two baseball teams are named after socks....

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9 minutes ago, oldschoolvikings said:

After reading a hundred posts of people saying "love the jerseys and logo, hate the name"... You do realize that without the name that jersey and logo doesn't exist, right?

It's not like people's opinions have to be all-or-nothing "everything about this is incredible" or "I hate the name, so the entire identity sucks ass".

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18 minutes ago, oldschoolvikings said:

After reading a hundred posts of people saying "love the jerseys and logo, hate the name"... You do realize that without the name that jersey and logo doesn't exist, right?

I get the logo not existing but why wouldn't the jersey exist? Those jerseys could exist with a name like the Sockeyes.

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Just now, JayMac said:

I get the logo not existing but why wouldn't the jersey exist? Those jerseys could exist with a name like the Sockeyes.

 

True, they could, but I don't think they would.  Seems obvious that the entire identity grew organically from the start, and the start was that name.

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I don't think the logo could exist with any other name, and I doubt they would have gone with just a blackletter S under other circumstances.

 

The irony of the whole thing is that the least mature name likely got us the most mature identity since any of the others might have resulted in logos that many of us would consider 'minor league', or 'cartoony', or 'immature.'

 

I don't love the name either, but I'll take it if it means we get to have this package.

 

Interesting that the Whalers logo was 'on the board the whole time:

 

I loved that logo a lot more in the green/blue era than I did in the navy era, because in the navy era, it had to be enclosed when used on the navy jersey, which robbed it of some of it's negative-space brilliance.  I feel similarly here.  I get that the eye may not have worked if the S was navy on the white, but I'd have to see unenclosed to judge. I like how the fabric of the jersey kinda creates a ton of negative space, rather than having it enclosed in a box.  Probably wouldn't have worked, but I'd like to see it.

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56 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

I get that the eye may not have worked if the S was navy on the white, but I'd have to see unenclosed to judge. I like how the fabric of the jersey kinda creates a ton of negative space, rather than having it enclosed in a box.  Probably wouldn't have worked, but I'd like to see it.

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It's not bad, but the mark loses weight without the navy keyline that I think hurts it pretty badly. Even disregarding the now-floating eye, the entire mark looks too lightly-weighted without that keyline on a white backdrop, which is why I'd imagine they have it there to begin with.

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6 minutes ago, Ridleylash said:

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It's not bad, but the mark loses a bit of weight without the navy keyline that I think hurts it in the long term. Even disregarding the now-floating eye, the entire mark looks too lightly-weighted without that keyline, which is why I'd imagine they have it there to begin with.

I was gonna post a recolor, too, but couldn't get them on a hosting site fast enough. I did one with it encased in "ice blue", but it was only minimally better. It needs to be light encased in dark for it to have the proper effect.

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Yeah it doesn't work very well.

 

Another comparison is the Flyers.

 

Their logo on the white jerseys - much like the S-eye on the navy - doesn't look like it has a keyline.  I love how clean both look, and I love the illusion of the fabric filling in the gaps.  OTOH, the Flyers orange and black jerseys require a keyline, which gives the logo what I call the "patch effect".  It's not bad, it's just not as nice as the look sans keyline.

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