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Designing the courts of the British Basketball League and others (Retro Night!)


DukeofChutney

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To celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the British Basketball League, here's the very 80s inspired court.

 

This is more of a just for fun thing, rather than being taken as a serious court proposal.

 

 

 

Sunglasses at the ready?

 

OK then...

 

 

6qjzF5p.png

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  • DukeofChutney changed the title to Designing the courts of the British Basketball League
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I usually am not a fan of that wacky neon 80s style, but you've pulled it off quite nicely. The court sidelines are beautifully done, and the logo is solid. Only concern is that the hooks of the 3 & 5 curl so far vertically that it makes the outlines & the now closed-off loops a bit awkward.

 

I think there's a tad too much going on for Gloucester City, but the basics are solid. I like the sublimated chevrons and the city crest on the end lines. Not really feeling the skyline or the random black drop-shadows. I like the additional roundel to the center logo, but the white dominates over the logo so I might make the knight's highlights white.

 

Sorry for the delayed response.

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Glad the 35th court is not a complete mess then! haha Thanks for pointing out the issue with the 3 and 5 - I'd not actually noticed that - and now I can't unsee it. Certainly something to be mindful of in future designs.

 

Thanks for the commens on Gloucester City too. Interesting that you picked up on the white highlights, I had considered going down the route of making the knight have the white highlights but felt it made the logo too bold - guess its had the adverse effect.

 

Glad to have any feedback on these designs. :)

 

I've started work on some courts of the WBBL too, so I'll post them soon as I can. I've also been trying to work on a jersey template -figuring out a presentation format that I like combined with Inkscape being tempremental means its slow going.

 

Anyway stay tuned for more.

 

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Did the revisions to Glocs.City - changing the highlights from mustard to white worked out pretty wll I think. Thanks for the suggestion vtgco.

 

A0Iimlb.png

 

 

and for another bonus court - this time the 2020-21 NBL Division 1 Champions Solent Kestrels.

 

Solent Kestrels

Southampton, England
NBL D1 Championships: 2

 

I thought about having the feathers as a court motif, but it just didn't work right - so I ended up with this folded paper look.

EDIT: I've noticed I've left the BBL logo on the court, rather than putting the NBL logo.

B9opzTA.png

 

 

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  • DukeofChutney changed the title to Designing the courts of the British Basketball League (Kestrels added)
  • 2 weeks later...

As previously mentioned, I've been working on the courts of the WBBL.

 

Founded in 2014, the league features 11 teams - three of which are womens counterparts to the BBL teams (Leicester, Newcastle and London). I've only done courts for the remaining teams, as the courts would be the same.

 

As with the BBL logo, I've slightly tweaked the WBBL one, with a shadow on the ball and a secondary outline to the block part of the logo.

 

To start us off, the current WBBL champions Suns.

 

Sevenoaks Suns

Sevenoaks, Kent
WBBL Championships: 3

 

nNY8bID.png

 

 

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  • DukeofChutney changed the title to Designing the courts of the British Basketball League (WBBL Suns added)

The update to Gloucester looks great!

The Kestrels court design is alright... It has a pleasant vibe, but it feels like it could work for any old team. If you wanted to incorporate wings, I think there's might be a way to combine the two with sorta angular feather shapes... But it's honestly fine.

Also that Kestrels logo is *brutal*. Really hard to work with that, I'd imagine!

 

Finally, for the Suns, it's nice, but I'd like to see some sort of sunny design, like maybe some woodgrain sun rays emanating from the logo?

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Glad the update for GC worked out.

 

And I'm glad its not just me with the Kestrels look. Its rough. I think that's why I sort of settled on that court look - anything to distract from the logo!

 

Suns - I like the idea of rays eminating from centre court. I'll see how I can work that in. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Sadly looking at the courts yet to be posted, it seems like I've gone for a very plain  look on most of them. Don't know if that speaks to the team identites or I just ran out of innovative ideas. Anyway, two more courts up next...

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Oaklands Wolves

St. Albans, Hertfordshire
WBBL Championships: 0

 

I've kept this one simple (perhaps too simple). They do use a roundel with the wolf, but I decided to try to see if it works as a standalone piece.

7pdMAOb.png

 

Durham Palatinates

Durham, County Durham
WBBL Championships: 0

 

Admittedly, I was not familiar with what a Palatinate was - turns out (amongst a few other things) it is the name of the colour of the university, so naturally I've gone with that as the dominate colour. I'm not entirely happy with the white background to the wordmark - reversing the colours made the text look better but the rest of the logo just didn't pop as much.

xW03lTl.png

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  • DukeofChutney changed the title to Designing the courts of the British Basketball League (WBBL - Durham added)

Some sad news from the BBL yesterday..

Quote

Worcester Wolves have withdrawn from the BBL with immediate effect, the league has announced today.

The decision has come as a result of the impact of COVID-19, with not only the loss of ticket revenue, but sponsorship revenue which has made the club unable to afford the cost of participation.

https://www.hoopsfix.com/2021/06/worcester-wolves-withdraw-from-the-bbl/

 

 

Moving on with the concepts..

 

 

 

 

Essex Rebels

Colchester, Essex
WBBL Championships: 0

 

KtH5GaE.png

 

 

 

Nottingham Wildcats

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
WBBL Championships: 2

 

LaSXVWK.png

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  • DukeofChutney changed the title to Designing the courts of the British Basketball League (WBBL - Nottingham & Essex added)

The logos are beautiful, but I'm not digging into your choice of fonts for the court elements. The font for Essex Rebels wordmark is definitely a downgrade. It looks like an Art-Deco poster, not a basketball team. Arial isn't my favorite choice too. It looks 125% more amateurish when anyone uses Arial. The Arial "R" looks awful to me. I'd replace it for a more geometric serif, like Montserrat or Barlow.

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I went with Dominion for the Rebels, as their current logo features a plain slab serif font. Just thought it needed something with more detail.

 

The Rebels and Wildcats logos are certainly amongst many that are in need of updating though.

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The WBBL announced its expansion to 13 teams for the '21-'22 season over the weekend.

 

The Sheffield Hatters will return to the league, in time for their 60th Anniversary, and the newly formed Gloucester City Queens will join the league as well. The Queens, logo was revealed at the same time - designed by fiveorsix Creative.

Some interesting details in the logo - it features the Strawberry Leaf Crown, from the tomb of Edward II who is interred at Gloucester Cathederal. Additionally the bottom part of the shield represents the four-centered arch West Window at the cathederal.

 

Naturally, I had to have a try at creating the courts. I've taken the star pattern from the backdrop of the logo reveal, which may just be something fiveorsix use.

 

Gloucester City Queens

Gloucester, Gloucestershire
WBBL Championships: 0

1FZ3Fgl.png

 

And while I was already creating it, I though I might as well do the Kings court too..

 

Gloucester City Kings

Gloucester, Gloucestershire
BBL Championships: N/A

HCabrLC.png

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  • DukeofChutney changed the title to Designing the courts of the British Basketball League (WBBL - Gloucester City Queens added)

Today seems the appropriate day to post a very red, white and blue court.

 

As the Mystics are the sister team to the Giants, I decided to keep the court pattern from the Giants. It turned out pretty well.

 

Manchester Mystics

Belle Vue, Manchester
WBBL Championships: 0

 

70vep6U.png

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  • DukeofChutney changed the title to Designing the courts of the British Basketball League (WBBL Manchester Mystics added)

I only took a glance at Wikipedia, so I don't know, but the Mystics aren't actually associated with the Giants, are they? The repeat of the pattern looks nice but maybe they need their own design (maybe something similar but with four-point stars?)

 

I really like Essex's look. Good color balancing and use of the sorta backgammon-esque design, and the font is quite nice.

 

On the flipside, I'm not really feeling Nottingham's look. Their logo may not be the best, but I still think it's worth using a block font with slab serifs for the endline wordmarks to match it. The white streaks aren't doing it for me either.

 

The Kings' & Queens' court designs are fine but kinda tame; I'd love to see something based on the Strawberry leaf/cloverleaf or on the shapes of the stained glass panels on that cathedral window you mentioned.

 

The Palatinates logo looks fine; no need for concern there... I think the design is understandably simple but the team needs to step up their font game just a tad to make that simplicity look elegant.

 

Finally, I know it's a bit late to fix it for previous teams, but I agree with @johnrafael that the hashtag, website, and media handle could stand to be in a more unique font for future designs.

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Hey well spotted - yes, my mistake - the Mystics are the sister team to the NBL's Manchester Magic. I'll have to revisit their court.

 

Its funny - I'm not overly happy with the Essex court, but prefer Nottingham's in comparison. The white striping comes from the Wildcats jersey.

 

Nice idea using the Strawberry motif - I'll have to revisit that.

 

Glad that simple works for Durham - I was thinking it was a bit too simplistic.

 

And as for the hastags - I know what's happend, I just plain forgot to update it from one to another and then its just been 'stuck' in Ariel.

 

I'm thankful for all the feedback though. Like I've said before, I've never done this before, so I'm happy to learn.

 

.....

 

A sad update from the league this afternoon..

 

Quote

 

Plymouth Raiders withdraw from BBL for coming season

The BBL was dealt another devastating blow today as the Plymouth Raiders announced they have withdrawn from the forthcoming 21/22 BBL season.

It marks the second franchise to pull the plug in as many weeks, as Worcester withdrew at the end of June.

 

Local news outlet Plymouth live first reported potential issues between the club and their home venue, the Plymouth Pavilions earlier this week.

It was reported the venue has allegedly tried to increase hire costs by 200%, which the venue refutes, saying they have heavily subsidised the costs for the Raiders over many years.

 

 

https://www.hoopsfix.com/2021/07/plymouth-raiders-withdraw-from-bbl-for-coming-season/

 

That leaves the league with just 9 teams for '21-'22.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Its been a while... and the heat here has caused the creativity to slow down.

 

Anway, the last of the WBBL courts are here..

 

Sheffield Hatters

Sheffield, South Yorkshire
WBBL Championships: 1

 

I've gone with the two-tone to match their 60th Anniversary patch, but kept their current primary logo for the main court. The wordmark, admittedly isn't great. I did try a 'wacky' font but it just looked too toony.

 

MN9e3Sw.png

 

Caledonia Pride

Edinburgh, Scotland
WBBL Championships: 0

 

I did this one months before the Hatters one, and lo and behold I've managed to match the two tone style.  Again, I've done this to reflect the colouring from the primary logo.

pZjppt6.png

 

Cardiff MetArchers

Cardiff, South Glamorgan / Caerdydd, De Morgannwwg
WBBL Championships: 0

 

I tried to add a bit of something to the court for this one, in particular as the Archers logo is detailed yet quite plain colour pallette wise. I've added the team hashtag in both English and Welsh - although I'm not a Welsh speaker, so I've had to hope that Google Translate has done the right job there.

LP9hEfc.png

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  • DukeofChutney changed the title to Designing the courts of the British Basketball League (WBBL Cardiff, Sheffield and Caledonia added)
  • 5 weeks later...

Its been a while... in that time there's been another change at the BBL.

 

The Plymouth Raiders withdrew from the league at the start of July. Surprisingly since then a new team has been formed to take their place-  the Plymouth City Patriots. The Raiders name and logo (and presumeably 38 year history) remains with the owners of that team.

 

So, here's my take on a court. Far from perfect I guess.

 

Plymouth City Patriots
Plymouth, Devon
BBL Championships: 0

gqJrYGg.png

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  • DukeofChutney changed the title to Designing the courts of the British Basketball League (BBL Plymouth City added)

Obviously not your fault, but wow that Patriots is a downgrade from the Raiders... They just ripped off the shape from Inter Miami, huh?

As for your court, certainly safe but I'd love to see something more adventurous using that triangle pattern from logo! Maybe as a parquet flooring or a sublimation on the sidelines or something...

 

Also, looking back at your last three again, I'd just say that they all look really nice! The Archers one has an especially pleasant use of those colors; that gradient look is almost calming here :P

I certainly think that the horizontally split court looks better for Caledonia, but it works fine for Sheffield too.

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Yeah the InterMiami vibe is strong with the new look. The Glasgow Rocks even trolled them on Twitter about it.

They've released a few colour varients - including a neat background pattern, which'd be greated to use on the court.  Its an Argyle pattern  - which is a nickname of the city's football team.

 

 

Although its a little tricky for me to replicate at the moment - however I'm working on it.  I've also noticed a typo on the court hashtag, so I'll be updating the court eventually.

 

 

Thanks for the comments on the WBBL courts too.  Looking back on it, I've surprised myself with that Archers gradient. 😂

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Well I managed to do a very rough version of the argyle-esque pattern. Turned out ok (in part thanks to having to scale it down to use!) I'm  not sure about the pattern stopping abruptly at the top centre, but I felt it was more cluttered if it carried on.

 

I've also added the triskelion in relief.

 

Both have given the court a bit of  a trippy optical illusion effect.

 

LD9IqB7.png

 

I don't mind the look of the logo - even if it does resemble InterMiami, but it is a shame that the Plymouth fox is no more. I know Birmingham was rumoured to be a potential home for the Raiders should they have to relocate, so I might mock up the Birmingham Raiders in the future.

Stay tuned! :)

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