WNBA Uniform Concepts - Freezin' Finale (with Stinging Updates)

[edjb93]

ORLANDO MIRACLE

 

Did somebody request for Orlando Miracle? Oh yeah. @JMtexan09, this one's for you. Like I said previously, the designs are loosely based from the real-life ones, minus the red or orange. The side panel design on the heroine, explorer, and rebel editions are based from the streaks on the logo that trail the basketball and the smaller star.

 

The rebel uniform follows the same overall design as the first two, but I made drastic changes so that it can stand out on its own. I kinda made it similar to my Orlando Magic statement uniform concept, just in case you thought you may have seen it before. Though it won't be obvious in some screen displays (depending on the brightness), there is a star field pattern on the entire uniform, with varying shades of black. As for the numbers and the front wordmark being black outlined in white, it was a gamble. I initially thought of making them silver only, but I eventually settled with the current format, since I haven't applied that theme on any of my concepts, if my memory serves me right.

 

It seems that the Magic really fell in love with pinstripes, so I'm doing the same thing with the Miracle's storyteller uniform, but with a twist. As a nod to the Magic's current duds, the pinstripes on the jerseys are curved in tribute to the Linton E. Allen Memorial Fountain at Lake Eola. Purple makes its way to the design, and thanks to @vtgco for giving me that idea. But purple alone isn't that interesting, so I added orange and yellow to the party. The city flag also adds to the inspiration of the uniform, through the 'i' on the front wordmark, the side panel striping, and the (recolored) flag itself on the shorts' buckle. To top it off, Orlando's nickname 'The City Beautiful' adorns the front of the jersey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bomba Tomba]

2 hours ago, edjb93 said:

 

More like The Jersey Beautiful amirite?

 

Would be nice to see a set based on this

[Will94]

Sego Lilies Is Utah's  state flower

[edjb93]

On 1/23/2022 at 11:17 PM, -Akronite- said:

I would include more orange. It works well with both the periwinkle and black from that old color scheme and helps set it apart from the slew of black and light blue teams out there.

 

On 1/24/2022 at 10:04 AM, vtgco said:

The jerseys are really classy; honestly my biggest complaint is that the silver and light blue bleed together on the black uniform. I'd go with black strings, and maybe give the side panels floating silver outlines. The separation of the silver and blue on the alternate is really nice, though the difference in the outlines of the number and script is a bit bothersome (it would be fixed by addressing my first complaint above), and going all the way around the jersey with the chest stripes would work well.

 

I initially planned to exclude orange from the uniforms since I wanted a simple, clean route, but I guess you are right about including it, so as to separate from other blue-black-silver teams. I thinned out the six-string striping on the heroine and explorer's side panels.

 

For the rebel jersey, I guess leaving the size of the back number as is still looks good, even in a weird position. After all, it's 2022, we need to embrace the imperfections. I mean, the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens had it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Will94]

my bad its a typo  Utah's State Flower is a Sego Lilly, why don't you name a team after an state flower?

[thaipod]

you're all gonna hate me for this suggestion, but remember how it was the Utah Starzz with the ridiculous double Zs because of the Jazz?  Well let's take that idea, and use it with something that possibly means even less to Utah than jazz does...  

 

Utah Pizazz.  You can even start it by doing a modern update of the old mountain range logo like you did with the Hornets, Monarchs, and Rockers.

 

For Tulsa, if you want to tie it with OKC and still have a nod to the old Shock name, how about Lightning?

[edjb93]

7 hours ago, thaipod said:

you're all gonna hate me for this suggestion, but remember how it was the Utah Starzz with the ridiculous double Zs because of the Jazz? 

 

Fun fact: I was also thinking about having a name that rhymes with 'Jazz', but not as crazy as the 'Starzz'; something like 'Freeze' or 'Blizzard' (can also be simply just 'Blizz') crossed my mind, although I also thought of 'Frizz' which meant WAYYY too different.

[Will94]

 

1 hour ago, edjb93 said:

 

Fun fact: I was also thinking about having a name that rhymes with 'Jazz', but not as crazy as the 'Starzz'; something like 'Freeze' or 'Blizzard' (can also be simply just 'Blizz') crossed my mind, although I also thought of 'Frizz' which meant WAYYY too different.

 

 

 

 

Is the Utah Sego Lillies too plain?

[thaipod]

On 2/1/2022 at 8:30 AM, edjb93 said:

 

Fun fact: I was also thinking about having a name that rhymes with 'Jazz', but not as crazy as the 'Starzz'; something like 'Freeze' or 'Blizzard' (can also be simply just 'Blizz') crossed my mind, although I also thought of 'Frizz' which meant WAYYY too different.

I like the Blizz.  That totally works, and is in line with the old mountain range logo as well.   I guess Freezz, but that looks stupid (not any less stupid than Starzz, I guess).  Whichever way you go, ending with the ZZ is probably the best (or most fun) way to go, IMHO.

 

LOL Frizz.  

if you gotta go with the flower, then do Lilliezz.  

[edjb93]

MIAMI SOL

 

We have another Florida-based team on hand here, and this team is the polar opposite to the Orlando Miracle color-wise. The logos are still usable up to now, so I have retained them on my concept, but like the rest of the league at the time, they suffered to the templated designs assigned to each team (both Minnesota and Orlando share the same design as the Sol's).

 

The first two editions feature the sun ray from the logo (shaped like a flame) as the main motif, with black being the main trim color. I could not find or replicate the same font used by the team for its entire existence (only three seasons), so I went with a different one.

 

I wanted to incorporate a fiery theme in a different form, or in other words, a gradient, much like how the Los Angeles Rams did with their blue jersey and pants. That's what I exactly did with my rebel uniform concept. The city name adorning the front comes from the primary logo, while my choice of base color (yellow) was based on the fact that black goes well with the 'vice' colors, which leads us to…

 

…the 'Vice Nights at South Beach' storyteller uniform. If the Heat and the Marlins can do it, why not the others? The front script is based from the Miami Vice logo (as it should be), but I changed the font at the bottom for a change of pace. The side panels feature an 80's-styled gradient going from blue gale to black to laser fuchsia. I was planning to add a gradient wave pattern, but for now, I'm sticking with a solid black uniform.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[edjb93]

I'll have Tulsa and Utah as my last two teams, which means Portland Fire will be next.

 

SNEAK PEEK: The Fire will have new logos.

[edjb93]

PORTLAND FIRE

 

It's sad that this team's tenure was cut short too early (only 3 seasons in the league alongside Miami), and so, I wanted to memorialize them with this concept. Oh, I did not say this before, but I reorganized all the teams (past and present) to make up WNBA's 23 (possibly can become 24). Anyway, let's start with the logos.

 

 

 

 

While thinking about what can I do with the Fire, I immediately thought of the Trail Blazers' frequently forgotten alternate logo, that is a basketball with two flames. However, I also wanted to incorporate the team's original logo to an extent. Thus, I came up with a mish-mash of what I've mentioned: a burning basketball with F-shaped flames. Aside from this, I added a cross logo that's frequently seen in fire departments (in this case, the Portland Fire & Rescue), with 'PDX' upfront instead of the city's NBA/WNBA abbreviation.

 

I cannot really come up with a direct explanation on why did I come up with the design you're seeing in the heroine and explorer editions other than it's based from the flame pattern from the logo. Otherwise, it looked good to me. As for the rebel uniform, the side panel design was based from the stripe pattern of the circle around the basketball (also used on the cross logo), and the shoulder yoke is a holdover from the team's original jerseys.

 

The city nickname 'Rose City' finally gets a foothold onto a basketball uniform through my storyteller uniform concept. I originally wanted a part-red, part-black uniform, but it would present a legibility problem with the numbers (black number on the back overlapping the black portion of the jersey), as I wanted the uniform to be white-free. Instead, I went with a black uniform with red and green accents (still white-free). Why green? It's not only because it's the color of the rose's leaves and stem, but it also represents the MLS team that's forever engraved onto the city's culture. The wordmark at the front of the jersey is in the same style as the 'Rip City' wordmark used by their NBA counterparts, and yes, I'll never forget the sash, but it's flanked with a seamless rose pattern inside it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pepis21]

Good redesign, I like all of them are but concept that steal my heart is Miami Sol. Uniforms are fantastic, those side panels is a brilliant idea because except being a sun ray they also look like a heat wave in a hot sunny day which fits perfectly to the team name (they could work for Heat too).

[edjb93]

TULSA SWING

 

I have finally made a pick on the new name for the WNBA team in Tulsa, and one of @vtgco's suggestions got the nod, which is a tribute to the Western swing musical genre popularized at Cain's Ballroom. I also could've picked 'Sound', but I don't want to have a conflict with the Rockers because both Tulsa sound and rock-and-roll use the guitar as their main musical instrument of choice.

 

 

 

 

The overall motif of the logos come from the marquee signs in the city—in particular, the Meadow Gold's and the Cain's Ballroom's. That same motif was also applied to Tulsa Shock's original primary logo, so I trust that this will work. You may ask, what's the six-pointed star for? You can look at the current flag of Tulsa (introduced in 2018) for the answer, and this will also provide the explanation behind the design of one of my concept uniforms.

 

On to the jerseys! Since the logos kinda have the vintage vibe, I felt that it's the right thing for the uniforms to have the same feels. Basically, the first three uniform editions have a similar design to the usual theme of the sports uniforms during the 70's: rounded collar, vintage striping (think of the Steelers' sleeve design from the Steel Curtain era up to now), and curves (think of the NBA and ABA uniforms during that decade).

 

Like what was said above, Tulsa's current flag is also the main theme of my storyteller uniform, albeit in a different color palette. Green is for Tulsa belonging to a region in Oklahoma nicknamed 'Green Country', blue is for the Arkansas River, and off-white (beige) is for, as the flag's website would say, the 'warmth and community' found in the city. This is one of the rare opportunities where I did not put a logo or a wordmark at the front of the jersey, since the shield design is already sufficient enough.

 

If there are locals from Tulsa in this forum, please let me know if I have given justice when it comes to the overall design of this concept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Krz]

That logo is just incredible. I’m from Oklahoma and can’t say I’ve heard “Tulsey Town” before (makes me think of tulsi gabbard). That  last jersey is beautiful, the green works fine, but a pure flag themed one would work too. Overall I like it.

[edjb93]

15 hours ago, Krz said:

That last jersey is beautiful, the green works fine, but a pure flag themed one would work too.

 

 

[MilSox]

On 2/1/2022 at 10:30 AM, edjb93 said:

 

Fun fact: I was also thinking about having a name that rhymes with 'Jazz', but not as crazy as the 'Starzz'; something like 'Freeze' or 'Blizzard' (can also be simply just 'Blizz') crossed my mind, although I also thought of 'Frizz' which meant WAYYY too different.

 

Utah Buzz? It's the Beehive State and you coud play up the whole "Queen Bee" aspect.

[Will94]

10 hours ago, NicDB said:

 

Utah Buzz? It's the Beehive State and you could play up the whole "Queen Bee" aspect.

i still think you need to go with the flower

[PERRIN]

I absolutely adore Tulsa's set. The logo package is incredibly well-done, makes me wish I did something similar for my Nashville team. Uniforms are top notch, I love the use of the flag especially, it's one of my favorite city flags out there. This whole thread has been a treat to view and it's awesome to see your take on historic WNBA cities. Looking forward to seeing this thread continue!

[edjb93]

UTAH FREEZE

 

After carefully reviewing all the suggested names for the Utah WNBA team, I thought that 'Freeze' sounds great, not only because it rhymes with 'Jazz', but it reflects the state very well due to its snowy climate. With that being said, I present to you the Utah Freeze.

 

 

 

 

 

The overall design of the logos are heavily inspired by the Jazz's look during the 90's up to the early 2000's, which was taken from the Wasatch Range. I went with the hexagon due to Utah's 'Beehive State' moniker, and I also included the sego lily, Utah's state flower (@Will94 insists for the lily, so here you go). As for the colors? They're virtually the same as the original, but I promoted light blue to being one of the primary colors, relegated teal to being an accent color, and removed black altogether.

 

The same 90's Jazz vibe also extends to the heroine, explorer, and rebel uniforms. The first two uniforms feature a mix of the late 2000's uniforms and the 90's duds, while the rebel uniform has the mountain range on the jersey, front and center.

 

Recently, I've been straying away from the women empowerment themes on my storyteller uniforms, and what a way to bring such themes back with the one I have. It's a yellow uniform with white striping and purple accents, that pays tribute to the very first woman in the United States to vote, Seraph Young. The color scheme for the storyteller uniform was taken from the mural illustrating Young's historic act and the non-profit organization called Better Days 2020, which is dedicated to Utah's women's history. 'Equal Suffrage' is the focal point of the uniform, serving as a reminder for today's generation about the importance of women's right to cast their vote.