North American Premier League (Boston Battalion added, 3/40)

[MDTrey4]

So this is the first time I've ever posted on here even though I've been a member on the boards since I was a teenager. Just to get started, here is my league logo for the North American Premier League:

 

 

The idea is simple: What if after World War II, instead of American Football, Soccer became the dominant sport in the United States. The North American Premier League is the result of over 80 years of Football (yes we're calling it Football in this universe) growing in the United States (and a few other North American countries). There will be 3 tiers to the pyramid. The top two divisions are finished, and the 24 teams in the third division have their identities and uniforms done, just have to finish the logos on them. I've been working on this project off and on for the better part of a decade so I'd love to hear any criticism that the boards can think of.

 

To kick us off, here are the All-Star Game jerseys for this season, featuring two American wunderkinds:

 

 

 

 

Here is a map of the top two divisions, the NAPL and NAL1, updated with the already revealed teams:

 

You'll notice some cities that feel like they are left out. Most of them are in NAL2. Like I said, the identities are ready for those, just still workshopping the logos. There are also a few very small towns that will be explained when they are unveiled.

 

This has been a lot of work, probably more than I bargained for, but it has been something that has brought me joy in working on and seeing my progression as a designer over the last few years.

 

There are a few logos who you'll be able to see are inspired by existing clubs. There was once a time where I even considered making a Laker FC and Boston Celtics FC for a real life Real Madrid/Barcelona feel to the universe but decided against it. Anyway I'm really excited to see this come to fruition and would love to hear what everybody else thinks too once I start posting the teams.

 

Hope everyone enjoys!

[TheSquirrel]

What is the third Texas team as I know the top two are Houston & Austin but I can’t work out the third one unless you have placed San Antonio a bit too low on the map

[johnrafael]

The concept is good, but I think the uniforms need a little more of attention. The logo placement and sizing isn't good, also you can search a bit more for fonts. PULISIC and REYNA, especially, are too big, they look more sponsors than NOBs. 

 

FIFA Uniform Regulations can help:

[MDTrey4]

On 10/23/2021 at 12:55 AM, TheSquirrel said:

What is the third Texas team as I know the top two are Houston & Austin but I can’t work out the third one unless you have placed San Antonio a bit too low on the map

You're right it is San Antonio. I think it was so far south because of the way the logos overlapped on the filled in version so I adjusted it below.

 

12 minutes ago, johnrafael said:

The concept is good, but I think the uniforms need a little more of attention. The logo placement and sizing isn't good, also you can search a bit more for fonts. PULISIC and REYNA, especially, are too big, they look more sponsors than NOBs. 

 

FIFA Uniform Regulations can help:

I appreciate those graphics for reference. I'll definitely make some adjustments for the future teams that I post. This next one will still have the NOBs the same.

 

Another thing I should address, while the uniforms are categorized as Home/Away/Alternate, clubs still wear their Home uniform for most games, similar to what a real-life club would do. While most clubs have their light colored uniform as Home, much like the NBA (wonky naming system aside), there are still some teams that wear their dark shirts at Home.

 

As for the first team of the series:

 

The Athletic Club of New York:

 

 

 

 

Location: Queens, NY

Sponsor: MetLife

Neck Tag: Since 1928

Crest: This badge shape is based on the NYFD badge. The interlocking ANY monogram has been with them since the start. The blue and orange stripes come from the NYC flag. I wanted New York's two teams to have a classic feel, hence why I went with the old school name.

Home: Vertical stripes just like the crest. 5 blue stripes across to represent the 5 boroughs of NYC (Lew Alcindor, Power HS)

Away: White with 5 alternating blue and orange stripes to again represent the 5 boroughs (Lance Stephenson, Lincoln HS)

Alternate: New York City Nights. All Black alternate with Orange and Blue accents (Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks)

 

Primary Logo:

 

 

Home:

 

 

Away:

 

 

Alternate:

 

 

[johnrafael]

Poor logo sizing, placement and letterwork  aside, I'd give some attention on how you present the logos and sponsors. These outlines in  Nike, Metlife and the number doesn't look good IMO. Regarding the logo, I'm sorry, but I only can read it like AVY. If you have a team named The Athletic Club of New York, ACNY would be a better choice, or having in mind the pervasive use of the initials of the city, just NY.

[MDTrey4]

On 10/25/2021 at 10:41 AM, johnrafael said:

Regarding the logo, I'm sorry, but I only can read it like AVY. If you have a team named The Athletic Club of New York, ACNY would be a better choice, or having in mind the pervasive use of the initials of the city, just NY.

Thanks for the feedback. I've thought about a slight change to the monogram that will make it more readable but it might take a bit to rework it.

 

Next up and the first entry in the second division North American League One:

 

Albuquerque FC:

 

 

 

Location: Albuquerque, NM

Sponsor: Ideum

Neck Tag: ABQ

Crest: Simple ABQ above the Zia symbol. I’ve always loved the New Mexico license plates and thought using the colors from them along with the iconic Zia symbol would make for a simple but effective badge.

Home: White over red with white socks. Zia print sublimated all over and a large Zia logo on the front of the socks. (Brian Urlacher, Lovington HS, University of New Mexico)

Away: Red over yellow version of the home. Zia print is now in yellow with a teal version of the badge. Yellow socks with large zia symbol. (Alex Bregman, Albuquerque Academy)

Alternate: Teal version of the shirt. Same shorts as home. Socks replaced with teal. (Danny Granger, University of New Mexico)

 

Primary Logo:

 

 

 

Home:

 

 

Away:

 

 

 

Alternate:

 

 

 

I took @johnrafael's advice on shrinking the lettering and numbers to an appropriate size on these ones. The NOB on the away lost a bit of visibility but when I went with the white on white look it looked a little too bold so I'll stick with the white and red

[Johhog]

I like the general idea here, this concept screams New Mexico (I think Patrick Cummings had a similar thought in his America League series). Having said that, there is something a bit off-kilter that I can't really put my finger on. I think the "football club" text needs to be a bit more dynamic, maybe you could try out another font?

[johnrafael]

While your concepts are developing, I don't see this evolution in the execution.

 

For starting, I'd try to:

 

First: Spend some time searching quality fonts. The font you used for the logo doesn't fit the logo, there's a lot of empty space. Also, on the uniforms. On the jerseys, change both Number and NOB font. This isn't readable at all, it defeats the purpose. Currently, tall sans-serif and poster-style fonts seem to be a trend between teams, but good old block fonts are also a good choice.
Second: Stop outlining everything. Most companies wouldn't accept this treatment for their logos, and it also makes your work look lazy.

Third: Stop saving as JPG. This makes your work look low quality. Save it as PNG.

Fourth: Feed on references. To make this work, you'll need to get references. Logo placement, sizes, colors, detailing, textures.  Colours of Football and Footy Headlines are the best places to get references on Association Football jerseys.

[TheGiantsFan]

Great start on these so far! However, I do have some recommendations to make these first two teams a little better:

• New York: You say that the "ANY" monogram has been with the team since its start in 1928, but frankly it looks a little too modern to be from that year. Historical Football Kits has a really good compilation of historic crests from British clubs, and I'd recommend taking a look at those for some historical design context! For the sponsors, I'll echo the above comment in saying that not all jerseys would need the sponsor name outlined; in this case, the home kit is fine as-is but the away and alt (which should just be in white, in my opinion) do not need an outline
• Albuquerque: I'm always a sucker for the zia imagery, but the font isn't really selling me as an "exciting" team. Getting the right font is quite a difficult task even for me, but there's tools such as Adobe Fonts' recommendations that can help guide you in the right direction for the vibes you're trying to set off with the font choice. As far as the kit patterns, I think they would work better as an alternating grid pattern (like my Riverside home kit) instead of the way you have it now

For some general pointers, I would suggest that you make your text (the sponsors, NOB, and player name) as visible and readable as possible. The contrast on some of these kits (such as the Albuquerque away) is really rough, making all the text hard to read. Basically, you would want light-colored text on a dark background, and vice versa

 

I hope these don't come off as too harsh, but I think it would help improve your concepts!

[MDTrey4]

Took some time to make a few changes based on some of the suggestions from above, namely with the NOB and sponsor readability so here is the updated ACNY:

 

 

 

 

On 10/27/2021 at 11:39 AM, johnrafael said:

Third: Stop saving as JPG. This makes your work look low quality. Save it as PNG.

 

For this suggestion^, I've got things saved as PNG files from screenshotting the Illustrator file and they show up clear on flickr so I'm not sure how I can make them show up clearer on here.

 

Updates coming on the ABQ font as well.

 

 

[TheGiantsFan]

34 minutes ago, MDTrey4 said:

For this suggestion^, I've got things saved as PNG files from screenshotting the Illustrator file and they show up clear on flickr so I'm not sure how I can make them show up clearer on here.

 

No need to screenshot the Illustrator file, my friend!

 

Here's what you can do to export higher-quality images from Illustrator, and it's pretty quick:

1. Go to File > Export > Export As on Illustrator
2. Make sure that you've checked the box next to Use Artboard
3. Choose which Artboards you want to export. You can choose specific artboards (they are numbered on your Artboards panel), or you can export them all at once
4. Choose the folder you want the exported files to go to
5. Click Export, and choose the resolution and background of the exported file (transparent, black, or white)
6. Your high-quality files should now be in the folder you chose

Hope this helps!

[MDTrey4]

2 hours ago, TheGiantsFan said:

Hope this helps!

This is perfect! Thanks so much for the help. I'll be making some more of these updates early next week.

[MDTrey4]

Here are some of the updates that I've made to ABQ. First up, the logo:

 

Went for a font that was a little more out there to give it a more Southwestern feel and also added the year ABQFC was founded within the Zia symbol.

 

As for the kits, I liked the suggestion of offsetting the sublimated Zias and I also updated the logos:

I also used the exporting directions that @TheGiantsFan provided but it still seems to be showing blurry so I'm not sure what else I can do to fix that.

[johnrafael]

Regarding the problem of the blurry: You're still posting JPGs. Make sure the image link you post has ".png" in the end. Maybe if you change your image host for Imgur, it could work better.

Albuquerque updates:

Regarding the Uniforms: I liked the league patch, but maybe it could be smaller. Also, I'd drop off the Nike Aeroswift details, because they make the jersey look strange with the texture. Last but not least, get a look at the socks on the away kit, they're kind of strange.

 

For the logo: I'm not feeling this font is a right choice. It's too much going at the same time. I'd use a simpler font, maybe a taller one, that could make the ABQ fit nice inside the shield shape without allowing that much unused space.

[MDTrey4]

Was hoping for a little more C+C on ABQ but here goes on the next entry into the NAPL:

 

Boston Battalion

Location: Boston, MA
Sponsor: Gillette
Neck Tag: Just Like the Old Days
Crest: I wanted a Revolutionary look so the top of the badge is supposed to represent a tri-corner hat. One of the oldest clubs in the pyramid, their logo hasn’t changed much over the years, save for an updated font and cannon in recent years. Their Red-White-Red stripe is their distinct feature.
Home: White over red with a Red-Navy-Red version of their iconic stripe. Stripe on sock matches. (Tom Brady, New England Patriots)
Away: Navy reverse of the same shirt with white shorts (Larry Bird, Boston Celtics)
Alternate: Much like the Yankees, the Battalion do not wear an alternate because their uniforms are too iconic in the NAPL

 

Home:

Away:

 

 

[GeauxColonels]

I’ll chime in here. In general, the crests on the kits are too large. I would shrink them by at least 25%. The crests on kits are never as large as they are in your presentation. I would also work on how the different elements of the jersey designs work together. For example, I would try to keep the crest from overlapping the striping on the Boston shirt. Shrinking the crest should help, but you may need to adjust the thickness and location of the chest stripe. Or you could raise the striping so that it goes across the upper chest and is centered on the crest. Things like that make for a cleaner presentation and show that extra thought was put into the designs.

 

For ACNY, I get what you’re trying to do with the monogram but it is definitely a bit clunky. I see it as “ANY” which would make sense if the club’s name was just “Athletic New York.” Definitely revisit that.

 

On Albuquerque, there’s still a good bit of empty space in the crest. Have you though about leaving out “Football Club” and then just tightening up everything else? Also, you have a really unique shape with the Zia symbol - take advantage of that. Not all crests need to be shields. 
 

I’m not a fan of the font used in the Boston crest. I would suggest looking for a more “vintage” style font that lends to the revolutionary theme here. On the cannon, the detailing near the end of the barrel should probably go. Trying to replicate those very thin lines in small applications could be troublesome. Lastly, I would center the cannon on the three stripes so that the cannon extends both below and above the stripes and potentially thicken the stroke around the cannon to better separate it from the stripes below.

 

These are good starts and can be much better with just a bit more thought and finesse in execution. Keep at it.

[AlphaWolf21]

Being honest, the ABQ on the Albuquerque crest looks like it says AIBQ.