2022-23 NBA Logo & Jersey Changes

[panthers_2012]

9 hours ago, pepis21 said:

Not now but when free agency window become open they would need to resolve Gobert-Mitchell case somehow.

 

New sponsor for Spurs:

So you can say the Spurs are "self sponsored"?

[The_Admiral]

4 hours ago, McCall said:

Who hates the Heat's identity? Yeah, it's been around for over 20 years now, but there's nothing inherently wrong with it. Actually a pretty good one that has stood the test of time very well.

Hate, no, but it could have used some punching up. Hot pink instead of burgundy alongside black and orange would have been striking. The old Miami Arena script is something they should have used from day one and stuck with. But that's about it. Mostly they're pretty good.

[FiddySicks]

The Heat and Magic sort of have a similar issue in that they both went with that singular style, somewhat modern nickname, but both have relatively toned down, almost traditional looking sets. They aren’t bad in a vacuum, but they both feel somewhat disjointed by that imo. Like, there’s a disconnect between the name and the visual identity. 

[The_Admiral]

Should have been bold enough to roll out with this, just pure 0C100M0Y0K:

 

 

But funny you mention the Magic, the less successful counterpart to the Heat. The Heat have endured rather well, but the Orlando Magic feel like a phenomenon that happened in the mid-'90s but still continue to walk the earth reminding you of the passing of time, kind of like Kenan Thompson. They've tried to make the brand "grow up," but it never quite works.

[FiddySicks]

Basically my very first thought when I think of the Magic is along the lines of Keenan Thompson saying “This episode of All That was filmed in front of a live studio audience at Universal Studios Orlando, Florida.” 

[The_Admiral]

I think of the kids who were such annoying contrarians as to wear Shaq and Hardaway jerseys in the Chicago suburbs. I was not one of those kids, I will have you know, go Bulls.

[FiddySicks]

Totally get it. I grew up in Northern California, and one thing that basically every Northern Californian has is that one friend who just has to root for the Dodgers/Lakers/(Now) Rams (I guess). 

[Carolingian Steamroller]

From reading the press releases, it looks like the Jazz front office wanted to simplify the brand and go minimalist.

 

There are no black and yellow teams in the NBA, despite that being a fairly popular scheme (Steelers, Penguins, Bruins..).  The Salt Lake Bees wear black and yellow in the same market. And the Jazz have worn black and yellow in different combinations over the last two seasons.

[CaliforniaGlowin]

Black and gold =/= black and yellow 

[DJT]

On 6/24/2022 at 12:53 PM, Lights Out said:

I still think the Jazz should try copper as the primary color. Earth tones are kind of underutilized in sports and a copper-centric look would be both distinctive and appropriate for the market.

 

Replace the green color with purple and these would be wonderful. 

[truepg]

12 hours ago, the admiral said:

Should have been bold enough to roll out with this, just pure 0C100M0Y0K:

 

Aside from those two wordmarks not working visually together, that "Miami" that was used on the City jerseys too just isn't as impeccably solid design-wise and on the same level as the (current) Heat wordmark, and would get tired quickly. The black hoop commands too much attention away from the ball, hence white works better there.

What comes to magenta alongside orange, I'm not really a fan of that color combination that the Floridians used to have, the hues are too close to each other. Don't see it necessary for the current Heat.

Edited June 27, 2022 by truepg

[truepg]

11 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

The Heat and Magic sort of have a similar issue in that they both went with that singular style, somewhat modern nickname, but both have relatively toned down, almost traditional looking sets. They aren’t bad in a vacuum, but they both feel somewhat disjointed by that imo. Like, there’s a disconnect between the name and the visual identity. 

The thing is that the Magic used to have an identity and uniforms that matched their brand in "playfulness" and were totally appropriate in their effort, but then at one point around the beginning of Dwight's career they decided to tone it down for some reason and went further replacing the decent wordmark in the logo with the one on the jerseys that was rather plain.

While I don't think the Heat suffer from the issue you mentioned, I totally share your sentiments of the Magic doing so.

[BBTV]

I know Nike needs for them to have a donzen jerseys to sell, but it would be great if they could wear the Red Rocks as their primary, and then have a "clash kit" that's white based.  Then maybe a throwback, and call it a day.  The red rock jerseys were too good to simply be discarded like they were.

[SpenserRM]

11 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

Basically my very first thought when I think of the Magic is along the lines of Keenan Thompson saying “This episode of All That was filmed in front of a live studio audience at Universal Studios Orlando, Florida.” 

I feel personally attacked

[Lights Out]

6 hours ago, DJT said:

Replace the green color with purple and these would be wonderful. 

 

The problem with purple, IMO, is that the Lakers, Kings, Suns and Hornets are all already using it and in an ideal world, the Raptors would bring it back too. Purple is a fine color, but we don't need 20% of the league all heavily featuring the same color.

 

Meanwhile, the Jazz's '90s color scheme without purple would be one of the most unique color schemes not only in the NBA, but across sports in general.

[FiddySicks]

5 hours ago, truepg said:

The thing is that the Magic used to have an identity and uniforms that matched their brand in "playfulness" and were totally appropriate in their effort, but then at one point around the beginning of Dwight's career they decided to tone it down for some reason and went further replacing the decent wordmark in the logo with the one on the jerseys that was rather plain.

While I don't think the Heat suffer from the issue you mentioned, I totally share your sentiments of the Magic doing so.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, the Heat look very good, and them going toned down is the right move. I’m more just surprised that we never got something along the lines of the Magic sublimated stars but with flames or something instead. The Magic sort of lost their identity when they ditched the stars, and I sort of feel like it was an attempt to “button things up”, sort of like the Heat operate. Problem is, “Heat culture” is led by Pat Riley and has Miami to fall back on, so the whole “Buttoned up” approach works well for them. The Magic basically play in Florida’s version of Sacramento, so them toning it down just emphasizes how bland their surroundings are. 

[projectjohn]

6 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

Oh, don’t get me wrong, the Heat look very good, and them going toned down is the right move. I’m more surprised that we never got something along the lines of the Magic sublimated stars but with flames or something instead. The Magic sort of lost their identity when they ditched the stars, and I sort of feel like it was an attempt to “button things up”. Problem is, Heat culture is led by Pat Riley and has Miami to fall back on, so the whole “Buttoned up” approach works well for them. The Magic basically play in Florida’s version of Sacramento, so them toning it down just emphasized how bland their surroundings are. 

It's not too often I'd encourage a professional sports team to go with a whimsical design approach, but it definitely works for the Magic.

[truepg]

52 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

Oh, don’t get me wrong, the Heat look very good, and them going toned down is the right move. I’m more just surprised that we never got something along the lines of the Magic sublimated stars but with flames or something instead. The Magic sort of lost their identity when they ditched the stars, and I sort of feel like it was an attempt to “button things up”, sort of like the Heat operate. Problem is, “Heat culture” is led by Pat Riley and has Miami to fall back on, so the whole “Buttoned up” approach works well for them. The Magic basically play in Florida’s version of Sacramento, so them toning it down just emphasizes how bland their surroundings are. 

 

Also, the Heat basically had this identity along with the wordmark from the get-go, only with some minor tweaks. They are also not the "Magic", though, that implies "fantasy".

 

Actually, I don't feel the Heat's identity is stripped-down any, they have a streaking ball in flames as a logo, after all. It's all just an example of being designed in such a solid way that there's nothing more to add or to remove, and would work as well anywhere.

 

The Heat did have a "flame" gradient in their logo at first, though.

[spartacat_12]

On 6/25/2022 at 12:02 PM, the admiral said:

Then that was a supremely bad read of the market. Why did they think Salt Lake City would go for second-rate hypebeast garbage? 

 

I think they were ambitiously trying to create a 'global brand' that had mass appeal beyond the state of Utah. And the tech space loves the extreme minimalism when it comes to design, so I can see why they thought a black & white J note was the way to go.

[gosioux76]

12 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

 

I think they were ambitiously trying to create a 'global brand' that had mass appeal beyond the state of Utah. And the tech space loves the extreme minimalism when it comes to design, so I can see why they thought a black & white J note was the way to go.

 

 

From what we've heard so far, the team owner's initial instinct was to go all-in on black and white until the NBA reportedly stepped in and said "no," right? Assuming that's accurate, it suggests to me that the league has some sort of regulatory authority over these matters.  But what's interesting to me is that the system doesn't appear to go far enough to prevent teams from situations like this, where the team may no longer run afoul of whatever restrictions the league imposes, but still manages to land on a tone-deaf rebrand they instantly regret. 

 

I mean, those of us on this board may have a heightened degree of awareness to sports aesthetics, but I'd still consider us normal consumers. And as normal consumers, I don't find it a stretch to call this look "objectively unappealing." 

 

So you have to think that, somewhere during the creative process, there had to be someone (whether from the league, Nike, etc.) who saw the same thing, no? From a creative services perspective, isn't there a point where the people servicing the client should speak up? Or is this just treated like, "this is what the client wants." 

 

 

Also, on a similar vein, do they ever conduct focus groups for these sorts of things? It just seems unfathomable to me, in this day and age, that such a high-profile consumer-facing brand could flub something like this so badly.