NBA Brand Refresh: Seattle Supersonics (6/?)

[loholt]

I'm going to work on some full concepts for NBA team rebrands through here and see how far I get. I feel like some in the league are already pretty tough to beat so I may not get to all of them but there's a few I think could use some work. 

 

Let's start with a team that doesn't exist yet!

 

With the Vegas NBA expansion team on the horizon in the next few years I took a run at it with "The Revelers". A royal theme that fits Las Vegas and potential part owner LeBron, and also a bit of a medieval old timey theme that goes with the Raiders and Golden Knights. Definitely can be a little close to the Kings but I think it has enough of a difference to have legs. I could always make the cap look a little more like a Jester cap and less like a crown if it was too close. I went with 3 jerseys, one with each of the main colors (cream and gold) and one with the alternate color (black) with the primary logo on the front. With Revelers being a bit of a mouthful I'm sure they'd be referred to as the "Revs" so I included an alternate logo with that as well. 

I put the full concept here. 

 

[Wildcomet]

Nice! One thought, have you tried the two main jerseys with a little black for outlining the letters and logo? It's not as much an issue in the drawings, but in the 3D jersey renderings the cream and gold are close enough in color that I could see it being tough to read jersey names, etc. during a game. It's a good concept all around though, and I really like Revelers name. It's on brand with the community (and potential ownership), but not nearly as on the nose as some other name suggestions I've heard which I appreciate.

[loholt]

17 minutes ago, Wildcomet said:

Nice! One thought, have you tried the two main jerseys with a little black for outlining the letters and logo? It's not as much an issue in the drawings, but in the 3D jersey renderings the cream and gold are close enough in color that I could see it being tough to read jersey names, etc. during a game. It's a good concept all around though, and I really like Revelers name. It's on brand with the community (and potential ownership), but not nearly as on the nose as some other name suggestions I've heard which I appreciate.

I've heard that before and definitely agree. Here's a little mockup of what they would look like. I was trying to figure out how to go without black on those two jerseys just to keep it the two main colors but I agree that it's probably impractical from a real life jersey standpoint. 

 

[loholt]

Alright next up I'm doing a full brand refresh for the Indiana Pacers. I think their primary is already pretty good and widely recognized so I just polished it up a little bit and took the gray out of the current one (why is there gray?). I made a new alternate logo really leaning into the "Pacer" theme and trying to embrace the racing roots of the team and city a bit more by using the checkers. The jerseys combine the checkerboard with the pinstripes of the Reggie Miller era which in my opinion were their best jerseys. Added some checkerboard to the courts too to keep the theme going. Overall I feel like they could lean into the racing theme way more and tried to reflect that here. 

 

[mistere79]

Love the checkered lanes on Indiana, definitely something they should do.   love to see a Utah concept with a new name (Mountaineers? Pioneers, something?) as with new owner and worst name and look in the NBA they need something totally new more than anyone.

[loholt]

3 hours ago, mistere79 said:

Love the checkered lanes on Indiana, definitely something they should do.   love to see a Utah concept with a new name (Mountaineers? Pioneers, something?) as with new owner and worst name and look in the NBA they need something totally new more than anyone.

 

Great idea. They've really struggled in the last few years and I have no clue what they're going for this year with the black and yellow. I'm happy to see they're bringing back the purple jerseys next year because the Stockton/Malone era stuff is the best but still obviously doesn't fit with the Jazz name. I'll work on it and see what I can come up with! 

[mistere79]

Yeah the New Orleans colors where always their best until the gradient colors, those where very cool.

 

Since you did LV, maybe doing Seattle Supersonics (my favorite team) when they eventually come back too?, would love to see them use a modernized variation of this logo too.

 

 

[loholt]

Wow I've never seen that one before but that is very cool. It will be interesting to see what they go with when they come back for sure so I'll work on that too!

[Wildcomet]

Those Pacers ones are nice! I was worried when I read the description before seeing the uniforms that pinstripes and checker board together would be too busy but you used them real well and it works.  I'd be interested to see some new ideas for Utah as well. I've always thought Pioneers was a good name for teams in that region, but there's others that would work well too of course.

[loholt]

On 10/28/2022 at 12:46 PM, Wildcomet said:

Those Pacers ones are nice! I was worried when I read the description before seeing the uniforms that pinstripes and checker board together would be too busy but you used them real well and it works.  I'd be interested to see some new ideas for Utah as well. I've always thought Pioneers was a good name for teams in that region, but there's others that would work well too of course.

 

On 10/27/2022 at 2:54 PM, mistere79 said:

Love the checkered lanes on Indiana, definitely something they should do.   love to see a Utah concept with a new name (Mountaineers? Pioneers, something?) as with new owner and worst name and look in the NBA they need something totally new more than anyone.

Here's some options with some possible names on a logo for Utah. I feel like the purple and blue of the 90's is their most popular look so would probably be throwing it back to that in some capacity with the mountains and the nice thing with all 3 of these names is they could keep that look and keep their bear mascot they have currently too. 

[mistere79]

Blizzard never been a fan of, pioneers seems like the best option perhaps Bison or Cutthroat if use animals, we have alot of those, color wise purple has always been good and only really used by them and Kings.   Deep navy blue also always looked good, green fits nature but alot of teams use green.

[loholt]

Alright I'm back with another NBA brand refresh and this time I'm heading west to Utah. We're taking the nonsensical Jazz name out of Salt Lake City (and eventually returning it to New Orleans where it belongs) and going with the Utah Pioneers at the suggestion of a few users on this thread. The Jazz has always been a goofy name for Utah and right now when they are transitioning to a rebuilding period would be a great time to embrace something new and fresh. 

 

In my opinion the Jazz peaked culturally and successfully during the Stockton-Malone era of the 90’s so I’m throwing it back to that look with plenty of purple and white and an emphasis on the mountains for the logos. To incorporate the Pioneer theme a bit I’ve added a goldish color that is also pretty close to an alternate color they used in the popular 90’s logo. I know the Lakers technically are a purple and gold as well but with slightly different purple and a way different "gold" (there's is obviously just yellow) I felt like it was different enough. 

 

Jersey-wise the home and away are basically modernizations of those 90’s jerseys and then I added a gold one for the statement jersey to embrace the Pioneer mascot a little bit more. Certainly could argue that the Pioneer mascot could come through a little more but any logo involving a pioneer or covered wagon or anything looked hokey to me. The nice thing about this brand refresh is they can keep the bear mascot they currently have as well.

 

[loholt]

Another NBA Brand Refresh, this time for my beloved Orlando Magic. Nothing too groundbreaking mostly just bringing it back to the 90's style (which almost every NBA team should do) and embracing the pin stripes and logos of that era. Also paying homage to the star jerseys of the T-Mac era with the jerseys as well. After I had come up with this they actually ended up leaning into this a bit with their statement jersey this year and having pinstripes in the lanes on their statement court which I love. Next year for the 30th anniversary I wouldn't be surprised if they fully brought back the pinstripes and a lot of the old logos for more prominent use. 

 

[johne9109]

I dont think the pinstripes and the stars work together; it's a little too busy. If you wanted to use both I would try using one on the main part of the jersey and putting the other and jersey sides.

[loholt]

2 hours ago, johne9109 said:

I dont think the pinstripes and the stars work together; it's a little too busy. If you wanted to use both I would try using one on the main part of the jersey and putting the other and jersey sides.

I don’t disagree it definitely is a lot. They actually sort of took your suggestion this year and did a modern version of the stripes with the stars on the side for their statement jersey. Maybe I’ll do another version with one like you said or maybe just have alternate versions, one with stripes and one with stars. 

[Wildcomet]

12 hours ago, johne9109 said:

I dont think the pinstripes and the stars work together; it's a little too busy. If you wanted to use both I would try using one on the main part of the jersey and putting the other and jersey sides.

 

I think I agree as well.  Maybe an idea would be to make the pinstripes into rows of tiny stars? That way they look like pinstripes from a distance but you can see them as stars up close? The stars on the sides could also work well.

[johne9109]

7 minutes ago, Wildcomet said:

 

I think I agree as well.  Maybe an idea would be to make the pinstripes into rows of tiny stars? That way they look like pinstripes from a distance but you can see them as stars up close? The stars on the sides could also work well.

I like that idea a lot

[loholt]

1 hour ago, Wildcomet said:

 

I think I agree as well.  Maybe an idea would be to make the pinstripes into rows of tiny stars? That way they look like pinstripes from a distance but you can see them as stars up close? The stars on the sides could also work well.

 

1 hour ago, johne9109 said:

I like that idea a lot

I do too. What they did this year was interesting but it still doesn't look enough like the old pinstripes for my liking. I'll see if I can put something together that looks clean. 

[VampyrRabbit]

On 2022-10-29 at 10:23 PM, loholt said:

 

Here's some options with some possible names on a logo for Utah. I feel like the purple and blue of the 90's is their most popular look so would probably be throwing it back to that in some capacity with the mountains and the nice thing with all 3 of these names is they could keep that look and keep their bear mascot they have currently too. 

The 90's AF purple and blue colour combination looks great. I would like to see a concept using those colours and Blizzard, since you have the Trail Blazers in the same division and Utah Blizzard rolls off the tongue nicer than either Pioneers or Voyagers.

[loholt]

On 11/9/2022 at 7:57 AM, johne9109 said:

I like that idea a lot

 

On 11/9/2022 at 7:50 AM, Wildcomet said:

 

I think I agree as well.  Maybe an idea would be to make the pinstripes into rows of tiny stars? That way they look like pinstripes from a distance but you can see them as stars up close? The stars on the sides could also work well.

Was a little hard to figure out how big to make the stars but settled into this. Not sure I love it for an every night jersey but would be a cool city edition or something like that.