Buffalo Sabres Crest Rebrand Concept

[cward]

As all of you know, the leaked Sabres "Buffaslug" logo has been the target of so much attention, mostly bad.

Reading through the many pages of comments, insight, resources, links, concepts, brainstorms, and tirades by diehard fans has inspired me to create a concept that would fit the needs of the organization as well as the traditionally-minded fan base (as they should be).

Through this Sabres crest concept, I incorporated the following points stressed by fans and designers alike (and supposedly the front office):

1. Iconic symbol, easily recognizable-- focus on simplicity

2. Somehow link the original Sabres logo to the new one through similar design elements

3. Return to shades of original Sabres colors

4. Modernization similar in style to the Seahawks and Cardinals to maintain brand correlation while creating more consumer-appealing trademarks

Here is how the points break down when analyzing the crest:

1. Iconic in Nature:Through the research of many devoted fans and designers mostly on this board, it was discovered that the Sabres front office desired an iconic logo, similar in design style to the Texans. As you can see, my main focus was to stress simplicity in my design to accomplish this...the color palette was immediately reduced to blue, gold, and white, to let the shapes speak for themselves without cluttering shades and shadows.

The design is built to stand alone as one color and not lose any design structure, (note the one color version) a true characteristic of "iconic" logos. This characteristic would allow this crest to stand the test of time with an ever-appealing design style.

2. Link Old with New: Another key to the new logo design discovered through fan reaction was to link the original circle Sabres crest with the new design.

As you can see, the main elements I maintained in the redesign were 1) the circle is the main foundation of the logo, as was the case with the original, 2) crossed swords are incorporated as the obvious nickname reference, and 3) the centerpiece of both logos is the buffalo itself, referencing the franchise hometown.

Also under this category could be the iconic nature of the rendering, as is the case with both the original and updated mark.

3. Blue and Gold!: To no surprise, reaction proved that fans desired the original blue and gold color scheme to replace the in between era of red, black, and silver.

Though I returned to the original color scheme, both colors were slightly darkened to reflect a more modern yet vintage style.

4. Maintain Brand Correlation between Eras: Again, as a result of the other three points, the brand is maintained through color scheme, incorporation of crossed swords, circle, and buffalo silhouette, as well as iconic nature.

All the while, this update is more visually appealing to consumers and fits the aggresive, yet sleek style of the NHL game.

Some final thoughts...

1) Though crossed sabres are incorporated, they were much more visually appealing facing the opposite direction...

2) Though the silhouette of the buffalo is included, it too is facing the opposite direction...

...both of these points could provide the common design trait that "although similar to the original, this design communicates the fact that the Sabres are headed in a new direction..." (a pretty predictable tag line)

With all that having been said, I would love to open up this thread to comments, suggestions, sweater concepts, mockups, whatever you feel inspired to create incorporating the crest.

John (js) has done a great job spearheading this movement with years of his hard work...again, this is in no way meant to upstage you John, this was simply me as a designer creating out of raw inspiration of the current rebranding dilemma.

Love to hear some feedback fellas...thanks for letting me babble, but it was necessary to communicate each design element, translating to a solid solution to the Sabres rebranding project.

-Skye

[thing2]

it's good...but i don't like it. i don't know what to say. i like it, but yet i don't. whatever. ignore my opinion

[marriott]

I love the buffalo in the logo. Its amazing. Unfortunatly i dont like anything else on it. Try incorporating a buffalo similar to that one if you keep using the buffalo

[Davey]

Thats amazing what you came up with. Its a little to plain not that theres nutton rong with it already. Also the crossing swords would make it look even more better imo. Other than that nice job.

[jkrdevil]

There was something I wasn't feeling then I played around it on my own. Here are my suggestions.

1. Flip the swords so that they go upwards like the original and current alternate logo.

2. Make the Buffalo white. Like others have said the White Buffalo means good luck in Native American culture. Make what you have gold, white and then outline the entire thing in gold.

Those 2 thinks IMO would make it much better and more iconic. I like the idea you have.

One other thing that you might do is maybe make the eyes red.

Overall though I like it.

[leggman01]

cward - i'm really digging this, but there are some things i'd like to see changed - i've followed the sabres logo set pretty closely as i'm originally from just outside of buffalo, and grew up a sabres fan (converted to the hurricanes when they moved to raleigh, but i'm addmittedly not a huge hockey fan) - i'm not nearly as passionate or vested as some of the others on this site (not by a LONG SHOT), but i think you're on to something here

here are a couple of problems i see, after reading through the 20+ pages on the "slug"

the buffalo needs to be white...it's great symbolism - you might be able to accomplish this on the full-color in one of 2 ways...you could color the buffalo white, and retain the gold outline of the shield all the way around or you could change all the gold to white, and give it a new gold outline outside of the white...on the b&w, this outline could be black (i'd then change the eyes to gold on the full-color, as well)

this change would also correct the other problem i have...on the b&w white application, i don't like the way the buffalo just blends into the background - i'm sure that is what you were going for, but i think it makes the logo look somewhat unfinished...i don't have the same issue in the black application, because you see the outline of the shield, which, to me, finishes the logo

other than that, this is VERY good - i think this set really hits the mark

of course, i think i could do something better than the slug, and that ain't saying much

[rtrich11]

All I can say is that this is really interesting. You took the elements that everyone keeps using over and over and put them together in a really cool way. I'm kinda digging it.

[ColeJ]

what i enjoy the most out of this concept, is that you obviously put thought into it.

you didn't just throw stuff together, and say "this looks badass! it could beat up the thrashers logo!"

with that said, i don't think it's finished... but that's one of the many purposes of this board. once you can't think of ways to improve it, we can give you a new set of eyes with which to look at it.

here's my critiques... some are similar to those stated above.:

1) the buffalo does need to be white... it's always been white, and it's white for a reason. i didn't know anything about the white buffalo meaning until the buffaslug fiasco, but now i do

2) i don't like the muted gold. the sabres should be blue and yellow. i think a vibrant powerful yellow would help this concept out. the color scheme you chose looks too faded and passive, to my eyes. it needs at least one color that smacks you in the face.

3) i'd use the vibrant gold in outlines, and have the buffalo white. however you do the outlines is up to you... either keep the outline as it is now, or create a new outline, so it doesn't interfere with the buffalo's merge with the circle.

4) the eyes should be red. i may be wrong, but hasn't the buffalo sabre's buffalo always had red eyes, on the game jerseys?

5) completely up to you, but if i were doing it, i'd add an extra blue outline around the far outside... i'd go with a brand new yellow outline. (from the inside of the circle, out: blue, white, yellow, blue.... right now, it goes: blue, yellow)

outlines don't always make things cluttered. i think this concept could benefit from a few extra outlines, and more white.

overall, i love the thought that you put into this.

i'm officially impressed.

also, just noticed... wrong forum, buddy.

[Axis_of_Weasel]

feel free to add detail and colors. two tone is a little too plain for me. it looks like a silhouette, or something youd carve into a jack o lantern.

[ebod39]

First off, bravo for putting together a concept with thought and purpose faster than it took Reebok to

hammer out the Buffaslug (more than year by the way). I love your thought process and the way you articulated it. Your point about the Sabres wanting an "iconic" logo is the exact direction I was given when I worked on concepts for the project. Simple, elegant and timeless. The Texans, Broncos and actually the Bills logo were benchmarked as logos to strive towards. This "iconic" point is key for me, because it is what I feel is lacking in JSº designs. And while his are very good renderings and well done, they're not "iconic" and I have always felt too busy with all the outlines and accents. And to Axis of Weasels request, adding "detail and colors" is contradictory to the direction CWard is going for. The Texans logo would not be as great as it is, if it had all sorts of outlines and accent lines on the horns etc... When you design a great icon, you don't need fluff and too many colors. Outlines and overrendered elements are fluff meant to distract you from the the fact that there really isn't any thought or idea behind it, just a pretty drawing. An iconic logo should look as good in B&W 2" small as it does in full color 200' big.

Press on and make this baby shine, you're onto something.

[fonz]

I'd like to see more colour than just the black and gold.

[SportsLogo]

You thought process was great. I'm really digging this logo. Is this final, or are you coming up with more ideas?

[cward]

I appreciate all the feedback, and all the points yall made are valid...

Below is a revised set incorporating the following:

1. White Buffalo: Originally, I had it white, but in my attempts to keep the logo as simple as possible (one outline) the gold for just the eyes got lost...BUT the symbolism is too great to overlook, and thus I have altered it.

2. Extra Outline: This outline will keep the buffalo white while keeping gold as a prominent feature of the logo.

3. Brighter Shades of Blue and Gold: Although the darker palette worked in a "vintage" regard, it wasn't as close to the original colors to be as effective as possible. Thus, I made the blue more toward a dark royal and the gold less flat and more vibrant.

4. Red Eyes: Just for comparisons sake, Im posting the package twice, the only difference between the two being the red vs. gold eyes...

Again, feedback is more than welcome...do the changes work? Is the logo now too "cluttered"?

The first set of critiques really helped strengthen the logo IMO. Thanks guys.

[patsox]

I like the gold eyes better

[capn89]

It's really good, but not quite there for some reason. I really cannot say what it is lacking, but it is lacking something. Maybe toy with colors, or thickness of the crest around the primary. Maybe even a border around the Buffalo itself. Keep working on it, it would be a shame to abandon.

[ebod39]

that looks great with the changes!!! I vote for the red eyes myself. Again, great job!!

[ColeJ]

ok. hate to ask for another tweak, but i'd make the yellow a bit more orangey... not buffaslug orange, but a little less high-lighter yellow.

that looks almost more "electric yellow" than "athletic gold".

and maybe make the red on the eye a little less saturated, or darker.

but overall, the changes you made, are fantastic. i really really like this logo.

[cward]

Thanks guys...

I also notice it is lacking even with the updates...

The first thing I noticed was my gold was off a bit...that will be changed.

Also, I'm going to thin up the white outline so that the gold offset path, in turn, can also be thinned to make the logo less "airy" on a white background.

I'll try to edit the above post sometime tonight.

[jkrdevil]

The more I look at the more I think the swords need to upwards instead of downwards. It just doesn't look right the way it is. Also maybe a thin blue stripes around the gold on the white background version. Sort of like how the Islanders logo is.

[Crestwood]

I was quite impressed by your original concept series, and even more so by the second set. I would, however, like to echo a few of the other critiques: 1) The yellow is a little too yellow and 2) IMO the sabres would look better pointed up, just as the original logo although I know this may throw off that bottom left part where the blade overlaps the bison's leg. Once again though, a very impressive set. Too bad the Sabres brass apparently isn't as imaginitive. And btw, the design definitely isn't too crowded. It still looks very simple and elegant/iconic, as you put it.