New York Jets...er, make that New York JetBLUE!

[tBBP]

After a month-long hiatus, the Airline Football League Concept Series returns.

Wow..up to the THIRTEENTH airline already! And actually, this is one I've been sitting on for quite some time--well, about two months. Just like a few of my NFL Re-do concepts, I just got stuck on what direction to go wtih it.

Before I continue, here is a list of the twelve previous concepts in this series:

American Airlines

United Airlines

Northwest Airlines

US Airways

Delta Air Lines

Southwest Airlines

Midwest Airlines

Continental Airlines

AirTran Airways

America West Airlines

Song

Air Canada

Okay--it's JETBLUE AIRWAYS people! This had to have been one of THE MOST REQUESTED CONCEPTS on this board--and now here it is! (Additionally, that title also has a lil hidden meaning...and if you actually read this intro here, that connection should become very clear...if not, once you see the concept, it'll DEFINITELY become clear... )

Okay...first the (very short) story behind the company. This airline has been flying as JetBlue since 2000, but was actually founded in 1998 as New Air. However, this company's roots go back even further than that. And it starts with David Neeleman (jetBlue's current CEO). Back in 1993 he sold his first airline (anyone ever hear of Morris Air?) to--get this--Southwest Airlines. After dabbling in several other aviation business ventures, in 1999 he decided to bring his philosophy of air travel to the world's biggest market--New York. That philosophy, as it still holds true in jetBlue circles, is "bringing humanity back to air travel". Neeleman originally wanted to name JetBlue Taxi, after the NY taxis, as a way to represent New York. But (for obvious reasons relative to NY's taxis), that idea got shot down by Neeleman's investment team, and eventually the name jetBlue was born. (Of course, it also didn't help that the term "taxi" is also used frequently in the airline industry, referring to an aircraft moving across the ramp or from the ramp onto the runways via the taxi ways ans such.)

So there's that.

This concept has been on the shelf for quite a while because I kept getting stuck on a design direction. One would think it'd have been rather easy considering the look of the airline's livery (additional views here, here, and here). But if you looked closely enough, you'll notice JetBlue uses a couple different patters for their tails. The one thing they all have in common is the JetBlue logo/wordmark (one in the same in this instance), so that's what went on the helmet. It's all those different tail designs that had me stuck, because I wanted to somehow incorporate something like that in the uniforms themselves, but couldn't really find a good way to do it. Then, a few days ago, out of the blue (no pun intended--uh, then again, now that I think about it... ), it hit me: there's another team that plays in New York...that's named after aircraft. BAM--instant solution! So I took that influence and ran with it. It definitely wasn'y my first choice of direction, being that it deviates from the direction I normally like to take with the concepts in this series, but this time, it just fit together so well I just had to explore that direction.

So here's what I did: in true NY Jets fashion, the shells are white, as are the pants, on the home set. The home top is blue (of course), with solid white numbers, done in the same typeface JetBlue uses (it's called "DIN" for anyone who's interested--and as far as I know, there is no freeware version of it). Also, in keeping with the "Jets" theme, the sleeves are white with blue numbers. (Oh--and about those numbers...because I already used "98" with my AirTran concept, and I didn't want to do anything that started with a "0" ("00", in this case), I looked for another number of relevance, and stumbled onto the number 30, which is the number of awards JetBlue has won since it's been in operation--one of them being the award for Best Branding, from the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME) in 2005.) The striping trim is in the lighter blue that JetBlue uses (yet ANOTHER example of the blue-on-blue look that has seemed to saturate the sports uniform aesthetic as well as the airline industry), and the socks are solid dark blue. The road set is almost exactly opposite, except the socks have a light/dark/light blue stripe (that was done to avoid a Tennesee Titans-esque leotard look). Now, as far as the 3rd/alt, I had the idea of exploring a Morris Air throwback, but the ramper in me (that's slang for "ramp agent"--those of us airline types know what that is) started thinking is jetBlue was to ever field a team, I don't think their "players" would wanna be draped in the mock get-up of an airline that got sold to one of their chief rivals, even if that airline was their early predecessor, so I took what I guess amounts to a "Titans-esque" approach and re-colored the 3rd/alt lighter blue, with solid white numbers trimmed in dark blue (light blue on the dark-blue sleeves). It's not exactly what I wanted to do at first, and I ain't exactly satisfied with the concept in its current guise, either, but it looks good enough to get on out there and get some feedback on, so here it is.

Ladies and gentlemen...JetBlue Airways!

(By the way, ten bonus points for the first person who can locate a certain weird quirk I included in this set. BUT, you have to be able to first identify it, and then identify the reason for me doing it. Good luck!!!)

[TBGKon]

(By the way, ten bonus points for the first person who can locate a certain weird quirk I included in this set. BUT, you have to be able to first identify it, and then identify the reason for me doing it. Good luck!!!)

My guess is that you designed the unis to look like the NY Jets unis since this is for an Airline Football League.

[gueman]

(By the way, ten bonus points for the first person who can locate a certain weird quirk I included in this set. BUT, you have to be able to first identify it, and then identify the reason for me doing it. Good luck!!!)

The little tv on the back of the helmet because all(?) the seats on jet Blue have TV's on the back of the head rest.

[sideshowbob]

the little yellow thing on the collar and the pants? I have no idea what it is for

[zig]

the little yellow thing on the collar and the pants? I have no idea what it is for

Thats the AFL logo. Airline Football League

[tBBP]

the little yellow thing on the collar and the pants? I have no idea what it is for

Thats the AFL logo. Airline Football League

SOMEONE'S BEEN PAYING ATTENTION!!!

Here's a better look at it:

The little tv on the back of the helmet because all(?) the seats on jet Blue have TV's on the back of the head rest.

FOLKS...WE HAVE OUR WINNER!!!

(That was actually an idea/suggestion/joke of someone's in the C&C of an earlier concept, and I just held on to it.)

Did anyone notice I put the number back there, too?

Okay, now that the contest was over (skyaa1 HOW DID YOU MISS THAT? Or did you just not see it in time ), let's get some C&C on the uniform design itself. I wanna see what you all have to say about that...

[andymorrison13]

Good work man. I know you use the liveries in the concepts, have you thought about some different pants striping for the home road and alt? Maybe a UNC basketball like stripe for one?

[tBBP]

Good work man. I know you use the liveries in the concepts, have you thought about some different pants striping for the home road and alt? Maybe a UNC basketball like stripe for one?

That's one of the ideas I had, considering one of jetBlue's tail designs is in fact (or, at least, at one time was) an argyle-type pattern. I'm still pining over ideas for this one here.

Trust me...you haven't seen the last of this jetBlue concept...more ideas to come! (and if y'all got some, hurl them this way...)

[tBBP]

::BUMP::

[AceHawk447]

That's some tight stuff, bucco...what else can I say?

[BlueSky]

I've missed like the last 5 of these concepts...not sure how but I'm getting caught up now...great work!