The NFL Spring League

[JayJaxon]

I love the uniforms for the Rockets, but I'm not to crazy about the logo. It looks a little too plain. But the uniforms are great looking.

[dgnmrwrw]

I would further develop the rockets logo so it covers more of the helmet rather then leaving a lot of space.

Yeah, I'll probably keep pushing it in that direction. I wanted to leave enough of the contrail to give it some base, and that makes it difficult to get a bigger version of the rocket in there. Of course, the rocket is supposed to be flying off into the wild blue yonder, so it actually needs to stay relatively small and distant. But I'll see what I can do.

I had done another version of the helmet, with the rocket launching from the very back of the helmet, coming over the top and pointing at the facemask. It had player numbers on the side to fill the negative space. But that one looked like the rocket was lifting off, reaching the top of its arc, then coming crashing down. Not the image I wanted to convey.

I love the uniforms for the Rockets, but I'm not to crazy about the logo. It looks a little too plain. But the uniforms are great looking.

Well, it is supposed to be a bit plain and abstract. Like I said, I wanted a sleek, clean, simple 1960s feel in the logos, but maybe that's not coming through. I also have 16 teams to do, so I want some of them to be more simple and not have that sharp-edged modern logo look like I did for the Bandits concept. This one started out with a stylized version of a big Saturn V rocket, but it didn't feel right. I'll keep looking at it to see what I can do to improve it while still keeping the same style.

[Saint Zephyr III]

I think just a little refinement for the Rockets would make it work. Not too much though; I get the fact that there's supposed to be a slightly retro aspect to it.

By the way, I've never seen one live scorpion in San Antonio...so maybe something like Stallions or the previously-suggested Generals.

[BrySmalls]

I would further develop the rockets logo so it covers more of the helmet rather then leaving a lot of space.

Yeah, I'll probably keep pushing it in that direction. I wanted to leave enough of the contrail to give it some base, and that makes it difficult to get a bigger version of the rocket in there. Of course, the rocket is supposed to be flying off into the wild blue yonder, so it actually needs to stay relatively small and distant. But I'll see what I can do.

I had done another version of the helmet, with the rocket launching from the very back of the helmet, coming over the top and pointing at the facemask. It had player numbers on the side to fill the negative space. But that one looked like the rocket was lifting off, reaching the top of its arc, then coming crashing down. Not the image I wanted to convey.

Sounds way too similar to the Chargers helmets from 1960-73. You don't want to take a page out of the Toledo Rockets uniform design?

[rainmaker17]

By the way, I've never seen one live scorpion in San Antonio.

Oh, they're around. Trust me.

[dgnmrwrw]

Sounds way too similar to the Chargers helmets from 1960-73. You don't want to take a page out of the Toledo Rockets uniform design?

That was sort of what I was doing originally, but with a stylized Saturn V instead of the one they have (and without the script). But I like the sense of scale from that the logo I've currently got. By including the tapering contrail and having the rocket small and in the distance, I think it gives a better sense of a rocket lifting off for space than just having a rocket pasted on the helmet would. I'm still not sure. After I get a few more opinions on this, I'll do an update.

By the way, I've never seen one live scorpion in San Antonio.

Oh, they're around. Trust me.

Thank god, 'cause I'm almost through with that one, and I'd hate to have to start over. The logo has taken a while.

[Moviemaker92]

I like the rockets concept, but I think the contrail-like peice on the pants should be reversed to go the other way, so it looks more like they are taking off.

[TalktoChuck]

The primary logo doesn't do it for me. It seems as though it is focused more on the base of the take off rather than the rocket itself. That secondary logo is amazing though. The uniforms look great as well. I think if you just refine the primary logo a little more, then this will be perfect.

[dgnmrwrw]

Well so far none of the adjustments I've made have helped. I've gotten enough positive feedback to feel comfortable letting that one rest for a while. I'll keep working at it and get an update eventually, but I'm going to go ahead and post the next concept to keep this thing going.

[dgnmrwrw]

#4: Memphis Jackals

I took a page from the old Memphis Pharaohs and played with the Egyptian origin of the city name Memphis. So this jackal is the Egyptian god Anubis. Colors are blue, yellow, and black (very similar to the last concept, I know, but that's just a coincidence--I promise there won't be any more teams in the league with this color combo). Blue and yellow are traditional Egyptian royal colors, and Anubis is often depicted with a black jackal's head. The secondary logo is here, a simple logo featuring a capital M interlocked with an Egyptian hieroglyph ankh.

The Jackals' uniforms are more modern with black and yellow piping which matches the thin black and yellow lines in the logo. The Jackals wear blue helmets, blue jerseys, white pants at home. White jerseys and blue pants on the road. Alternate home and road sets included.

[bohob]

The thing that's really bugging me with this series is your use of CFL template elements. As an NFL Spring League, the uniforms should look more like they belong to the NFL, instead of different versions of Canadian Football uniforms. Please try elements that are more appropriate to the NFL, or develop something that hasn't been done before. In addition, your secondary logos look like they were slapped together. You could stand to take more time with these concepts.

[bigmike]

The thing that's really bugging me with this series is your use of CFL template elements. As an NFL Spring League, the uniforms should look more like they belong to the NFL, instead of different versions of Canadian Football uniforms. Please try elements that are more appropriate to the NFL, or develop something that hasn't been done before. In addition, your secondary logos look like they were slapped together. You could stand to take more time with these concepts.

I agree about some of the templates, like the Voltage, I remebered seeing that same exact template used in the CFL redesign but I think the Memphis one looks really good, the jerseys are a bit different than your CFL ones. Also I think all of the logos are well done, all-in-all great job so far but you do need to stray away a little bit more from the CFL style jerseys.

[dgnmrwrw]

The thing that's really bugging me with this series is your use of CFL template elements. As an NFL Spring League, the uniforms should look more like they belong to the NFL, instead of different versions of Canadian Football uniforms. Please try elements that are more appropriate to the NFL, or develop something that hasn't been done before. In addition, your secondary logos look like they were slapped together. You could stand to take more time with these concepts.

Not sure what you mean by the CFL part. So far, the only thing I've used from the CFL series I did has been the piping style I developed at the very end of that series. And I hardly think the CFL owns the rights to piping. I will grant you that some of the secondary logos are very basic and simple, but to me they should be. The primary logo is the identifying mark of the team, the secondary logo is just there for support and reinforcement of the identity. But I'll keep your comments in mind as I finish these--I don't want them to become hastily put together.

[bohob]

The thing that's really bugging me with this series is your use of CFL template elements. As an NFL Spring League, the uniforms should look more like they belong to the NFL, instead of different versions of Canadian Football uniforms. Please try elements that are more appropriate to the NFL, or develop something that hasn't been done before. In addition, your secondary logos look like they were slapped together. You could stand to take more time with these concepts.

Not sure what you mean by the CFL part. So far, the only thing I've used from the CFL series I did has been the piping style I developed at the very end of that series. And I hardly think the CFL owns the rights to piping. I will grant you that some of the secondary logos are very basic and simple, but to me they should be. The primary logo is the identifying mark of the team, the secondary logo is just there for support and reinforcement of the identity. But I'll keep your comments in mind as I finish these--I don't want them to become hastily put together.

The CFL doesn't own rights to piping, but that style of piping was fairly common towards the end of your CFL series. There's a lot of different ways to do piping, not just under the arms and around the back of the neck. Also, the collar triangle is a recycled element from your Argos concept that found itself on the Voltage. The Jackals numerals were also on a variety of your CFL concepts. Try to think of every team's uniforms as a custom solution. They won't look as templated then. As for the secondary logos, simple is fine, but yours seem to lack a certain unity of the various elements, that's why they look "slapped together".

[BostonBlazer]

I like the idea of using Anubis in your Jackals concept. I also like how you incorporated the ankhs into the shoulder logo.

What I would change is the font in the name from Impact to something more...what's that word I'm thinking of? Something like the font you used in the team's wordmark, but also still easy to read. This also goes to the numbers on the jerseys as well.

Overall, nice job.

[Rod_Thompson]

#4: Memphis Jackals

I took a page from the old Memphis Pharaohs and played with the Egyptian origin of the city name Memphis. So this jackal is the Egyptian god Anubis. Colors are blue, yellow, and black (very similar to the last concept, I know, but that's just a coincidence--I promise there won't be any more teams in the league with this color combo). Blue and yellow are traditional Egyptian royal colors, and Anubis is often depicted with a black jackal's head. The secondary logo is here, a simple logo featuring a capital M interlocked with an Egyptian hieroglyph ankh.

The Jackals' uniforms are more modern with black and yellow piping which matches the thin black and yellow lines in the logo. The Jackals wear blue helmets, blue jerseys, white pants at home. White jerseys and blue pants on the road. Alternate home and road sets included.

yeah, I like the way you used my team name from an older post.

[jake22]

on the third concept i dont think the black socks fit in with the rest of the set, other that that it is great

[dgnmrwrw]

The CFL doesn't own rights to piping, but that style of piping was fairly common towards the end of your CFL series. There's a lot of different ways to do piping, not just under the arms and around the back of the neck. Also, the collar triangle is a recycled element from your Argos concept that found itself on the Voltage. The Jackals numerals were also on a variety of your CFL concepts. Try to think of every team's uniforms as a custom solution. They won't look as templated then. As for the secondary logos, simple is fine, but yours seem to lack a certain unity of the various elements, that's why they look "slapped together".

I did 18 CFL concepts, and used that piping style on 2 of them. Granted, they were the last 2 I posted. I have used the same piping twice in this series--once the same as it appeared in the CFL series and once in a modified style--and I did include the collar triangle once. But between the CFL series and this one, I'll have done 34 complete concepts, so there's bound to be some overlap of some elements. I'm sure I'll end up having some sleeve or shoulder striping that's very similar or even a recolored version of previous concepts. I'm okay with reusing individual elements from previous ideas I've had, especially since I was thinking of this project as being completely independent of the CFL project (i.e. the Argos and the hypothetical Raleigh Voltage would never meet on the field).

As far as the numerals go, you're going to see some of them repeated, especially the basic block style. I am not one for over-stylized numerals (the one I did for the Bandits concept is guaranteed to be as wild as they get). Variations on the theme of the basic football block numeral is what I like to see on the field (I like being able to distinguish numbers from the stands) and what I'm going to do--so far, all the numerals I've developed have been slight modifications of that basic block. But think of the NFL and how many teams use a simple block font--and I've got no problem with that.

But as I said in my earlier post, I do understand your critique, especially on the secondary logos. I think part of the problem is I feel the need to produce the secondaries even if they aren't necessarily needed, so their quality isn't as nice as the primaries. For instance, I think the secondary is much more necessary in the Rockets concept (given the nature of the primary logo), and I think it came out well and works effectively as a secondary.

I'm definitely reconsidering my approach to the secondary logos, and I'll be doing my best not to recycle elements in the future. Thanks for the input, bohob.

yeah, I like the way you used my team name from an older post.

I don't recall seeing your post, but I apologize if I nabbed your name.

[dgnmrwrw]

#5: San Antonio Scorpions

Colors are red, yellow, and black. I was originally using a dark pewter color, but it made them look too much like the Buccaneers, and I didn't need it plus the black. I distorted the scorpion's tail to make it encircle the SA, and shaped his body like a football (laces, too).

I used a very abstract segmented tail motif on the helmet and uniforms. (I know the pattern isn't curved like a scorpion's stinger, but that was not working nearly as well. It was TOO realistic. I think what I've got here is effective.) The Scorpions wear red helmets, red jerseys, white pants at home. White jerseys with red pants on the road. Alternate home and road sets included. I think the all-red home alternate is nice.

[Sguse1]

I think more crawfish, than scorpion when i look at this. I do like the uniforms tho. Good job id incorporate more black and gold into the scorpion itself.