Arena Football Re-Design Project

[vicfurth]

I wanted to do a new project for a couple reasons. For starters, I needed a break from college baseball (whether I pick that back up remains to be seen). Also, I wanted to test out my tweaked presentation for E-Licious Designs, my new design firm.

Since I wanted to start a new project, I wanted something that hadn't been done in a while (or at all, to my memory). So, I went with Arena Football. Nobody's really thinking about it since they took a year off. Think about it... What better time for a league-wide re-design than now?

So, with all that in mind, my first entry into this project is the Arizona Rattlers, league champions in '94 and '97...

With a name like "Rattlers", you automatically think snake motif, so I put some snake-patterns on the cuffs, helmet stripe, and pants. At the same time, I didn't want to overkill with snake diamonds. Another thing that bugs me is that the Rattlers vastly under-use their own colors (hear me out). They have teal, desert gold, and black as their colors, but they use mostly black--a la, Jacksonville Jaguars. What I tried to do was have black take a back seat to the teal and gold, using black only as an accent or alternate jersey. I didn't go too out there for this one, since they're one of the more successful teams in the league. I did add some piping, though, because without it, the design looked a bit empty.

I'd love some C/C on these. These are my first football concepts in Inkscape. The only thing I probably won't do is logos for now since I don't feel I've become good enough in Inkscape to make new logos.

[CAB]

This is a really neat idea for a new project. The AFL is perfect to re-design because they are a somewhat modern league uniform-wise. As for this concept, I could kinda see the snake pattern comin' but it looks pretty good.

[LMU]

Nice done incorporating all the colors. Only thing I really can suggest would be to outline the player name on the home in black rather than white.

You might try adding sponsor patches just to see how they look and to achieve the true arena league look.

[rentz]

Looks good, the piping doesn't really match the pant stripes, however. I love the colors.

[bohob]

Yeah, the piping should probably continue onto the pants. Overall, I really like the idea of this series. I hope to see more of it. I realize you aren't doing logos, but I wish I could see the R modernized. If you try drawing it out and scanning it in, it's easier to learn.

[Billy B]

I like what you did with the Rattlers (I did a concept with the same pattern on the pants and jerseys a few years ago, you pulled it off better.) I think it would look better without the piping, the Rattlers are one of the teams in the AFL with a "classic" look.

[ChuckDownfield]

Well done, looking forward to more. How about my Storm next?

[Bmac]

Wow, that looks great. Nice job. I really like what you did with the teal.

[vicfurth]

Yay, I got comments!

Onto the next team, the Georgia Force. I'm kinda going back and forth on whether I want to do the defunct teams as well. Thoughts?

As for the Force, I wanted the chance to work with a color scheme that's actually (in my opinion) kinda hard to pull off: Black and blue. At the same time, Georgia's scheme is classic and bruising, perfect for football.

While I like their current duds, black and blue can be a bit better utilized, I think. I also used their current lightning scheme, here seen on the yokes, a bit more, going with something more like the Denver Broncos. This time I decided against an alternate because I didn't want to do yet another black jersey.

I switched up the helmet because I felt using their entire primary logo was a bit crowded, so I went with just the "GF" logo. For the striping, I mixed up two NFL styles - Carolina and San Diego - which I really liked.

Not sure who's next, maybe the Storm. I might try a defunct team, too.

[CAB]

I like these a lot. The lightning bolts are well executed and it looks really nice IMO. I noticed the helmet stripes, too; that is a clever idea. I'm looking forward to more in this series, keep up the good work.

[dgnmrwrw]

The Force concept is very well executed. Good job using restraint. I especially think the GF logo and helmets are huge improvements. Love the tapering lightning bolts on the helmets.

[YELDARBfield]

I'm loving this series thus far. Now here are my thoughts:

ARZ: I love the use of all of their colors. However, I do think that black is under-used on the away. Maybe make the cuff pattern black and gold instead of teal and gold? Those two seem to wash each other out anyway. Also, NOB's should be only one color, I think. I can barely make out "BONNER" on the away, and the others are nearly impossible to read.

GEO: I love the simplification of the helmet logo and the switch to blue. Not sure how I feel about the helmet striping though. And I love the new Bronco-esque design, but it does inhibit the use of anything non-monochrome.

Nice job so far. Cannot wait to see the other teams (plus the Kats? Maybe?).

[Bmac]

Great job with the Force. Everything lloks great. I like the striping you used. This is a very clean, well-done concpet. The only thing I would consider is a black alternate. Looking forward to the next team!

[gatorade09]

I would buy one of those force jerseys, very well executed.

[speedy]

Those Force jerseys are great. After seeing those, I'm mildly shocked those weren't used in the 90's for the Chargers.

[bohob]

Well done on the Force. My only suggestion is on the series as a whole. Wait on the defunct teams. A series is a daunting task, and a complete series is great to show off. I would do the current teams, then see if you want to include the defunct teams.

[vicfurth]

Well done on the Force. My only suggestion is on the series as a whole. Wait on the defunct teams. A series is a daunting task, and a complete series is great to show off. I would do the current teams, then see if you want to include the defunct teams.

Haha, believe me, I know. That NCAA project made it all the way to 69 (not including the designs I tried and scrapped) before I decided to rest from it.

Thanks for the tip, though.

[Billy B]

When I opened this, I wanted to see you keep the lightning bolt pattern and execute it differently. You did exactly that, and it came out great. There aren't any big changes I would make to this.

[siegel0572]

Both of these concepts are very strong. The only change I would suggest for the Rattlers is putting black around the players names on the teal jersey, they are a little difficult to see. I absolutley love the Force set. The lightning bolts are very well designed and used nicely on the helmets and the uniform. I look foreward to seeing what is to come.

[vicfurth]

Next on the list (which is whatever I feel like doing, lol) is the Tampa Bay Storm. Their current uniforms actually remind me a bit of the Pittsburgh Panthers with the blue and gold. However, I found that Tampa's shades of navy and gold are a bit washed out--either that, or the stuff on the "mother site" isn't quite saturated enough. No matter, though.

The name of this next concept is simple, simple, simple. The Storm is one of the original four ArenaFL franchises, and I thought a simplistic, tasteful design would suit them well. Again, I went only home and away and only gold pants this time around. The helmet is basically unchanged, save for the facemask, which I changed from gray to blue. I also took the script away and put only the swirling storm logo on the helmet. Other than that, it was a matter of helping all the striping patterns to match, and voila! Tampa Bay Storm concept... Oh, yeah, the player is Andre Bowden, one of the top rushers in Arena history.