Minor League Hockey Defunct Redesign

[eRay]

Noooo! You got rid of the Iguana eye in a circle logo! I feel that logo is much better than any monogram SA logo you have used thus far. Please bring it back? It adds some mystery to the look, and some character. I'd say your identity has 3 logos; Primary, Iguana head, and Iguana eye. They all seem to fit together and make sense as one piece. I love the colors, and the use of scale-like texture was smart and only adds to the identity. Great work as usual. Hope you get all your links hooked back up.

[dgnmrwrw]

Quick little update:

Yes, I've taken down most of the concepts. Lately, after I've finished about five concepts, I've been taking all the old ones down. This is mostly a space issue. (I've also had problems with the work--and edited versions of the work--popping up elsewhere.) So far, I've produced 23 concepts, each using about 8-10 uncompressed .png images. And I've got one finished concept unposted, with three more I'm currently working on. Add all that to all the other stuff in my photobucket account, and it's just too much data. Hopefully when this series is complete (sooner rather than later), I'll be able to put everything back up, though it will be in a much smaller format.

But for now, I've produced a set of quick mini packages as a retrospective of the entire project, which I'll continue to update as I move forward.

[chickenfish13]

Those are really cool. Nice work, are you posting your new finished one soon?

[dgnmrwrw]

#24: Muskegon Fury // Muskegon, MI

Bit of background here: The old Fury (who became the Lumberjacks) used a Tornado-like thing holding a hockey stick, with purple, teal, and black as the colors. I wanted to use a ferocious animal with the nicname "Fury," and I went through several sketches, including a bear, a wolverine, and stag/buck. But I eventually decided on a gorilla (think angry King King)... but while working out the logo, I thought about a mandrill and its huge teeth and bright colors. So that's what this evolved into. Now I know that a mandrill isn't native to western Michigan. But it's minor league hockey, and gorillas aren't native to north Texas, and there aren't a lot of matadors in Miami, if you get my drift. I went with midnight blue, bright blue, bright red, and gray as the colors. Originally, the gray was a brownish gold (truer color for a mandrill), but there were just too many colors clashing.

The uniforms are pretty modern, and I wanted to include stylistic elements from the logo in the uniforms. First, the crest is the roaring mandrill's head from the primary. In the striping, I included the gray slashing forms from the mandrill's fur. Also, there's no shoulder patch. Instead, I used the "M" shaped mark from the mandrill's head underneath the sleeve numbers, and it functions almost as a logo. The "Fury" wordmark is at the base of the back of the jersey.

And the alternate is really out there. I went with midnight blue, and the full body attacking mandrill as the crest. But I also included a chest sash, because I loved how dynamic the bright red looked slashing behind the logo. I've tried this before (with the Rangers in my NHL series), but I think this could work as an alternate for a minor league team. On the shoulders, there's a very geometric patch inspired by tribal African animal spirit masks.

And there's a special bonus here. I had started to develop a red alternate jersey before I went with the one above. But I really liked it, and I liked the mandrill mask logo, so I've created a special one-night jersey. Minor league teams do these sorts of promotions all the time, so mine's a promotional jersey. The crest is a slightly modified version of the mandrill mask logo. The proceeds from this game would go to the WWF in Africa, devoted to preserving mandrills, baboons, and their native habitats in Cameroon, the Congo, and Gabon. Appropriately, the patch on the left shoulder is the WWF logo with the three nations and their flags.

[chickenfish13]

The primary is wickedly cool, I love the colors. However, the Mandrill head by itself as the crest looks really awkward to me. It's just too vertical, but thats just how I see it. I love the wordmark, its very well done. The jerseys, as usual, are phenomenal.

Good work again!

[CityOfWalrus]

The primary is wickedly cool, I love the colors. However, the Mandrill head by itself as the crest looks really awkward to me. It's just too vertical, but thats just how I see it. I love the wordmark, its very well done. The jerseys, as usual, are phenomenal.

Good work again!

Go with the full logo with the Mandrill and the wordmark on the H&A jerseys and you have one ferocious package.

[brosephb26]

wow just wow, amazing, only thing I do not like is just the head logo anything else and this is in the Top 10 best concepts i've ever seen

[CJworks]

Another great concept, the colors are PERFECT for a team like this. Absolutely LOVE the primary, it's really creative for a minor league team yet professional looking. The jerseys are a little empty to me, I would consider throwing the tribal-looking shoulder patches on the home and roads. The full bodied mandrill would look better as the home and road jersey crests as well, like City said. Amazing work again, you definately set the bar high for the other fellow designers on the boards

[Redbull]

Wow, great concept here, really feeling the colors.

[dgnmrwrw]

You know, I had the same thoughts about the head vs. full body primary. But I thought the head would be simpler and cleaner. I'll reverse the primary and alternate crests and see how it looks.

[hugevolsfan]

Not a hockey fan but I love these sets! Some of the best work I have seen on these boards.

[mcrosby]

I love this set, the only thing I can see that needs touching up on would be the eyes of the mandril. I might try simplifying them even more, taking the pupil out or something. I'm not sure what really, but something.

[pastajoe]

While it looks nice, unfortunately the angry monkey makes me think of the monkey that tore the face off a woman.

[WNDUP FX]

While it looks nice, unfortunately the angry monkey makes me think of the monkey that tore the face off a woman.

This.

And Macon Whoopee is such a strange name for a hockey club. I know you aren't responsible for these team names, but it reads like "making whoopee" to me, maybe that was intentional?

Otherwise the logos are very professional looking. Good job.

[knnhrvy16]

Before I saw this, your Knoxville and Kentucky concepts were my favorites in the series. Muskegon just officially took the top spot for me. This is simply amazing work you've got going here with the Fury, so much so that (I hope i'm not going overboard with this because I'm completely serious) if they were still around and indeed adopted your designs as thier set, it would be hands down the most creative and best looking set in all of minor league hockey. The creativity alone in this set is off the charts! Fantastic job!

[north dakota]

I like Muskegon's home uniform a lot.

[jaha32]

i love the wordmark for the FURY and the color scheme! looks so well. you do very well with monsters and creatures like that. although as a whole series, it seems like there are a lot of 'creatures' but it is minor league so it works. thanks also for putting up that minipackage of all the logos together and some that i havent seen before. its nice to see them all together.

[dgnmrwrw]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback... The Fury have been updated: the crests on the home/road and alternate jerseys have been switched. I do think both are stronger now.

On a side note, I'm sitting at 24 completed concepts right now, with a few more currently being worked on that may or may not see the light of day. I'm thinking of ending this series with the 30th team, so if anyone has any suggestions (again, I prefer less established teams as I feel like I have the leeway to go crazier with them), get them in soon.

[Chapeeko]

Here are a few suggestions

Syracuse Firebirds

Columbia Inferno

Carolina Thunderbirds

Augusta Lynx

Louisiana Icegators (?????)

Nashville Knights

[chickenfish13]

Texas Wildcatters

New Orleans Brass

San Francisco Spiders