USL-1 redesign

[chestnutz]

Was lookin around for a project to start, and I decided to do the league of my hometown Rochester Rhinos, the United Soccer League - 1st division. The USL has hundreds of teams in it, with the USL-1, USL-2, Premier Developmental League, and USL-womens league in it

I decided to start with the league logo, which could use some help. Right now it's a bit lame, with the cliche fire behind the ball. I didn't want to completely revamp it, but decided a few tweaks and a bit of a facelift could do the job. I wanted to model the colors after the MLS, so I used green and blue.

Nothin' much else to say, but here's my concept.

I've got the Rhinos crest and kits all done, and I'll probably post them tomorrow. I plan on doing at least a few USL clubs.

[chickenfish13]

Definitely nice, a bit plain but nice.

The presentation is really unique, I don't think I've ever seen anything, so props on something new.

[chestnutz]

Thanks chickenfish, I wasn't going for anything too out of the box for the logo, just a facelift of the current one. Presentation is new too, good catch, I just wanted to try something different for this project

Anyways, I figure I'll move on to the first team, the Rochester Rhinos. The Rhinos were once the dynasty of the A-League (the USL of the late 90s), becoming the first team to win the US Open Cup that wasn't in the MLS. The team has gone down the toilet the past few years, thanks to poor management.

Aesthetically, they've also gone down the drain. They went from this logoto this atrocity, which was later found to have been stolen from clip-art.

Their unis have continued to suck. In the past, they had great simple Juventus-style home uniforms. That's been the one constant in Rhinos kit history, is the black and white stripes. They then went to these ugly ass uniforms, but recently returned to a more traditional black-white jersey this past year.

Their clash kit has usually either been green (mainly was back in the 90s, haven't seen them use it for a while), yellow, or white (which I believe they used this past year, a first as far as I know).

So what I did:

A brand new crest, kept the Rhinos moniker, and had a silhoutted Rhino head, with black/white stripes in the background.

For the home kit, I went with white shorts, 5 stripes on the front, and yellow trim, with a stylized-curve on the shorts. I forgot to mention, USL recently was in talks with Nike about moving forward, so I decided to have Nike manufacturer all the USL kits. Can never go wrong with hooped socks.

On the away, I wanted to mix the best of both worlds with yellow and green. It looks a bit like Australia, I know. I continued the curved line onto the jersey, where it travels up the front of the jersey to the collar.

Well, here it is, C&C!

[-kj]

Those are sharp... but it pains me that you picked the Tiny Ticket as the model player.

Are you going to stick with just the USL-loyal teams? *heh*

[theflakeband]

Thanks chickenfish, I wasn't going for anything too out of the box for the logo, just a facelift of the current one. Presentation is new too, good catch, I just wanted to try something different for this project

Anyways, I figure I'll move on to the first team, the Rochester Rhinos. The Rhinos were once the dynasty of the A-League (the USL of the late 90s), becoming the first team to win the US Open Cup that wasn't in the MLS. The team has gone down the toilet the past few years, thanks to poor management.

Aesthetically, they've also gone down the drain. They went from this logoto this atrocity, which was later found to have been stolen from clip-art.

Their unis have continued to suck. In the past, they had great simple Juventus-style home uniforms. That's been the one constant in Rhinos kit history, is the black and white stripes. They then went to these ugly ass uniforms, but recently returned to a more traditional black-white jersey this past year.

Their clash kit has usually either been green (mainly was back in the 90s, haven't seen them use it for a while), yellow, or white (which I believe they used this past year, a first as far as I know).

So what I did:

A brand new crest, kept the Rhinos moniker, and had a silhoutted Rhino head, with black/white stripes in the background.

For the home kit, I went with white shorts, 5 stripes on the front, and yellow trim, with a stylized-curve on the shorts. I forgot to mention, USL recently was in talks with Nike about moving forward, so I decided to have Nike manufacturer all the USL kits. Can never go wrong with hooped socks.

On the away, I wanted to mix the best of both worlds with yellow and green. It looks a bit like Australia, I know. I continued the curved line onto the jersey, where it travels up the front of the jersey to the collar.

Well, here it is, C&C!

Wow those are awesome. Love the juventus inspired home and the crest is truly amazing......

[chestnutz]

Those are sharp... but it pains me that you picked the Tiny Ticket as the model player.

Are you going to stick with just the USL-loyal teams? *heh*

Ha, well Menyongar was the only Rhinos player selected for the All-star squad.

What do you mean with USL loyal teams? I may do the Thunder, if that's your implied question.

[-kj]

Just wondering, with the latest developments in the USL v TOA saga and all.

And, yeah, I'm curious to see what you'd do with the Thunder.

[tajmccall]

Thanks chickenfish, I wasn't going for anything too out of the box for the logo, just a facelift of the current one. Presentation is new too, good catch, I just wanted to try something different for this project

Anyways, I figure I'll move on to the first team, the Rochester Rhinos. The Rhinos were once the dynasty of the A-League (the USL of the late 90s), becoming the first team to win the US Open Cup that wasn't in the MLS. The team has gone down the toilet the past few years, thanks to poor management.

Aesthetically, they've also gone down the drain. They went from this logoto this atrocity, which was later found to have been stolen from clip-art.

Their unis have continued to suck. In the past, they had great simple Juventus-style home uniforms. That's been the one constant in Rhinos kit history, is the black and white stripes. They then went to these ugly ass uniforms, but recently returned to a more traditional black-white jersey this past year.

Their clash kit has usually either been green (mainly was back in the 90s, haven't seen them use it for a while), yellow, or white (which I believe they used this past year, a first as far as I know).

So what I did:

A brand new crest, kept the Rhinos moniker, and had a silhoutted Rhino head, with black/white stripes in the background.

For the home kit, I went with white shorts, 5 stripes on the front, and yellow trim, with a stylized-curve on the shorts. I forgot to mention, USL recently was in talks with Nike about moving forward, so I decided to have Nike manufacturer all the USL kits. Can never go wrong with hooped socks.

On the away, I wanted to mix the best of both worlds with yellow and green. It looks a bit like Australia, I know. I continued the curved line onto the jersey, where it travels up the front of the jersey to the collar.

Well, here it is, C&C!

Great set. Any chance you'd part with that kit template for the Draw Brawl?

[chestnutz]

Yeah, no problem. beatnik is the creator of the template, he gave it to me a few years ago and I just haven't been using it but decided to break it out again for this project. Shoot me your e-mail.

[raysox]

I'm really liking this set. The crest works, since it's so simple. The jerseys are really nice too. Can't wait to see more!

[chestnutz]

Team #2, the Cleveland City Stars.

The Stars are a new USL-1 team, just joining the ranks this past year, and coming in 11th place after winning the USL-2 in 2008. As far as I know, they've never changed their current logo:

This is where I wanted to step in. I don't really like anything about the current crest, I mean the skyline and stripes are nice and all, but the Cleveland skyline ain't recognizable and they don't even WEAR stripes on their kits.

I based my redesigned crest off of Olympique Marseille's crest, a French Ligue 1 team. I really wanted to use a simple monogram for the Stars, nothing too crazy or revolutionary. I also mixed in some Fulham, with the stacked letters, I wanted a more vertical looking logo. I kept the colors the same, green, black, and white. The one star on top signifies the team name and the championship they've won.

For their kits, I didn't force stripes on them, since I didn't include them in my logo. They currently wear a black top with green shorts, and a white top with black shorts that they wear less frequently (also a good picture of the Rhinos current all-yellow aways), and the year they won the USL-2 championship they had a green top with black shorts. For the most part, I actually really like their current kits.

But I wanted to give them somewhat of an identity, some level of uniqueness, instead of just a plain jersey with some shorts piping. So I went back to a green jersey, since green is their primary color and it's a rare color used in sports. I gave them an Arsenal-esque sleeve pattern, but only on one sleeve. On the other is one lone star. I changed the sponsor from some company I've never heard of to CISCO. The shorts feature the same pattern, only with no inside color, and the socks I left blank. I kept the black-green-black pattern for the away uniform, since white is such a common jersey color.

So, hope you like it! Not sure which team I'll do next, suggestions are always welcome.

[eRay]

I like what you have done so far. The Cleveland City crest is great, minus the rough edges/lines on the letters. But the idea is there and it looks fine when scaled down onto the jersey, so I'll overlook it. I had never seen the Olympique Marseille crest before and now it is the best thing I have seen in a while. I love it and it is a great design to draw inspiration from. I wish the letters you used looked more custom, but that is all I could wish to change. The kits are unique and simple and classy. I like 'em and think I would like 'em better as they won more championships and added more stars. I do think I would have gone with Green socks at home, though. Great job so far. As for the next team, I think we can all agree that the PR Islanders need a simpler crest that represents the area more.

[rvrdgsfn]

Man, these are some great designs, keep up the good work.

[fishheatcats]

Wow these are nice. I especially like the City Stars crest. Also the USL logo is a nice upgrade.

I'm all about the TOA Mystery League for next season though, as my team Miami FC is almost certainly leaving USL along with Carolina, Minnesota, Vancouver, Montréal, bringing the Silverbacks back and St. Louis is getting a team. All they need is USSF sanctioning.

[chestnutz]

Thanks for the comments guys, for a while thought I wasn't going to get any

fish, could you explain that whole situation a bit more? What teams are leaving and which are staying? Will there be expansion teams? I've seen that kind of stuff around a lot while doing research for this project, but I'm a bit confused by it.

EDIT: Actually just read up on it a bit, and that's a damn shame. I think what I may do is just pretend the TOA league doesn't exist, and that they didn't have that huge disagreement, and that everyone is one big happy family. A few of the teams that are leaving the USL are ones that I actually want to do a concept for, so I may just do them anyways.

I'm thinking of doing Montreal next. Anyone opposed to a name change from Impact, even though it has a lot of history?

[-kj]

Hm... I'd generally say no to name changes when those names have been around as long as Impact--even if Impact is a goofy name. Then again, you could do a new Minnesota concept, since chances are that the Thunder won't play another game, while there might be a new USL-1 team here. I hate this off-season already.

Leo Gibson. You know just how to put a dagger through my heart, eh?

[chestnutz]

Team #3 - Puerto Rico Islanders FC

The Islanders have a pretty solid history, as this will be their 7th season in the USL. They've got a fantastic, loyal fan base, and have increasingly gotten better, getting a runner up finish in 08 and a third place finish in 09 (off memory). They've also gone pretty far in the CONCACAF Champion's League, beating a couple MLS teams and giving them a run for their money.

Their current logo is....okay. Nothing great, a bit modern, but I can accept that. Gradients and flying balls make this logo a bit weak though. So as always, I set out to change that.

I really don't know much about imagery of Puerto Rico, so I just took the imagery of an "Islander" and thought of a lighthouse. I rendered one, threw it in a shield, and put the Puerto Rico red and white stripes behind, as a reference to the current logo.

I love orange in soccer. The past few years they've used all-orange as their primary kit. They also have a white and a blue alternate jersey. I went with all-orange for the primary, and kept Umbro (I know I said I'd be doing all Nike, but I decided I'd rather experiment with other manufacturers). Keeping with the current Umbro style, I went simple for the shirt, and added a little tire-track design on the shorts. They currently have a cluster-crap of sponsors on their jersey, so I only kept a few of them (Centennial, Sony, and Coke). For the clash, I had to decide between blue and white, and decided to mix the two intstead. On the back of the collar is the club nickname, Tropa Naranja.

[rvrdgsfn]

The orange works well with this set, I like it. It's a sharp & fresh look.

[eRay]

I like that PR Islanders concept a lot. I like the unique color scheme and I love the crest. One thing that struck me, the tope of that lighthouse, next to the White/Red stripes looks like the triangle in their flag. Why not add a star on the top there and finish the image? Might look dumb, but it's worth a shot. I know you just used stars, but this makes sense and comes right from the flag. If it takes away from the image looking like a lighthouse, though, I would leave it out. It looks great as is.

[leopard88]

Instead of a lighthouse, maybe you could play around with the sentry posts (?) common on a lot of Puerto Rican forts.

I've seen this type of image used in a lot of Puerto Rican tourism promotions, so I think it can be considered a fairly iconic Puerto Rican image.