United States Soccer Concept

[logocruncher]

Now that school is done, I'm footloose and fancy free, with nothing to do but hike, bike, and make United States soccer concepts! So here's my idea for the Screaming Eagles (my personal idea for a nickname).

I have always liked the two-stripe motif (found here and here); it balances the colors well and presents a classic but unique look. So, I implemented the two stripes throughout the design; on the chest, sleeves, shorts, and even the socks. The home kit is the traditional white-navy-white look, while the away is navy-white-navy. The third jersey is similar to the 2006 away kit; red, with a diagonal navy and white sash. Unlike in 2006, I went with white shorts and navy socks for the third. I would also like to point out that this is one of the first times I've used an action template, and I think it turned out rather well. My process on this concept is entirely different from what most people use; first, I draw the basic template by hand. Then I take a picture, import it to photobucket, and use the primitive fill and paint tools to turn it into a (somewhat) digitized concept. I apologize for the pixelated nature of my concept, but I hope you enjoy my design.

Here it is:

C&C would be great! More soccer concepts coming soon...

[WNDUP FX]

To be honest it's very amateur and compared to the other posts of US soccer layouts, is rather disappointing. I get that it's your first mock up, but you're doing yourself no favours by using this template, which reminds me of the clip art you'd get on those cd's free in the 90's with Corel Draw. Get yourself a vector program, some of which are free and redo this layout. It has promise, but right now it's just a blurry mess.

[logocruncher]

To be honest it's very amateur and compared to the other posts of US soccer layouts, is rather disappointing. I get that it's your first mock up, but you're doing yourself no favours by using this template, which reminds me of the clip art you'd get on those cd's free in the 90's with Corel Draw. Get yourself a vector program, some of which are free and redo this layout. It has promise, but right now it's just a blurry mess.

Unfortunately, I'm not at the point where I'm comfortable enough using vector programs to post them, and the above work is indicative of my level of expertise. I don't think it's really fair to compare my work to that of chestnutz or KaTo, who are excellent designers on a level far higher than mine. I apologize if the pixelated nature of my concept is to an extent that the idea behind it is not clear, but unless that is so I'd prefer critiques on the actual concept, not on its state as a blurry mess. I understand that the presentation is an integral part of a concept, but I don't think it's bad enough (in my case) to warrant disregard of the concept itself. I'm trying to learn Illustrator (I have the 30-day trial), but until I've mastered it I'd prefer to post concepts in a manner I'm used to.

[chestnutz]

The basic idea I actually really like, and it's fresh to see something other than the sash (which to be fair looks great, but gets repetitive when there's been five other USMNT concepts). If you had a vector program it'd look great, as the template is actually pretty sweet, just far too pixelated.

[lost_limey]

I like the look of the kits (as others have said, not so keen on this action template), it is nice to have a break from the sash (he says, a day after posting his own sashed concept...) One flaw is that teh two stripe chest band just seems to stop, I think that might be an artifact of there not being any seams or similar on the template. The kits also look kind of empty. I'd at least throw on a manufacturer logo or sorts number or something to help with this.

My two criticisms of the concept both focus on the third kit. The red seems too bright (is is the same red they're using now? It doesn' read as such) and teh crest being half on/half off the sahs doesn't work anywhere nears as well as it does on the regular home/away kits. I'd either move it to center of the chest beneath the collar or (preferably) lower it so that it's contained entirely within the two-tone sash.

I'd also like to see the back of at least one shirt so I could see the NOB font.

The 2006 home with the double vertical stripe was my favorite US home kit, so seeing the two-tone stripe reintroduced for this concept makes me happy. Not sure I'd go with vertical sock striping, as it'll inevitably get twisted and spiraled by the players, but it looks good here.

Hope that desn't come across as overly negative as I really do actually like this concept.

-- limey

[Fjm]

I like them. Clean and simple, and good use of red, white & blue colors.

[KaTo]

I think you got some quite good ideas in here. I agree with chestnutz, that's it's kind of refreshing to see something different from the sash for the USA. One quick thing: I think you should thicken the striping on the shorts to make it fit the jerseys.

Obviously, you need a different template and whatnot. If you want any help, don't hesitate to contact me

[logocruncher]

Thanks everyone for the comments. It's great to get real feedback. Based on the comments, these are the changes I'll make for my second edition:

1. Add some faint seams to better indicate the cut of the jerseys

2. Thicken the pants stripe

3. Possibly tweak the sock stripe (on this one I'll probably move the stripe to a horizontal position at the top and see how that looks)

4. Manufacturer's logo

5. Back view detail that shows NOB and number font

6. Fix crest on third (As for the color, I changed the red to a slightly brighter shade than the one they currently use just because it stands out more and the current red feels a little drab)

As for the action template, would you suggest that I have separate images for each uniform (i.e. Home picture, Away picture, and Third picture)? Thanks for the advice!

[lenardo]

i love these! as said many times before it is really great to see something different from the usual sash. as someone who just put up their first concept i feel what you get with the blurieness of it(though i didnt really notice it). i also have been trying to start a soccer concept but havent really found any templates. if anyone has a good soccer uniform template that they could show me that would be great. anyway great concept

[chestnutz]

I like the look of the kits (as others have said, not so keen on this action template), it is nice to have a break from the sash (he says, a day after posting his own sashed concept...) One flaw is that teh two stripe chest band just seems to stop, I think that might be an artifact of there not being any seams or similar on the template. The kits also look kind of empty. I'd at least throw on a manufacturer logo or sorts number or something to help with this.

Well, I was the first to start this influx of USA concepts, and since then, seeing the sash again and again is getting generic

[WNDUP FX]

No kidding. I'm actually hoping the US don't make it out of their group, since anything more than that and it might be a domination of US jersey concepts.

[KaTo]

As for the action template, would you suggest that I have separate images for each uniform (i.e. Home picture, Away picture, and Third picture)? Thanks for the advice!

I think you should consider to use a non-action-template, as it is far better to give critics about it and it looks more "professional".

Maybe you could add the action-template as an extra!