Jump to content

Cole Tweaks the NHL: One Team at a Time.


ColeJ

Recommended Posts

It's been a while since I posted a concept of my own, and in the mean time, it appears as though the hip new trend is to have one centralized thread per artist, rather than a new thread for every concept you make. That's what my goal is with this thread now, even though I only seem to churn out a concept every few months at best.

Any and all comments and criticism are always welcome (but that doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to change anything <3)

NHL:

Tampa Bay Lightning

Montreal Canadiens

Calgary Flames

Pittsburgh Penguins

Nashville Predators

Florida Panthers

New York Rangers

Anaheim Ducks

Ottawa Senators

Minnesota Wild

Vancouver Canucks

Chicago Blackhawks

Washington Capitals

Boston Bruins

Detroit Red Wings

San Jose Sharks

Phoenix Coyotes

Los Angeles Kings

New York Islanders

Edmonton Oilers

Toronto Maple Leafs

Dallas Stars

Buffalo Sabres

Atlanta Thrashers

Colorado Avalanche

Columbus Blue Jackets

St. Louis Blues

Winnipeg Jets

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 203
  • Created
  • Last Reply

First up, the newly butchered redesigned Tampa Bay Lightning.

With this concept, I hoped to retain the heritage and history of the Tampa Bay Lightning, while still giving them a more striking and exciting look. I like that the new Lightning uniforms focus on blue as the primary color, but that's just about the only thing they get right with the new set. Before anyone gets on me for trying to preserve the "heritage and history" of the Lightning, or says that a 1990's southern expansion team HAS no history, let me point out that the Bolts are almost 20 years old now... with a Stanley Cup. That's almost as long as the North Stars spent in Minnesota (26 years), the Nordiques spent in Quebec (23 years), or the Jets spent in Winnipeg (24 years)... with more hardware to show for it... and everyone seems to want to honor and celebrate their history and heritage. Say what you will about Tampa hockey, it's future viability, or if you think they should have ever had a team to begin with, but that's beside the point. They've been doing things a certain way for 20 years, and I don't think they have to throw the baby out with the bathwater if they want to re-design with a focus on blue. That means I retained the victory stripes, kept the bolt on the pants, and made an alternate jersey that is a nod to their past without being a straight Cup-Era throwback. I brought back the electric blue from their inaugural season as well, to help spice up their palette.

Normally, what drives me insane and keeps me from finishing my concepts is my A.D.D. about striping consistency... that's part of why I love this concept so much. Factoring in the pants and skates as black design elements, the striping pattern on each of these jerseys stays the same throughout the design, without cluttering together 4 colored stripes around the waist.

Anyway, I'm talking too much. A lot of thought went into this concept... I hope that shows...

tbl-home-1.png

tbl-road-1.png

tbl-third.png

Unleash your fury, CCSLC masses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like what you have done here, but I would remove the silver. I actually am a fan of the new designs, but they are not perfect.I would use the new lightning bolt but with an extra color (black?)My other thing is that I have never liked having the state as part of the logo, especially when your Tampa Bay, not Florida. But an improvement for sure.

concepts: washington football (2017) ... nfl (2013) ... yikes

potd 10/20/12
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another concept I've been working on is for the Montreal Canadiens...

this one is less of a change (because you can't mess with tradition, you can only hope to clean it up if need be)... but it really all started out as a reebok template concept, more than a Habs concept. Flipping through a couple of my hockey history books, I was really inspired by the retro rounded collars of historic sweaters. It's just an aesthetic that I really enjoy, so I started tinkering with ways of making it fit into the modern style uniform while still having a place for the mandated NHL shield on the collars. My first attempt was to just slap an NHL logo on top of the actual collar like the Flames did with their throwbacks, but that just looked rushed and awful... so I took inspiration from one of my old grey sweatshirts, and put the NHL logo in a modified "reebok triangle" under the collar. Hopefully it doesn't look too much like a raggedy sweatshirt... but even if it does, I still think those sweatshirts have a vintage athletic feel, so it's not entirely out of context.

The home and road are absolutely nothing you haven't seen before, and only minimally changed from what they've worn since the dawn of time, if at all. The alternate jersey, I returned to the chest-striped-white sweater they've had off-and-on through-out history. I toyed with making it the standard away, with the non-striped sweater as an alternate, but I couldn't justify messing with the home/road they've had since everyone on this forum was born, so the alternate remains an alternate. My biggest pet-peeve with the standard way this sweater has always been rendered is the bleeding together of the blue and red (which looks even more muddy using the classic lighter red/blue shades that I employed with this concept), so I decided a slight separation with a white stripe would do wonders in modernizing and cleaning up the look. I tried to keep this sweater looking like a "red team" instead of a "blue team," despite the bold blue chest stripe, and I think I pulled that off.

mtl-home.png

mtl-road.png

mtl-third.png

With all that said, what do you think? Did I improve on the alternate sweater, and do you think the modern-rounded collar could possibly find its way back to the NHL (and maybe give "vintage" teams another option than the now ubiquitous tie-up)? I'm also working on a retro-style Bruins concept with the same collar, so you'll probably see that at some point too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd make the number on the alternate single outline instead of double. I know it matches the home, but a single thicker outline makes the number easier to read against the horizontal band.

Back-to-Back Fatal Forty Champion 2015 & 2016

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd make the number on the alternate single outline instead of double. I know it matches the home, but a single thicker outline makes the number easier to read against the horizontal band.

honestly, i agree and i tried that. it just made the number look so muddy. especially up against the stripe that has that little white separation. i'll post a version of that in a few minutes, see what you think of it.

-edit-

mtl-slapshotssuggestion.png

see what i mean? i decided to go with the double outline because i felt it looked cleaner and matched the crest on the front. if the shades of red and blue were different (maybe houston texans level of contrast) i think you'd be on to something, but with the shades i used, i just think it looks too muddy and purpled.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How about switching the outlines? Putting the white on the outside and the blue inside? (Edit) Though I guess you're trying to separate the blue and the red. So I'd suggest instead white numbers with only a red outline. That would still play up the red and make it more readable. Right now, they hurt my eyes.

Because I'm with slapshot I don't like the look of the numbers on the back. In fact I bought a vintage white jersey when it came out and asked for white numbers (21 Higgins, I know!) on the back like they wore in 45-46.

Canadiens19.png.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

MTL-troiscouleurssuggestion.png

something like this? hmmm... i wasn't sure how good a white-on-white would look, and i don't hate it... only problem i have with it is that a red outline on the white number looked awful, and then a blue outline with a player name looked awkward... and i have no idea what to do with the sleeve numbers either, since white on white without a stripe looks strange...

hmmm....

hmmmmmmm...

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

i dunno.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

aaaand next up is the Calgary Flames....

When Reebok took over and applied the Edge template to the Flames, they went from having one of the most over-rated uniforms in hockey (in my mind at least) to having one of the ugliest uniforms in hockey (common opinion). In all actuality, the Flames have never really had any uniforms that I thought were fantastic. The closest they've ever come was their Cup era team, with Theo and Nieuwy and Mike Vernon. I think the Flames realize that, and that's why their third jersey is a throwback to that uniform. That said, the original colors are just a little too loud and obnoxious for modern day NHL hockey. The red and the yellow shades they use are just too bright and clash too hard without the black to level things out.... rather than over-use black, like the Flames have done for the past decade, I decided to simply pick more complementary shades of red and yellow.

I switched the red to a much darker shade, almost burgundy... and picked a warmer more orangey shade of yellow. I drew inspiration from the Washington Redskins color scheme, without trying to make it look like a football-to-hockey crossover project, and without taking the exact color codes of the Skins.

My home and road, I love. I wanted every concept to have an alternate jersey, but with the elimination of black from the color scheme of the home/road sweater, I didn't have many options for an alternate (other than a gold jersey that i'm sure wouldn't go over too well.) I decided to go more modern with the alternate, drawing inspiration from the super popular pre-edge look, only with a decidedly more "fire" inspired striping pattern. I think alternate jerseys have every right to be more "out-there" than a team's primary look, so I had no issue bringing back black into the color scheme for the thirds, and using the black C that they currently use.

Whatch'all thank?

cgy-home.png

cgy-road.png

cgy-third-1.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the colors are a real upgrade. The third needs some work though. The hemline stripes are up too high. Put a two-digit number on there and see if you still like the effect. Reminds me a lot of Mercyhurst's Women's hockey team (NCAA D1), who had a similar problem until just last year. Also, the sleeves seem screwy. imagine how they'd look on a player with his arms at his sides, and even from a side view. If you still like the effect, keep it, but definitely drop those hemline stripes down a bit

I'll respect any opinion that you can defend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the colors are a real upgrade. The third needs some work though. The hemline stripes are up too high. Put a two-digit number on there and see if you still like the effect. Reminds me a lot of Mercyhurst's Women's hockey team (NCAA D1), who had a similar problem until just last year. Also, the sleeves seem screwy. imagine how they'd look on a player with his arms at his sides, and even from a side view. If you still like the effect, keep it, but definitely drop those hemline stripes down a bit

the sleeves are like that for a reason... firstly, i used the anaheim template as a base, so for a better idea as to how it would look in person, this picture should help.... with the colors and striping pattern i used, i think it would be very "flame-like"...

as far as the hemline, i agree that the stripes are too high. thinking about how it would look with the black pants, i think the black would overtake the look, so i've dropped them down a bit.

cgy-third-1.png

and since i've updated my original post with the new jersey, here is the original just for the posterity's sake.

cgy-third.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my latest scribblings are for the pittsburgh penguins.

my goal with this concept was to find any way possible to ditch the bland reebok sweaters and give them a uniform that would be instantly recognizable as pittsburgh hockey, without simply putting a full throwback design onto a reebok uniform cut.

my biggest pet peeve with the penguins current uniforms is vegas gold. it's such a bland and ugly color, and it makes them look like the washed out cousins of the black-and-yellow pittsburgh sports franchises. apparently the gold is popular with the fan base, and it's been well documented that mario lemieux hates athletic yellow, so i figured i'd try to come up with a compromise.

i chose a shade that isn't vegas gold by any stretch, but is still distinctly "black and gold" instead of yellow. if i had to name it some arbitrary sports color name, i'd call it old gold.

the home and road are a nod to the lemieux/jagr era and the alternate is based on the template from the senators current alternate. call me crazy, but i thought that template looked like an abstract rendition of penguin wings, and in black/white with a tad of gold, i think it's a perfect fit. i also brought back the "robo-pigeon" that everyone seems to hate... i think it's a fantastic logo, and a perfect alternate mark.

pit-home.png

pit-road.png

pit-third.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lightning - The striping doesn't seem right, but other than that the execution is great.

Montreal - Perfect and the third and collar are ingenious.

Calgary - The red needs to be brighter. In person the current jerseys look miles better just because of how bright the colours are.

Pittsburgh - Lighten the gold significantly.

My NHL Rebrand Blog

Check it out and comment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lightning: Fantastic, love the brighter blue. Looks really great.

Canadiens: Perfect. The rounded collars are an excellent touch.

Flames: I actually rather like the dark red, it has a vintage feel to it for some reason to me. The alternate is really nice too. All in all, the entire set is a great mix of eras!

Penguins: That's a beauty, a really love what you've done here. The sleeve design is really great! I like the old gold, and the alternate is a really neat design.

Great job on all of them!

Jazzretirednumbers.jpg

The opinions I express are mine, and mine only. If I am to express them, it is not to say you or anyone else is wrong, and certainly not to say that I am right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

moving on the nashville predators...

one thing i've always liked about the predators identity was the unique combination of bright shiny metallic silver and an almost egg-drop-soup color of yellow. with word that the predators are heading in the direction of navy and black, i wanted to come up with an alternative. i really like the uniqueness of the checkerboard pattern they're incorporated into their identity as well, so i decided to throw that in. hopefully without being too distracting.

the home and roads are my own design, while the alternate is a nod to the original predators uniforms (again, without just being a straight throwback).

NSH-home.png

NSH-road.png

NSH-third.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WOW WOW and WOW!!! You did an awesome job on all three jerseys! You need to get these designs in Mr. Jeff Vinik's face and show him what our team SHOULD be wearing!!!!! I would definitely buy a Blue jersey if they wore what you have here! The Electric Blue is a nice touch, also. I like the empasis on the Blue and Silver, while using the Black in moderation.Thank you also for remembering the Bolt on the pants and the "Victory Stripes". Overall, great job!! GO BOLTS!

First up, the newly butchered redesigned Tampa Bay Lightning.

With this concept, I hoped to retain the heritage and history of the Tampa Bay Lightning, while still giving them a more striking and exciting look. I like that the new Lightning uniforms focus on blue as the primary color, but that's just about the only thing they get right with the new set. Before anyone gets on me for trying to preserve the "heritage and history" of the Lightning, or says that a 1990's southern expansion team HAS no history, let me point out that the Bolts are almost 20 years old now... with a Stanley Cup. That's almost as long as the North Stars spent in Minnesota (26 years), the Nordiques spent in Quebec (23 years), or the Jets spent in Winnipeg (24 years)... with more hardware to show for it... and everyone seems to want to honor and celebrate their history and heritage. Say what you will about Tampa hockey, it's future viability, or if you think they should have ever had a team to begin with, but that's beside the point. They've been doing things a certain way for 20 years, and I don't think they have to throw the baby out with the bathwater if they want to re-design with a focus on blue. That means I retained the victory stripes, kept the bolt on the pants, and made an alternate jersey that is a nod to their past without being a straight Cup-Era throwback. I brought back the electric blue from their inaugural season as well, to help spice up their palette.

Normally, what drives me insane and keeps me from finishing my concepts is my A.D.D. about striping consistency... that's part of why I love this concept so much. Factoring in the pants and skates as black design elements, the striping pattern on each of these jerseys stays the same throughout the design, without cluttering together 4 colored stripes around the waist.

Anyway, I'm talking too much. A lot of thought went into this concept... I hope that shows...

tbl-home-1.png

tbl-road-1.png

tbl-third.png

Unleash your fury, CCSLC masses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.