NOT MY Thunder Rebrand

[Davidson]

Also, it's VERY, um, "derivative" of Ian Baker's London Glory concept:

I think that's a bit of a stretch...

There are similarities, yes, but not enough to cry foul.

Wow, I totally disagree. Thats the same logo.

- 4 way lightning is nearly identical.

- ball on handle.

- text with same shade effect.

- text uses same perspective effect.

and a few other smaller similarities.

Id be interested to see the logo youd actually think did cry foul! Its clear this guy has used the Glory logo as his 'inspiration'.

[illwauk]

I love that color scheme.... for the Nuggets. For the Thunder, it just doesn't fit.

I think that combo lends itself to an "old west" vibe that can work for a team from Oklahoma and Thunder is a very abstract name that doesn't automatically lend itself to (or exclude itself from) any color palette (reason #46920 why Thunder is a crappy name).

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

With the team being named after something that you cannot see, it does make it quite challenging to make a logo for. I think they would be able to get away with having a generic logo, ala LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Detroit Pistons, NY Knicks, etc. With just the team name and some basketball. Maybe add some Oklahoma referances. Maybe a horseshoe or something?

[tvko]

Yeah this is pretty much plagiarism. The only original aspect is a poorly designed shape that's supposed to be a hammer

[YessSir32]

Yeah this is pretty much plagiarism. The only original aspect is a poorly designed shape that's supposed to be a hammer

Oh yeah, other than the hammer it's as close as it can be.

[kpbl_design]

Busted.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Yeah if that security guard guy in Baltimore got the Ravens to change their logo based on the fact he said it was his, this one is a whole lot closer than the Ravens case haha.

[Bunny Dojo]

Thank you for posting my design here, bipolarbear. This was only a small personal project, but I have been excited to see it get around a little bit over the weekend.

I have to agree with those pointing out the similarities between my attempt and that London Glory logo. I thought I was cleverly borrowing elements from NBA logos, particularly the Kings and Knicks, but I must have seen that logo at some point. It's just too close. As a designer, that's horrifying. I don't know what to say. I mean, the lightning bolts... even the shading... oh man.

Thank goodness this was on a practice design, this is unbelievable, unforgivable. I did a quick Google search for "Ian Baker London Glory" and couldn't find him. Does anyone know his contact information so that I can e-mail him? I'd like to apologize and ask if he would mind me keeping the project up with a link to him or if he would prefer I take it down entirely.

(Regarding the other comments, I appreciate any input and mostly agree with the critiques presented. I had never tried to design a sports logo or jersey before, so this was just an attempt at anything rather than working under the illusion that I was creating something better than what is currently there or what someone working professionally would be able to achieve. )

EDIT: Even the ball on the handle! How could this happen? I was so proud of this thing, what an punk.

[slapshot]

It's good to see someone admit the possibility of plagiarism. I'm not throwing out the accusation, others seem to have done that already.

Do I think you work was inspired by the Glory concept? Sure. As Davidson mentioned, there are a lot of similarities.

But...

"Hammer over Crossed lightning bolts" isn't explicitly a copyrighted idea. I know I've seen it elsewhere, or at least some other icon over crossed bolts.

It's just the matter of execution, and as you said, it could have been in your subconscious because you came across it before.

Happens to everyone. There are millions of images and concepts out there...it's almost inevitable that a design will have been born from inspiration somewhere.

That said...

That's a weird looking hammer. The perspective of the head of it fights with the handle, which seems really wide. This doesn't seem like the Hammer of Thor to me, it needs a much longer handle and more defined head.

[Bunny Dojo]

Just to update, the designer's name is Ian Bakar, and he even has his a custom Thunder design:

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Rebranding-Expanding-The-NBA/508291

I sent him a message explaining what happened, apologizing profusely for the mistake, and asking him what route I should take, whether linking to him on the site any way he sees fit or just deleting the project entirely.

I feel sick thinking about the enthusiasm I had as I was coming up with the ideas for the design as though they were my own. This is not the kind of designer I am, and this is obviously the absolute last way I would want to begin in a new community. Hopefully he'll be able to forgive the offense and I'll be able to find a way to slowly re-build credibility, as I did enjoy the process and would like to improve with the advice of those in the hobby, if possible. If not, I certainly understand how such a thing would be unforgivable in the design world.

That's a weird looking hammer. The perspective of the head of it fights with the handle, which seems really wide. This doesn't seem like the Hammer of Thor to me, it needs a much longer handle and more defined head.

Yes sir, I grappled quite a bit with that. A lot of the images I found used a shorter, less defined version of the hammer than I would have associated with Thor. I'm guessing it's just inexperience on my part in finding the crossroads between being accurate, being recognizable, and just plain making sense.

EDIT: While I'm waiting to hear from him, I've made sure to credit Ian Bakar in the "Inspiration" section of the site. If he gets back to me wanting a different solution, I'll obviously go that route right away.

This first try at designing a team logo was filled with rookie mistakes, none more obvious or offensive than the one above. But I really am interested in improving in this type of design and would love to learn from the members here now that I know about this forum for posting works in progress. I take the mistake very seriously, and I'm sorry for the terrible introduction, but I hope to prove that it's not an accurate representation of the kind of designer or person that I am.

[Mings]

Bunny Dojo, those have to be probably the best responses to plagiarism ever on these boards. Shows a lot of maturity. That said, As with everyone else, I hate how the hammer is rendered. I think you need to go back to it, and associate the lightning as occuring as the hammer is coming down and striking something, as I believe the Berlin? Thunder of NFL Europa did. Do some sketching and then bring those sketches into vector form.

As for credibility, I see no hit at all. You joined up specifically to ask forgiveness and are taking all the right steps. I don't think what happened was intentional, you probably saw it a while back, and it crept into your mind as you were designing the logo. It happens.

[Cooleyvol]

That logo is incomprehensible. It barely looks like anything.

First thing I thought of, was a railroad spike.

Same here,

but apparently its thor's hammer!?!?

It says so under Inspiration on the page:

Looks like a hex head bolt to me.

[TaylorMade]

The color scheme is an upgrade. The uniforms are direct rip offs of the Seattle uniforms. They should not be paying homage to the SuperSonics in any way, seeing as how they left all that behind for a future team. The logo, to me, looks like a giant screw.

[Funkatron101]

Bunny Dojo, you showed a lot of responsibility here. Kudos for that. Every designer gets references and influences from other forms of art. If it wasn't intentional, don't beat yourself up about it, just rework what you have.

I like the wordmark and the colors. I think those are keepers.

and I agree about changing the uniforms. Paying homage to the Sonics is more a slap in the face to their fans than anything.

[Bunny Dojo]

and I agree about changing the uniforms. Paying homage to the Sonics is more a slap in the face to their fans than anything.

It's funny, as a fan of the Sonics from the Kemp and Payton days, a major driving force behind wanting to try this project was to have that jersey design. Not being from either city, I must not be able to fully appreciate the rift, but that's been a really big point of contention with the couple of fans who have commented. Add that to the laundry list of problems on this one.

I heard back from Ian Bakar, and he was kind enough to consider the whole thing the sincerest form of flattery and was okay with the way I've updated the site to credit him.

I'll probably step back for a bit and then try again here. Having a look around after my frantic posts, this looks looks like the place I'd really want to be in order to learn and improve.

Thank you to dgnmrwrw for being the first to point out those similarities.

[Funkatron101]

Yeah, the Sonics were the first team I followed as a kid, but I never lived in Seattle. The Sonics fans in Seattle are still very hurt as to how it all went down. Many refer to the Thunder as NotSonics, and I think some are pretty bitter about the recent success.

The hope by fans is to regain the Sonics either through expansion of relocation, and retain all of their branding.

You are very skilled. You have a real solid presentation to this project. I have no doubts that your revision will be an improvement.

[Buster]

That logo is incomprehensible. It barely looks like anything.

Love the uniforms, not a fan of the logo. Looks like a t-wrench twisting in a big, fat screw to me...or just a regular bolt (hardware store variety, not the type that usually accompanies "thunder").

I'm getting zero RELEVANT meaning out of the logo other than Seattle fans getting screwed out of a team.

[Brave-Bird 08]

You know, apparent plagiarism aside, both of you guys are fantastic graphics designers. I had my nose in these portfolios for the past 30 mins.

Did you ever see the Glory logo before? There is just so many elements that are similar.

I've seen worse cases where people literally recolor something and post, and then run off once we quickly find them guilty...

[tvko]

Yeah I respect people who are willing to respond to this issue like you did. You registered an account to apologize? Class.

[Lights Out]

Bunny Dojo, you have no idea how thrilled I am to be reading your classy responses to our concerns. To borrow a little bit from The Big Lebowski, the Concepts forum has really tied the CCSLC together over the years, but lately, several noobs have taken to repeatedly pissing on it with half-baked and often plagiarized concepts. And when they get caught plagiarizing, instead of apologizing in a classy manner like you have done, they either throw fits and try to convince everyone that they weren't in the wrong (and have actual talent) and that we're all a bunch of snooty moralists, or they disappear completely. I'm very pleased to see that at least there's one new member who gets it. Hopefully you stick around and post some more concepts, because you have a lot of talent.