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Oklahoma City Thunder Rebranding Attempt


Bunny Dojo

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I was pretty proud upon finishing my first attempt at this type of design, but the project began to crumble quickly after. Not the least of my problems was that the logo design ended up being all but stolen from a design by Ian Bakar (AAO on here). Thank you again to the guys on here who called attention to that, the oversight on my part was astounding.

Obviously, that's not an acceptable final project. So, here's my shot at addressing some of the shortcomings of that first try.

(The original design is still up at bunnydojo.com/thunder for now.)

Thunder1.jpg

Thunder2.jpg

Thunder3.jpg

Primary complaints on the original design addressed:

The "T" Hammer (Norse god of thunder Thor's "Mjölnir") looked like a screw/jockstrap/railroad spike/nothing at all and was a cheesy choice to represent the team.

-- I've moved it to the secondary logo and, rather than basing the shape on images from mythology, drew a new version based on a photo suggested by leggman01 on here.

The jersey's homage to the SuperSonics was unwanted by most and downright infuriating to some.

-- I've toned the Seattle references way down.

The colors were too dark and relied on league standard blue and red, looking similar to the LeBron-era Cavs.

-- I've changed to a new color scheme following the limited palette I wanted to use on the project originally.

The city and number font clashed with the Thunder and player name styling.

-- All fonts now match in style.

Both Home and Away jerseys used "Thunder" text.

-- This has been addressed.

And, obviously, I made a concerned effort not to take influence from anyone else's work. The basketball would be the one exception, I suppose, but I like the idea of the logo matching 2/3 of the league in that regard and needed another element in the primary logo.

I'm pretty happy with the result, but this is only my second (or, technically, still my first) attempt at this kind of thing, so I'm open to ideas from the seasoned veterans on here. Thanks for looking. :)

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Damn, that looks pretty good.

I like the unique colors, orange and black hasn't been used in a long time.

Couple things though...

1. Lose the waist band, it's been disappearing from the league slowly and I think that's a good thing. The jersey looks more cohesive and flowing without it, IMO.

2. Try not to use the same NOB font as the wordmark, stick with the standard 4 or so fonts that teams use, just makes the jersey look more realistic and it makes the wordmark seem like more than just text.

3. Either add a line of stroke to the wordmarks, or remove a line of stroke from the numbers. I feel like there's too much of a difference between em.

4. Maybe try having the shorts reversed? So that the lightning bolts face towards the back? Just seems that if a player is moving forward they'd look better if they're going the other way.

Again, these are just a few of my opinions, overall great work. Glad to see you post here!

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I'm not completely sold on the logo, it's not bad by all means though, sorry I don't have anything really constructive for you. But I love the uniforms, it looks very nice and clean, I'd be nice to see a pic with the shorts too on KD

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Auburn University Alum

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My only criticism is that the colors scream "Oklahoma State" to me. On a national level that may not be a big deal, but I guarantee you thost most Thunder fans will see this uniform and immediately think "OSU."

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The hammer looks a lot more like a stone ax because of its shape. Straighten out the sides a bit more, if not entirely, to make sure it screams "hammer". Otherwise, this is very well done. I'd even recommend putting that logo on the sides of the shorts at the bottom

I'll respect any opinion that you can defend.

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My only criticism is that the colors scream "Oklahoma State" to me. On a national level that may not be a big deal, but I guarantee you thost most Thunder fans will see this uniform and immediately think "OSU."

Yeah, this would be a tough sell in a state that is probably more of a college than pro market already. OU fans don't own the state, but I'm guessing there are more of them in OKC than Ok State fans.

College fans are fickle. And by fickle, I mean immature. Many of them will choose to not follow a team if their colors are that of a rival in a completely unrelated sport. It's all about association. I actually like the idea of a black/orange NBA team, but it just wouldn't work in Oklahoma, the same way a Blue/Orange team or a Purple/Gold team would probably not work in Birmingham.

Nice design, though. The wordmark is nice.

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I'll echo what hockey week said - I see axe rather than hammer. Perhaps if the black outline/shadow across the top was uniform width the hammer wouldn't appear to taper to a blade.

I'm also (ever so) slightly thrown by the bolts being "upside down" on the secondary. Would it work flipped, thus consistent with the primary?

Otherwise, nice work!

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First of all, really nice design, very solid and would work for an NBA team any day, now the layers. The logos are very nice, the bolts in each of them smoothly coming together symmetrically make this really great. The idea behind the seconda'r'y (might want to fix that) is nice, really gives a main image for the franchise that will be easy to remember. As for the uniforms I love the shorts, very nice. The simplicity from the jersey running down into that design on the shorts looks great. Good work overall.

pastpresentfuture_zps8bbb3a05.png

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Good concept here. This is more of what this board needs- a lot of creativity here.

I think the uniforms could use a little bit of work, they are kind of out there for an NBA team.

I'd also make the "OKLAHOMA CITY" white, even though you probably strayed away from that since you did "THUNDER" in white.

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I love the colors, at first I thought red, then thought orange, I like that. And I agree with Tigerslionspistonshabs about the Native American feel of the secondary. That is the first thing I thought and think it works great for OKC. My big gripe would be the black wordmark on the road, while I like the way it looks I think it would blend too much at a distance. Make that white IMO.

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The only suggestion I have is to make the red/orange very slightly more orangish.

I disagree. This shade sits comfortably between Sooner crimson and Cowboy orange, a perfect compromise for the region.

@Bunny Dojo: Everything about this concept is absolutely fantastic. Well done!

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POTD: 2/4/12 3/4/12

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There are too many teams that use Red in their color schemes, especially in the NBA. Make it yellow and black, as they would be the only team in the NBA to have those colors. Plus they're the thunder so yeah, yellow kind of goes with it. As for the actually design, it's brilliant. Finally someone who is creative.

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Why you make fun of me? I make concept for Auburn champions and you make fun of me. I cry tears.
Chopping off the dicks of Filipino boys and embracing causes that promote bigotry =/= strong moral character.
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The only suggestion I have is to make the red/orange very slightly more orangish.

I disagree. This shade sits comfortably between Sooner crimson and Cowboy orange, a perfect compromise for the region.

The more I look at it, you're right. At a passing glance it looks like bright red, but when I stare at it, it turns orange. It's a nice optical illusion.

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the colors here are quite nice and i also enjoy the alt logo...i can't get behind the primary mark though. the two bolts look like an afterthought to me and all the elements seem disjointed and not cohesive. i do like the wordmark section of the primary mark though, so work from there i suppose.

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Thanks for all of the input, guys!

I tried working on the primary logo further but have not had much luck yet. That was the last piece I designed, mostly the result of trying to fit shapes together rather than naturally building a design from scratch. I finally got it to where I was pretty happy, but I agree that it's not outstanding. And good points on the hammer refinements mentioned too, I'll give the logos more attention.

Here is the jersey with some of the above suggestions in place:

Thunder4.jpg - or - Thunder6.jpg

(I'm not sure why I decided against the white text initially, I like it a lot.)

I love the colors, at first I thought red, then thought orange, I like that.
Thanks! That orange-almost-red and brown-almost-black, it gives the design a strange feel. :) The dynamic really appeals to me.
I guarantee you thost most Thunder fans will see this uniform and immediately think "OSU."
Ah, there's always another angle to watch out for. :) Here's the design in yellow. I do like it, but I'd have a hard time letting go of the orange:

Thunder5.jpgThunder7.jpg

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I think you're fine with the orange, as it doesn't look like the same shade as OSU's.

Cool concept. Definitely better than the nondescript mess the Thunder use now.

I love the yellow!!

But it doesn't matter about shades of orange. Oklahomans see orange and Orange means OSU. The yellow looks great and still works with your design, which I like a lot btw.

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