BYU Football Rebrand

[knnhrvy16]

Hello all!

I've had the idea for a BYU football rebrand brewing in my head for quite a while, and I figured it was time to let it out. I finally was able to restore my computer after a crash, and though I've lost a lot of the means I've used to make concepts over the years, I've been able to piece some things together and hope that my further concepts turn out as well or better than my previous concepts to you all.

Anyways, before I share the finished product, I'd like to show you all some of my inspiration behind the project. With this intro on top of the concept this may take a couple of posts, so bear with me until everything is all posted. Thanks!

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So, first thing's first - as a former Utah State Aggie and fan always, I have always despised the fact that BYU wears navy blue. Sure it looks good on them, but speaking in terms of college fandom - that's NOT thier blue! As many know, BYU wore royal blue for many years, through the Young and McMahon glory years into the 90's until the switch to navy. So, the first objective was simple: bring royal blue back to the Cougars.

Now, here's where things get a little different. If you're expecting/wanting the straight up royal blue and white of Young-McMahon, I apologize; you're going to get a little more than you bargained for. Instead, we're going to travel a little later on the timeline and enter into the Sarkisian era. Yep, black trim.

I've noted here before that this set is my all-time favorite Cougar set. I just love the way royal blue and black go together, and I thought that BYU's addition of black was one of the best examples of tasteful integration. The general idea of the uniforms game strongly from this era.

Now, a second inspiration ended up adding another element to the identity entirely - the Orlando Magic. You're certainly thinking, what the HECK does Orlando have to do with BYU?? Well, they don't. But, a certain part of thier uniforms certainly had something to do with the direction of my concept. One of my favorite aspects of Orlando's current identity is how thier scripts and numbers look with black and silver outlines -

Couldn't tell you why, but I just think those scripts and numbers look SHARP with that shade of blue. I found that I had the opportunity to replicate that with BYU, so I took it. While (to my knowledge) BYU has never worn silver trim on thier uniforms, I decided to go for it and make it a key element throughout the identity.

And now, enough rambling - here's the product!

Firstly, the tweaked primary logo.

This was actually a little tougher than it looks. As you'll see coming up, black and silver trim are key in this design. I knew I needed to add it tastefully to the logo, but how? First I tried outlining the oval, but it kept coming out looking too 90's-ish and frankly was just too much. So then I decided to outline the "Y" instead, and I think it came out much, much better.

Now, the helmets.

Yep, that's an "s" at the end!

I figured some option wouldn't hurt all that much, so I added a blue helmet. If I were in charge I would't wear it every other game, but I think it's a nice item to help change things up a little.

I'll post the rest here in the next post (should only take a few minutes), so please don't reply until everything is up. Thanks!

[knnhrvy16]

How about some jerseys?

And I might get hated for this, but here goes...

I was really wrestling with the idea of a black jersey, and as you can see in the end, the idea won out....with a few exceptions - I designed it specifically to be worn with the white helmet and pants, so as to avoid any garbagy blue-black-blue combos or the chance of a full-on blackout. So, when worn, you're only going to see white-black-white.

Aaaand pants!

I had some trouble drawing the stripes, I'm not too gifted with the mouse But I think they turned out okay.

All BLUE AND WHITE pieces are interchangeable; as aforementioned, the black jersey is to be specifically paired with the white helmet and pants.

Also for your viewing pleasure, a small look at how the blue helmet would look paired with the different jerseys. I know black's in there when I said it shouldn't be, but I threw it in there anyways just in case some were curious.

And there you have it! I tried to put out a consistent and clean, yet forwards-moving design for BYU. It helps separate from USU, it hearkens back to my personal favorite BYU set, and I think all the elements came together to form a good look for the Cougs.

But, that's my thoughts; what do YOU guys think? Let me have it! C&C is much appreciated, and thanks for viewing!

[bucknut40]

First off nice template. Overall good set. Im a big fan of the number font

[knnhrvy16]

First off nice template. Overall good set. Im a big fan of the number font

Thank you, I appreciate it! I actually made the numbers with box tools on paint. I didn't have a font that I felt matched the idea in my head, so I figured I'd just draw it. Glad to hear they look good.

Any other non-spam comments from anyone? I mean, designer handbags are nice and all, but they're not much help to me!

[McCall]

Any other non-spam comments from anyone? I mean, designer handbags are nice and all, but they're not much help to me!

But they're named after Bridget Bardot and are pleasing to the eye.

[Foxxtrot44]

You took away their Northwestern stripes, you monster!

Put me down as a person who would like to see BYU back in BYU colors...however, in my experience their fanbase tends to lean more Navy-fans than Royal-fans. So it will be interesting to see what the Y fans on here say.

Otherwise these are great...and worst case scenario they would make for a great Detroit Lions concept!

[henburg]

This concept is very interesting. It probably wouldn't be the direction that I would take BYU in, but it is well executed.

[WizKid]

Love the concept, hate the spam. Does anyone know why Brigham Young stop wearing royal in their main color scheme?

[Discrim]

They're not still calling that navy "dark royal blue," are they? In any event, love the player template, and the overall design's not bad either, though I would've picked a different number font.

[thespleenenator]

Why the black? It doesn't fit with the rebrand at all, and seems unnecessary.

[Foxxtrot44]

They're not still calling that navy "dark royal blue," are they? In any event, love the player template, and the overall design's not bad either, though I would've picked a different number font.

That's DSORB. "Darkest Shade of Royal Blue"...I wish I was kidding.

[knnhrvy16]

Why the black? It doesn't fit with the rebrand at all, and seems unnecessary.

Are you talking about the jersey, or the use of it in general? The use of it is inspired by the Sarkisian-era set of the mid-to-late 90's, which I mentioned was my favorite BYU set and the prime inspiration behind the rebrand. So, if that's what you're talking about, it does fit the rebrand (it's pretty vital to my idea), and is necessary in regards to that idea.

If it's the jersey you're talking about, sure, I can see it being uneccessary. I just figured if this were to be real, sooner or later a black jersey would be rolled out so I decided to give it a go. So as to avoid any crappy combos, however, I designed it to be specifically matched with the white helmet and pants (see the sleeves), so I did approach the idea with some conservatism in mind.

Please don't take all this as me getting at you or anything, I'm just explaining my side of things and what the thought process was.

Thanks for the C&C fellas! Much appreciated. Discrim, what kind of font do you think could work better? And WizKid, that's a good question. I'm not so sure why they changed. My opposition to it isn't so much that I've ever thought it looked bad, it's just that once upon a time, you could distinctly tell every school in Utah apart by thier colors. It made absolutely no sense to me for BYU to change that when 1) they had a great thing (and history) going with royal already, and 2) an in-state rival already had claim to navy.

[Discrim]

I most likely would've simply gone with a basic block like the set you based this on had, either that or the 97-04 font if you could get your hands on that (I was partial to the 2004 set, shame that only lasted one year...Matt Payne was a badass, wonder what happened to him. I remember that year cus on one hand, I gotta respect a punter who could tackle like a linebacker. On the other hand, I hung my head in shame that BYU's punter had more balls than the entire Notre Dame roster put together.)