2013 NFL uniform/logo changes

[BrianLion]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

and only one team with even a hint of black in their uniforms... sigh

Is that Jim Ninowski in the Lions uniform? If so that'd date this one about 1960-1961. Poor guy, he's not even the best Lions QB in that photo, because Bobby Layne is behind him in the Steelers jersey lol

like a year later Ninowski lost his job to Milt Plum, who ironically enough is also in this photo (Browns).

[John in KY]

In the 1970s/80s, there wasn't a huge emphasis (financially or technologically) put on helmet manufacturing and design. Even though they were professional teams, they had to take what was available.

Yet that does not explain why the 49ers and Saints cannot match their helmet color to their pants in 2013. Jeez, one would think that with today's technology they could at least make the colors match.

Pretty sure that is a deliberate choice on the part of the 49ers, to look like the original uniforms. Don't know why the Saints insist on having twelve different shades of gold.

You forgot the Cowboys, with the various kinds of both silver and blue:

At least with Dallas, it was an attempt to make all the various materials look the same on television, but it has since ossified into "tradition".

That is true for the pants. However, the helmet was purposely changed to that silvery-blue color so it would look okay with both the then silver-blue pants worn with the white jersey and the more true silver worn with the navy jersey that came in in 1981. Also that color is how their clear shell helmets turned out; if you look at the painted helmets in the 60s and 70s they were "bluer than this color that doesn't really match either set.

As shown above, the Cowboys helmet is SILVER, not silver blue, with navy star and stripes. The helmet matches perfectly with the their dark navy jerseys with silver stripes and silver pants with navy stripes. The white home uniform is completely mismatched. This helmet is worn with a white jersey with Royal blue stripes and numbers and the silver-blue-green pants with royal blue stripes

Must be my screen resolution - I didn't see that it was any different than it had been since the 80s. I'll admit I missed that Nike did match the helmet and the sliver pants for the navy set up for 2012. They had been that "in-between" the old silver blue color and the silver color of the Navy set for decades.

[John in KY]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

and only one team with even a hint of black in their uniforms... sigh

Is that Jim Ninowski in the Lions uniform? If so that'd date this one about 1960-1961. Poor guy, he's not even the best Lions QB in that photo, because Bobby Layne is behind him in the Steelers jersey lol

like a year later Ninowski lost his job to Milt Plum, who ironically enough is also in this photo (Browns).

Then it has to be 1961 - the Vikings didn't exist until then.

[theSLVRBCK]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

For those that were interested in this photo ....

who:

Back row (left to right): Milt Plum (Browns), Bobby Layne (Steelers), Sam Etcheverry (Cardinals), Bill Wade (Bears), Bart Starr (Packers), Johnny Unitas (Colts), Norm Snead (Redskins), Zeke Bratkowski (Rams).

Front row: Jim Ninowski (Lions), Fran Tarkenton (Vikings), Don Meredith (Cowboys), John Brodie (49ers), Sonny Jurgensen (Eagles), Y.A. Tittle (Giants). Photo by Ralph Morse.

when/where:

First published in Life magazine, November 17, 1961.

[seahawk9]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

Note all the different varity of color from the early NFL teams had not to mention the future AFL teams uniforms coming in the future. The varation of all different color shade schemes. Note the light color or white pants, no color monochrome. Can instantly tell the teams apart.

[St Louis Cardinals]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

Note all the different varity of color from the early NFL teams had not to mention the future AFL teams uniforms coming in the future. The varation of all different color shade schemes. Note the light color or white pants, no color monochrome. Can instantly tell the teams apart.

I would not go that far. Half the teams have basically the same design. If you're saying by colors, than you can just as easily tell the current teams apart

[BrandMooreArt]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

Note all the different varity of color from the early NFL teams had not to mention the future AFL teams uniforms coming in the future. The varation of all different color shade schemes. Note the light color or white pants, no color monochrome. Can instantly tell the teams apart.

thats the thing that jumps out to me as well. the 2 most important things in design/branding is shape and color (first 2 things your mind reads). here there are really only 2 teams that use a unique jersey design, the others are pretty much copies of each other, but they built the team identities with different 2 color combinations to easily identify each one.

theres no doubt there is better variety today (a good thing for the most part) but its interesting to see the foundational graphic language of pro football all in one shot that is still around. you also see something here that is missed today so often; those designs were made for these jerseys/pants. its frustrating we see so many designs forced into templates that dont fit them. to put it another way, using design solutions (old graphics) for the wrong problem (new jersey)

[lost_limey]

I'm surprised how close Snead is to the current Redskins colors, seeing as how popular lore talks about how the colors were brightened under Lombardi's behest just prior to the 1970 season. I would have expected a 1961 Redskins uniform to be closer in shades to the 75th anniversary "spear" throwbacks.

[seahawk9]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

Note all the different varity of color from the early NFL teams had not to mention the future AFL teams uniforms coming in the future. The varation of all different color shade schemes. Note the light color or white pants, no color monochrome. Can instantly tell the teams apart.

I would not go that far. Half the teams have basically the same design. If you're saying by colors, than you can just as easily tell the current teams apart

No you can't. Example-up to last year Ravens and Jaguars looked verturlly alike, black pants, black helmets and sometimes combined with black jerseys. Rams and Seahawks, navy helmets, navy jerseys and navy pants. Look at above photo, how many teams are sporting color monochrome combos ? About about 2/3s of the league today have either navy blue or black and a part of their color pallets. Why?????????

[BrandMooreArt]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

Note all the different varity of color from the early NFL teams had not to mention the future AFL teams uniforms coming in the future. The varation of all different color shade schemes. Note the light color or white pants, no color monochrome. Can instantly tell the teams apart.

I would not go that far. Half the teams have basically the same design. If you're saying by colors, than you can just as easily tell the current teams apart

About about 2/3s of the league today have either navy blue or black and a part of their color pallets. Why?????????

color trends during 2 different eras and general progression of the brands have called for colors that represent them in a different way.

the NFL's product is a football game, but what they sell us is a "long tradition of epic battles between legendary warriors". still theres an emphasis on "professionalism" and thats where dark colors work better (and sell better) to their current audience. think of the diference between a "professional" 40 year old man in a navy blue suit and one in a royal blue one. the navy says "modern, trustworthy, mature"

[colinturner95]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

For those that were interested in this photo ....

who:

Back row (left to right): Milt Plum (Browns), Bobby Layne (Steelers), Sam Etcheverry (Cardinals), Bill Wade (Bears), Bart Starr (Packers), Johnny Unitas (Colts), Norm Snead (Redskins), Zeke Bratkowski (Rams).

Front row: Jim Ninowski (Lions), Fran Tarkenton (Vikings), Don Meredith (Cowboys), John Brodie (49ers), Sonny Jurgensen (Eagles), Y.A. Tittle (Giants). Photo by Ralph Morse.

when/where:

First published in Life magazine, November 17, 1961.

If any of you have "The Football Book" like I do, this picture, in b/w is in it, and I've had the book for a while, and in that time I never noticed that Johnny Unitas hasn't thrown the ball yet

[TheOldRoman]

the NFL's product is a football game, but what they sell us is a "long tradition of epic battles between legendary warriors". still theres an emphasis on "professionalism" and thats where dark colors work better (and sell better) to their current audience. think of the diference between a "professional" 40 year old man in a navy blue suit and one in a royal blue one. the navy says "modern, trustworthy, mature"

That's just silliness. The aesthetics of football are different from the aesthetics of other sports, and also very different from business casual. Football teams shouldn't in any way conform to rules for business attire, just as I don't need to wear a shiny polycarbonate helmet to work along with a suit.

It has nothing to do with professionalism, just perception of what sells. These teams went dark because their designers and manufacturers told them it sold better, whether or not it's true. They certainly didn't go dark to emphasize professionalism, since the "legendary warriors" era of classy uniforms featured teams wearing much brighter colors than today. That being said, I don't know how true it is that bright colors don't sell. Walking the streets of Chicago today, most teen/college kids I see are wearing bright colors like in 1993 - lots of teal and purple. Sure, maybe the move to bright colors is more in the hip-hop community and not as widespread, but it looks like we're moving away from the drabness and earthtones of the past decade.

And besides, nobody is going to not purchase a teal football jersey because it's too gaudy to wear to dinner to meet the girlfriend's parents, instead opting for the more upscale black one. Wearing a navy jersey or t-shirt is just as "unprofessional" as wearing a royal blue one. While an orange or aqua hat really stands out and goes against the aesthtics of baseball, those colors work perfectly in football uniforms. The teams should keep their brighter colors on the field, produce merchandise in those colors, and also make bastardized black or navy gear for the people who want to support their team on casual Friday but feel wearing an aqua polo shirt is too slovenly.

[BrandMooreArt]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

For those that were interested in this photo ....

who:

Back row (left to right): Milt Plum (Browns), Bobby Layne (Steelers), Sam Etcheverry (Cardinals), Bill Wade (Bears), Bart Starr (Packers), Johnny Unitas (Colts), Norm Snead (Redskins), Zeke Bratkowski (Rams).

Front row: Jim Ninowski (Lions), Fran Tarkenton (Vikings), Don Meredith (Cowboys), John Brodie (49ers), Sonny Jurgensen (Eagles), Y.A. Tittle (Giants). Photo by Ralph Morse.

when/where:

First published in Life magazine, November 17, 1961.

If any of you have "The Football Book" like I do, this picture, in b/w is in it, and I've had the book for a while, and in that time I never noticed that Johnny Unitas hasn't thrown the ball yet

i noticed, but as a Colts fan i didnt want to be the one to mention that

[BrandMooreArt]

the NFL's product is a football game, but what they sell us is a "long tradition of epic battles between legendary warriors". still theres an emphasis on "professionalism" and thats where dark colors work better (and sell better) to their current audience. think of the diference between a "professional" 40 year old man in a navy blue suit and one in a royal blue one. the navy says "modern, trustworthy, mature"

Yeah... that's nonsense. The aesthetics of football are different from the aesthetics of other sports, and also very different from business casual. Football teams shouldn't in any way conform to rules for business attire, just as I don't need to wear a shiny polycarbonate helmet to work along with a suit.

It has nothing to do with professionalism, just perception of what sells. These teams went dark because their designers and manufacturers told them it sold better, whether or not it's true. They certainly didn't go dark to emphasize professionalism, since the "legendary warriors" era of classy uniforms featured teams wearing much brighter colors than today. That being said, I don't know how true it is that bright colors don't sell. Walking the streets of Chicago today, most teen/college kids I see are wearing bright colors like in 1993 - lots of teal and purple. Sure, maybe the move to bright colors is more in the hip-hop community and not as widespread, but it looks like we're moving away from the drabness and earthtones of the past decade. And besides, nobody is going to not purchase a teal football jersey because it's too gaudy to wear to dinner at with the girlfriend's parents. Wearing a navy jersey or t-shirt is just as "unprofessional" as wearing a royal blue one. While an orange or aqua hat really stands out and goes against the aesthtics of baseball, those colors work perfectly in football uniforms. The teams should keep their brighter colors on the field, produce merchandise in those colors, and also make bastardized black and navy caps for the people who want to support their team on casual Friday but feel wearing an aqua polo shirt is too slovenly.

of course its nonsense. i make everything up just to annoy you

but seriously, im talking about the perception of colors (which meanings and connotations vary upon context), not wearing a helmet to work or a jersey to dinner. every idea, feeling, personality trait, and emotion can be expressed with a color or 2. you said "It has nothing to do with professionalism, just perception of what sells" well, its also the perception of professionalism. also, yes bright colors (especially combos from the 90s. stop into Niketown while you're there and look at the whole corner of the store thats teal and purple) are making a trendy comeback. but you mentioned yourself, think about whose wearing those things, and who the primary audience of the NFL is. its not the same

the second part of it is that we are moving away from dark colors (in all areas of design), but teams are rebranding, changing their values, and along with that are throwing back to some mid 20th century things. the hot word right now isnt "professional" or "modern" but "retro". color is changing to reflect the brand values and personality

[ADW77]

I can easily tell every team apart here, don't know what the uproar is about honestly.

[WideRight]

The trend is definitely towards more retro, and that includes brighter colors. There are some exceptions like the Seahawks (Nike's B!tch, the NFL U. of Oregon) but mostly we see teams trying to harken back to earlier success. The Bills reverted to royal blue. The Broncos brought back the orange jersey. The Niners went with a lighter red and 1980's style. The Dolphins have gone lighter, the Vikings have gone half-retro with the new jersey designs. There are a lot of teams moving towards a retro or retro-inspired look and that can lead to lighter colors. Don't ask me about the Seahawk trainwreck. I still thought their two-tone of grey-blue was the best uniform they ever had, if they would just wear white pants with the blue jersey and vice versa, but going all navy is just not a good look for them.

[TheOldRoman]

of course its nonsense. i make everything up just to annoy you

but seriously, im talking about the perception of colors (which meanings and connotations vary upon context), not wearing a helmet to work or a jersey to dinner. every idea, feeling, personality trait, and emotion can be expressed with a color or 2. you said "It has nothing to do with professionalism, just perception of what sells" well, its also the perception of professionalism. also, yes bright colors (especially combos from the 90s. stop into Niketown while you're there and look at the whole corner of the store thats teal and purple) are making a trendy comeback. but you mentioned yourself, think about whose wearing those things, and who the primary audience of the NFL is. its not the same

the second part of it is that we are moving away from dark colors (in all areas of design), but teams are rebranding, changing their values, and along with that are throwing back to some mid 20th century things. the hot word right now isnt "professional" or "modern" but "retro". color is changing to reflect the brand values and personality

**LONG POST ALERT**

While the primary audience for the NFL might be middle-aged white males, who buys most of the gear? Who is more likely to own every jersey the team wears, a 20 year-old or a 50-year old underwriter? I think the younger guys (of all races and style groups). And who do clothing trends really measure. anyway? I mean, middle-aged people aren't wearing bell-bottoms or stone-washed jeans anymore, but they pretty much are still wearing styles they wore 10 or 20 years ago. Trends are measured mostly through the 18-35 demo, I believe. The trend to darker colors happened in the younger demographic. When I was in high school and college, the look du jour was Abercrombie/American Eagle with cargo pants/shorts and dark colored polo shirts. If you wanted to, you couldn't even find a teal shirt then. That's why the new designs pushed towards darker colors, not the stated concern that middle aged people wouldn't buy an orange or royal blue hat because they couldn't wear them to Sunday brunch. I think the middle-aged sports fan would be just as likely to buy an aqua shirt to wear around the house as he would a navy one.

I stated about trends just to say that I think people will wear bright colors. I also think that sports apparel sells largely independent of outside trends. Other than the throwback jersey craze in hip-hop in the early 2000's and the LA Raiders silver-and-black obsession of ten years earlier, I think people largely buy merchandise because they like the team, not because wearing it is trendy. 15 years ago, younger guys who wore khaki shorts every day would still wear Bears jerseys and caps when they went to bars to watch the games, even though the colors didn't otherwise fit into their aestetics. Of course, the Bears don't feature all that much orange, but it's still enough to be different from a navy and burgundy striped polo shirt they would otherwise be wearing. By the way, I'm not arguing that teams should switch to bright colors specifically because it's trendy. In fact, I think they should mostly ignore trends and strive for timeless looks. Timeless doesn't mean dark. I think a fan of the Houston Oilers (RIP) wouldn't have passed on buying a shirt because the colors were too bright. Likewise, Chargers fans have been clamoring for a return of the collegiate blue for a long time. They might not wear bright blue and yellow on a daily basis, but they have no problem buying those colors in Chargers gear.

I honestly think that sometimes designers have a tendency to overthink, or at least overstate things. Much of the time, there doesn't need to be any justification outside of "it looks good." I really don't think NFL teams said "we must drop Columbia blue because we don't look professional". I think "professional" was only uttered by the teams in the introductary news conferences when they included the typical "fierce, aggressive" Nikespeak. The teams just wanted to wear whatever they were told would sell. I think professionalism is drastically different across mediums, and I don't think the teams or very many other people consider dark colors in football more professional. "Professional" in baseball means white pants and tops at home, gray pants and tops on the road, and a dark-colored cap. Like I said, an orange baseball cap really stands out and breaks with aesthetics, but there's nothing unconventional about a shiny yellow helmet or shimmery silver pants in football. I don't know that anyone could argue with a straight face that today's Jets look more professional than Joe Namath's due to the darker green. The Packers are professional with their bright yellow helmets and pants, and if the Cowboys matched their colors to royal blue and bluish-silver, they would still be one of the most "professional" teams in the league.

As for the last paragraph, I hope the trend in sports to lighter colors does continue, and once teams get there, I hope they have the sense to stay, and not stray from their colors to chase what they're told is "in." If they have to justify that by saying they are swapping the "fierce, classy professionalism" for a "fresh, envigorated and groundbreaking" look, so be it.

[BlueSky]

After all, these are the "Dark Ages" of pro football. Back in the day, when I starting following the NFL, you could instantly tell what teams were playing by the varity of brighter, different assorted colors all the teams had. Now days everyone wants to wear Navy Blue or Black and color monochrome uniform combos. Can't really tell the teams apart anymore. Miss the old bright colors of the Broncos, Buccaneers, Seahawks, Rams, Chargers, Oilers, etc.

The Broncos wear orange as their primary now. The Titans wear the old Oilers columbia blue as their primary. The Chargers haven't worn a 'bright' color as their primary in like 30 years, at least. The Rams haven't used a non-alternate/throwback bright jersey in over 50 years.

Or, you know, about 14.

Is it just me, or is the helmet shade of blue different from the blue on the jersey? If so, I'd love to see the Rams use those helmet colors.

Never understood why back then the Rams and Giants had navy color helmets but their jerseys were the lighter, brighter royal blue. What,..... they didn't have Royal Blue paint back then or why couldn't they have had the helmet shell molded in the royal color ?????

There was a limited number of blue shells available. There was the Giants/Rams/Chargers navy blue and the Broncos bright blue. The Vikings were mismatched for the same reason.

In the 1970s/80s, there wasn't a huge emphasis (financially or technologically) put on helmet manufacturing and design. Even though they were professional teams, they had to take what was available.

Yet that does not explain why the 49ers and Saints cannot match their helmet color to their pants in 2013. Jeez, one would think that with today's technology they could at least make the colors match.

In defense of the Saints, I think they reduced the golds from 4 shades to 2.

2011

2012

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

That is an amazing collection of NFL legends in one pic. That Cowboys uni was probably the crazy radical Seahawks uni of its time.

[Brave-Bird 08]

Notice how similar the Rams and Steelers are.

[guest23]

After all, these are the "Dark Ages" of pro football. Back in the day, when I starting following the NFL, you could instantly tell what teams were playing by the varity of brighter, different assorted colors all the teams had. Now days everyone wants to wear Navy Blue or Black and color monochrome uniform combos. Can't really tell the teams apart anymore. Miss the old bright colors of the Broncos, Buccaneers, Seahawks, Rams, Chargers, Oilers, etc.

The Broncos wear orange as their primary now. The Titans wear the old Oilers columbia blue as their primary. The Chargers haven't worn a 'bright' color as their primary in like 30 years, at least. The Rams haven't used a non-alternate/throwback bright jersey in over 50 years.

Or, you know, about 14.

Is it just me, or is the helmet shade of blue different from the blue on the jersey? If so, I'd love to see the Rams use those helmet colors.

Never understood why back then the Rams and Giants had navy color helmets but their jerseys were the lighter, brighter royal blue. What,..... they didn't have Royal Blue paint back then or why couldn't they have had the helmet shell molded in the royal color ?????

There was a limited number of blue shells available. There was the Giants/Rams/Chargers navy blue and the Broncos bright blue. The Vikings were mismatched for the same reason.

In the 1970s/80s, there wasn't a huge emphasis (financially or technologically) put on helmet manufacturing and design. Even though they were professional teams, they had to take what was available.

Yet that does not explain why the 49ers and Saints cannot match their helmet color to their pants in 2013. Jeez, one would think that with today's technology they could at least make the colors match.

In defense of the Saints, I think they reduced the golds from 4 shades to 2.

2011

2012

I was thinking about this thread earlier today, and how so many teams have gone to darker colors in general, and this came across my dash on tumblr ...

Love the way the Eagles and Vikings jerseys pop amongst the crowd.

That is an amazing collection of NFL legends in one pic. That Cowboys uni was probably the crazy radical Seahawks uni of its time.

Anyone notice YAT wearing the blue jersey with red socks? According to the GUD that combo never happened.