Anaheim Ducks

[wildwing64]

Hey all.

Some of you may remember a Ducks rebrand I put together three years ago. Started off crappy but got better as I got more feedback. There were things I liked and things I would have done differently now, but anyway, I've moved on.

More recently I started my own NHL series. My original aim for that was to make an "ideal" NHL. Looking back at it now, like a number of NHL series on these boards with the same premise in mind, it started to feel very samey very quickly, and this is despite the effort I put in to make new logos for almost every team I'd done. I really only stuck to teams' existing colour schemes and didn't give myself much room for creativity. Not to mention I didn't get around to updating it as often as I would have liked. But, it was an interesting learning experience and my logo making skills have improved since. With that said, I have now discontinued that series so I can get on with other things.

And since I've improved my technique, I've revisited my favourite team one more time for a full-on rebrand. This has been a work in progress for the last few weeks, although I likely won't turn this thread into a series. If anything, it'll end up becoming a mini series with a few select teams and then I'll be done with it.

If you want the wall of text that is my rambling thoughts and the design process, it's under the spoiler tag below.

The Ducks have had an interesting history with their identity in their 20 years of play. Whether you loved or despised the original look, the Mighty Ducks brand has become one of the most recognisable hockey marks in the world. Although this is more to do with the success of the movies than the NHL franchise, the duck mask crest is still the first thing many people think of when they think of the Anaheim Ducks. But, wanting to move away from the Disney association, Brian Burke the team chose to rebrand with a black, metallic gold and orange colour scheme, and a text based logo featuring a D in the shape of a duck's footprint.

While the Ducks have arguably seen more success since adopting the current look, there is still a lot of divide over whether the new look is actually good. I fall into the category of those who are in a love-hate relationship leaning more on the hate side of things. For one thing, the colour scheme is OK but it isn't used effectively enough. The team likes to make a point that they are the Orange County team, so they sell orange merchandise, have orange fowl towels, light the arena up in orange... and yet it's little more than a barely visible accent colour on the primary uniform, a dull black and white jersey with bits of gold and orange that disappear on TV but you can sometimes see when up close.

I've stated my opinion on the soulless wordmark primary logo too many times already so I won't repeat myself here. But I will admit that the webfoot D has grown on me. Once separated from the rest of the script, it's a pretty good logo in its own right. It's simple and creative, and looks good as a jersey crest. The only problem I have with it is that the average Joe non-fan will always look at it and ask "Where's the duck?" It's not immediately obvious that it's a duck's footprint, and you kind of have to be "in the know" to understand what it is or what team it belongs to. The most recognisable feature of a duck, I think, is the bill. That's what the old mask logo had. You can glance at that logo and assume the team's name is the Ducks because, y'know, there is something resembling a duck in that logo. I feel as if what we have now has contributed to the Ducks not being a recognisable or well-known team. It's just not a very strong or distinguishable brand. While I would be more than happy to welcome back the duck mask crest, I'm also open to something new altogether.

And this is where my new take on the primary logo comes in. While I've gone on enough about how much I like the Mighty Ducks mask logo, I wanted to do more than simply bring it back as the primary. What I like about a lot of rebrands is that they work with the original idea and take it in a natural evolutionary path and transform it into something better. See the likes of the Original Six over time, or even more recent rebrands like the Dallas Stars. Likewise, the duck depicted in my logo is still "mighty", but without the Disney influence or the mask (which instead I've retained as a shoulder patch). Instead of using a triangle in the background, I've taken the webfoot idea from the Ducks current identity and turned it into a shield. So this is more of an amalgamation of the previous identities rather than going in a totally different direction again.

Like I've said before, the Ducks existing colour scheme is OK but it could be better. It's just one colour away from being something far superior. So I went and added green. Not quite the jade green of the past era, but more of a mallard duck green. So this new look has a feel that links the past to the present, looks more duck-like, and also acts as a nod to the Orange County Seal.

Anyway, here it is:

No third jersey yet but I plan on throwing one together soon. Also, I made a new personal logo so feel free to comment on that too.

C&C welcome and appreciated.

[kevsim1]

I think that there may be 1 color too many on the stripes (sleeves and waist). Other than that, this is one of my favourite Ducks concepts that i've seen. Great work on this one!

[jmoe12]

I would suggest replacing the black with gold in the stripes, but other than that, this is great!

[GriffinM6]

I would get rid of the gold. All the other colors mesh well together. I friggin' love the logos too.

[wildwing64]

Bump.

[Soarindude]

Yeah, get rid of the beige/gold and make it orange/black. Other then that, solid job.

[NoleYourRole]

As a Ducks fan, solely because of the movies that has since evolved into a genuine love of the team- I love this concept. Like yourself, I'm very much in a love-hate relationship with the new identity and I think you nailed every gripe I currently have with it.

LOVE the stuff you've come up with, but 2 suggestions- go to 3 stripes. For example, on the black jersey I'd ditch the white stripe and keep the black, or keep the white and ditch the black. Also, keep the gold. I think it looks good in your design, could maybe have more of a shiny metallic look to it, but that's kind of hard to pull off in flat color with no texture.

I think you could throw the old eggplant in the ring around the ducks neck as another nod to the heritage. Regardless, solid work overall.

[wildwing64]

And here's version 2.

I've done away with gold in the striping in favour of having a bold, orange stripe. Gold remains in the colour scheme, but it's exclusive to the primary crest, which I've also made adjustments to. The proportions are closer to a real duck, and I've added (or rather, I've re-added) an orange eye to match my original vision of this design - no pun intended. The green is also a tad darker. And finally, I fixed some things that were bugging me about the shoulder patch.

Thoughts?

[Morgan33]

You're not going to want to hear this but I definitely prefer your first version. Using all those colours on the sleeves and hem was so unique and refreshing. The length of the stripes was also a good nod to the old Mighty Ducks sweaters. Also preferred the lighter green but it's not a deal breaker. You definitely improved the primary logo though. Would love to see it on your original design but this is your concept. In any event, both designs are really well done and a huge improvement over what is currently worn so kudos for that

[chrysleraspen08]

Nice. I like that you brought back the old Mighty Ducks alternate logo for the secondary logo.

[wildwing64]

You're not going to want to hear this but I definitely prefer your first version. Using all those colours on the sleeves and hem was so unique and refreshing. The length of the stripes was also a good nod to the old Mighty Ducks sweaters. Also preferred the lighter green but it's not a deal breaker. You definitely improved the primary logo though. Would love to see it on your original design but this is your concept. In any event, both designs are really well done and a huge improvement over what is currently worn so kudos for that

Thanks!

I did like the gold stripes myself, I think if done right that colour combination could seriously work for the Ducks in real life. But for my concept, maybe it was one colour too many, or maybe the green was too bright for there to be two additional colours. I like what I had before, but I also really like the bold orange stripe on version 2.

Also, I found gold tricky to work into the secondary marks. Adding more colours to the wordmark would look awkward, and gold didn't stand out too well on the shoulder patch. So ultimately - at least for now - I've ditched it everywhere except for the primary logo, where instead removing the colour, i.e. making the webfoot shield orange instead, just did not look right.

For the time being I'd like to say I'm happy with this set, maybe I'll end up changing it again based on what sort of feedback I get. Also I'll likely start on a third jersey soon. It won't be black. I'm debating on green or orange for the third.

[wildwing64]

And here's the third jersey. Also, I've done away with the self-deprecating thread title.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

Just...wow...

[sparkychewbarky]

Great work on this wildwing.

How would the alt look in a darker green? The contrast might be nice.

As far as the striping goes: I'm on the fence on that one...both patterns look good, although I guess it's better to have fewer colours on the stripes.

The duck-head logo is really sharp: clean. I MUCH prefer it to their current D-foot logo.

I wouldn't worry about the number of colours in the logo (as long as you can do up a nice black-and-white version).

I always refer to the Black Hawks logo as to how good a multi-coloured crest can look.

Again, nice work.