Arizona High School Soccer, Redesigned

[Raymie]

Arizona high school soccer is a land of sartorial suckitude.

Feast thine eyes on boys and girls soccer here, and all you will see is utter meh. Disaster. Piping-induced messes that recall soccer versions of the Bettman stripe.

I decided it was time to fix that. So last month, I began a massive undertaking: the making of dozens of high school soccer kit concepts in Photoshop using Tim O'Brien's excellent template. I've done more than 70 so far, enough to do two a day.

None of the kits have maker's marks or crests—though I have done a project to make crests for all these teams, which feeds some of the designs I use, it's still a pretty big undertaking getting them on there—but what they do have is a nice look (I think). I've done at least two uniforms and a goalie kit for each team. Some schools have up to four uniform options, and many have three. Please note that my presentation is still in need of serious polish.

Since I plan on two a day, I'll be spotlighting different derbies/rivalries. For today's, we'll be headed to Peoria, a city in the West Valley of the Phoenix metro to meet...

Sunrise Mountain FC (est. 1996, 0 titles)

(home, clash, third, goalie)

and

Liberty FC (est. 2006, 0 titles)

(home, clash, third, goalie)

The designs emphasize front numbers quite a bit (they may even be too big) partly because they are required by NFHS, the regulating organism of high school sports — same for each team having a white kit. A lot of teams that have gold, sky blue or another light color I could see without one, so some of them simply don't have a white kit, though these two do.

I seriously appreciate your comments and feedback. I think this should be an interesting series.

[VictoriaGooner]

Hi,

What does the O.B. stand for inside the collars on your kits?

[mattb6]

Hi,

What does the O.B. stand for inside the collars on your kits?

It's the template, it's made by Tim. E. O'Brien.

As for the uniforms, I'm not a fan. They need at least a crest, and probably a manufacture's mark, and your font's don't work very well for soccer. The jerseys scream 90s way too much, probably because there's too much going on.

[SFCOM1]

Thats the High School Athletic Experence in AZ for Soccer. A lot of schools are involved in the NFHS Soccer programs for both boys and girls. Though the schools individual Identies in Soccer are not as establised (unlike Football, Baseball and Basketball. Even Track and field have better identity than soccer). The schools follow the guidelines established by the NFHS and the AIA (Arizona Inteschoolastic Association), and are more a "third tier" sport, thus lacking $$$ in most schools to create a better athletic identity in the sport.

[drdougfresh]

Looking forward to seeing what you do with Basha haha.

But I agree with Mattb6, I think you should head in a more modern direction -- take a look at the WC kits this year, there was a lot of great design on the pitch. This will be a neat series to follow, though. Looking forward to it!

[Raymie]

Hi,

What does the O.B. stand for inside the collars on your kits?

It's the template, it's made by Tim. E. O'Brien.

As for the uniforms, I'm not a fan. They need at least a crest, and probably a manufacture's mark, and your font's don't work very well for soccer. The jerseys scream 90s way too much, probably because there's too much going on.

I understand the 90s feel, and while I'm not typically one to use block type and such, I think the overarching fact that these are for high schools obviates that concern. A lot of the concepts I've produced in this series use block type—and quite a few don't.

While this is certainly a different design direction, and sure, my style might feel a bit bold and 90s in places, it's intended to be a cross between something much more soccer-y than what's being worn now (I agree with the guy above me, an identity issue is part of it—the first AZ state soccer championship was awarded in 1994!) and yet with some of the "American varsity" and more "modern" flair that are seen in football and even in soccer in places. If I were to have rendered Sunrise Mountain very traditionally

Part of the reason I have not posted my crests with these is because I designed them as a more Football as Football-type project; each crest has a number of stars correlating to the school's football title success. I've designed them in such a way that it would be difficult to make the necessary overhauls to reflect the right number of titles—unless you want me to start putting them on there now. Almost every school I've done kit-wise (and I think there are only one or two exceptions) has a crest done, so I can do that right away.