Icethetics

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Entries in project (43)

Sunday
Aug242008

From The Ground Up: Divisions

Check the pollbar. You can now vote on your preferred divisional boundary alignment for the Icethetics fantasy league.

Since I can't offer higher resolution images within the poll, I'm offering them here with a list of cities available to each division. All divisions here are named by geography.

Here are some things to think about with regard to the divisional boundaries. The larger the division area, the fewer teams you get out of that area in a way. Remember, every division gets 5 teams. Smaller divisional areas have a better chance of getting a city you want, for example.

So, if you think there should be more Canadian teams and fewer southern teams, you'll probably want to pick D. If you want more eastern cities than western, go with C. A has the best geographical spread. B and E rely heavily on northern cities. Just a few observations. There are plenty of other ways to look at each setup.

Happy voting!

Saturday
Aug232008

From The Ground Up, Part 3

Part 1 · Part 2

Today voting ended on the poll about how many teams our little fantasy league will have. Much to my disappointment, you all chose 30 — same as the NHL and same as the IHA. I know I run the risk of alienating readers by calling 34% of you a disappointment, but that's something I'm just going to have to live with. (Unless someone can give me a really good reason why we should be unoriginal and then I'll eat my words.)

I'll tell you I almost didn't include it because I wanted to stay off the beaten path. I used it more or less as a test to see how much you guys were willing to stray from what you know and move into new territory. Comfortable is comfortable but let's not make a habit out of recreating the NHL here. That's not the point, remember?

I've been reading the comments in the last two posts. A lot of you seem to like the idea of doing a league with all non-NHL cities (with an Original Six exemption, oddly enough). That's not a terrible idea considering what we've witnessed in the last two polls. But to do that would be an executive decision by me. Instead, here's the plan.

THE PLAN
Instead of creating a giant list of cities and allowing you guys to pick your favorites, I have a better idea. First, you're going to choose the geographical boundaries for the divisions.

I've created five maps for you to choose from. I think they're each different and good in their own way. None of them are even close to being in line with the NHL's current divisional map. You guys can study them and pick your favorite. Once we have the divisional boundaries decided, everything we vote on will be done division by division. Makes less work for me.

At some point tomorrow the new poll will appear in the sidebar with the five choices.

The next step will be selecting the markets that will have teams. I say markets (or metropolitan areas) for a couple of reasons: 1) I'd like to avoid multiple teams from the same market like New York or L.A. (I know it's one decision I'm taking away from you. Sorry. Let's make this easy.); and 2) if, for example, a city like San Francisco is chosen, I want there to be the option of placing the team in San Jose or Oakland or something.

I'll pick 12 cities from each divisional area (based on market size, most likely) and the 5 with the most votes will be awarded franchises. Simple as that. If you don't think this is the good plan, present a better one to me either by email or as a comment.

THE FUTURE
I've also been planning into the future of this league and while I won't go into detail right now, I will offer a few tidbits. Once we have all the cities picked out for each division, we'll move on to naming the teams, one division at a time. We'll take nominations and every entry that meets the guidelines will be included in the voting. More details on that later.

To keep the rest of the process from becoming excruciatingly tedious, we won't be voting on things like logos and colors separately. Once all the teams have been named, I'll begin taking logo submissions. That means you pick the color scheme to go with your logo set. The team's colors will be determined by the winning logo. All entries that meet the guidelines will be included in the voting. More details on that later.

All of the accepted entries will appear on one page and you'll rate each logo from 1 to 5 stars. The logo with the highest rating wins. In the event of a tie, we'll hold a run-off poll. After we have logos, we'll do jerseys. After that who knows. But all that will probably take us several months anyway.

THE NAME
By the way, this league is going to need a name. Start making suggestions. The only criteria I have is that it must use the name Icethetics in it and it cannot have the acronym IHA or NIHL. Let's hear some creative ideas.

For what it's worth, I like the idea of the guy who said we should pretend we're creating a new league in a world 20 years after the collapse of the NHL. Let's say some Bettman-like character holds the trademarks to every team name and logo from the NHL and he's vindictive. You steal one of his logos or team names — even a little bit — and he'll eat your children. You don't want your children eaten do you?

Let's try to be original and, mostly, have fun!

Friday
Aug222008

Project: IHA Central

First, if you have no idea what the Icethetics IHA Project is then click here to get caught up.

Second, I apologize for the delay in getting you the final division. I've been a little preoccupied what with working at a television station that did 14 hours of continuous live coverage of Tropical Storm Fay. The worst is past us now but it just keeps dropping tons of rain here. Quite an ordeal.

Now, you've seen the Atlantic, West, Northeast, Pacific and Great Lakes Divisions. Today we move on to the final division — Central. Remember, your job is to take the name and colors and create an identity for a hockey team from scratch. Have fun with it!

You guys have been coming up with some great logos as you've seen with the first few divisions. This week we've been voting on Pacific Division logos. Next week will be the Great Lakes. I may wait an extra week before doing this division just because I posted the names and colors so late.

Here are the final five teams of the IHA!

IHA: CENTRAL DIVISION


CHICAGO TIGERS / Chicago, Illinois
yellow (ECB90A), blue (0A58A0) and grey (CCCCCC)


MANITOBA THUNDER / Winnipeg, Manitoba
white (F0F0F0), navy (03055C) and dark grey (404040)


MILWAUKEE CRUSADERS / Milwaukee, Wisconsin
yellow (E2A500), red (AA0606) and white (F0F0F0)


MINNESOTA MILLERS / Bloomington, Minnesota
brown (90906A), green (037703) and black (202020)


ST. LOUIS SPIRIT / St. Louis, Missouri
blue (465FA8), red (B40000) and white (F0F0F0)

I've supplied colors in hexadecimal format. Should you need RGB conversion, here's a decent resource. By the way, you aren't tied to the exact colors here. Feel free to alter them a little if need be. But please shy away from the standard colors like total black or total white or total red. Remember, be different! As similar as it might be to the NHL, it's not the NHL!

GUIDELINES
Once again, follow these guidelines when submitting your original IHA artwork or it probably won't have a chance at being a finalist (there, I said it):

  • Don't steal artwork. You guys have gotten better about this but I'm still saying it. This is supposed to be where you let your own creativity shine through. Send in something original!

  • Submit three (3) logos: primary, secondary and wordmark. Use a white background. If your logo requires a white outline (think Lightning or Capitals), then use a gray background with the white outline included.

  • Submit vector art if possible. I will accept .ai, .psd and .pdf files. If you cannot submit vector art, you must be able to provide high quality raster art in .jpg or .png files. No .bmp files, PLEASE!

  • Try to stick to the assigned colors. Change them only if you deem it necessary and then explain why you made the change. Remember, the "fans" chose these colors and they're who you're working for in the end.

  • Email them to nhllogos@gmail.com with IHA in the subject line. Please include your first and last name (it will not be posted). Please also submit your nickname which will be public if you don't want your real first name used.

  • By submitting your own original artwork to the email address above, you agree to grant permission of its use for online or print publication by Icethetics. Do not watermark your logos or they will not be considered.

  • And finally, be prepared to accept feedback and criticism of all kinds!

As always, you can email me questions directly or post them in the comments area. Start designing your logos! I look forward to seeing what you all come up with!

Sunday
Aug172008

IHA: Special Contribution

If you're a regular reader, I'm sure you've heard of John Slabyk and The New Blue & Gold Project. I consider his concept artwork to be of the highest caliber — considering he is a professional graphic designer.

I got an email from John today. He says he's been following along with the IHA project and despite the endless amount of work he's been doing as the Art Director for Obama for America, he managed to break away when he saw the Great Lakes Division team — the Buffalo Bison.

John's asked that his design not be included as part of the IHA Project but still wanted to share it with you guys. He says he missed working with the buffaloes and felt this was a good way to keep himself sane. He says he took some liberties with the colors and I think it's for the better.

Anyway, it's always nice to see such quality artwork turn up in my inbox to share with you guys. I hope you guys like it. Feel free to leave your comments below.

On a separate note, I wanted to point out that as part of my attempt to spend less time working on Icethetics, I won't be posting logo finalists for the Pacific Division this week. However, I will still do the polls for the finalists throughout the week. They'll just be unveiled one day at a time instead of all at once.

Tuesday
Aug122008

Project: IHA Great Lakes

First, if you have no idea what the Icethetics IHA Project is then click here to get caught up.

You've seen the Atlantic, West, Northeast and Pacific Divisions. Now the one you've all been waiting for — the Great Lakes! Yes, that includes Buffalo, Toronto and even Detroit. Remember, your job is to take the name and colors and create an identity for a hockey team from scratch. Have fun with it!

You guys have been coming up with some great logos as you've seen with the first few divisions. This week we're voting on Northeast Division logos. The week after will be this division so that gives you about two weeks to work on your concept designs.

Now here are the new teams!

IHA: GREAT LAKES DIVISION


BUFFALO BISON / Buffalo, New York
white (F0F0F0), red (A70303) and black (202020)


COLUMBUS BRIGADE / Columbus, Ohio
orange (F26F03), blue (202272) and white (F0F0F0)


DETROIT LEGIONS / Detroit, Michigan
grey (B8C8C6), blue (1F83F3) and black (202020)


HAMILTON GENERALS / Hamilton, Ontario
tan (CDBE70), gold (907C20) and black (202020)


TORONTO KNIGHTS / Toronto, Ontario
red (D91313), grey (CECFB9) and black (202020)

I've supplied colors in hexadecimal format. Should you need RGB conversion, here's a decent resource. By the way, you aren't tied to the exact colors here. Feel free to alter them a little if need be. But please shy away from the standard colors like total black or total white or total red. Remember, be different! As similar as it might be to the NHL, it's not the NHL!

GUIDELINES
Once again, follow these guidelines when submitting your original IHA artwork:

  • Don't steal artwork. I'm still surprised I have to say this but a number of people submitted logos from professional teams. This is supposed to be where you let your own creativity shine through. Send in something original!

  • Submit three (3) logos: primary, secondary and wordmark. Use a white background. If your logo requires a white outline (think Lightning or Capitals), then use a gray background with the white outline included.

  • Submit vector art if possible. I will accept .ai, .psd and .pdf files. If you cannot submit vector art, you must be able to provide high quality raster art in .jpg or .png files. No .bmp files, please.

  • Try to stick to the assigned colors. Change them only if you deem it necessary and then explain why you made the change. Remember, the "fans" chose these colors and they're who you're working for in the end.

  • Email them to nhllogos@gmail.com with IHA in the subject line. Please include your first and last name (it will not be posted). Please also submit your nickname which will be public if you don't want your real first name used.

  • By submitting your own original artwork to the email address above, you agree to grant permission of its use for online or print publication by Icethetics. Do not watermark your logos or they will not be considered.

  • And finally, be prepared to accept feedback and criticism of all kinds!

As always, you can email me questions directly or post them in the comments area. Start designing your logos! I look forward to seeing what you all come up with!

Sunday
Aug102008

IHA Northeast Finalists Unveiled!

Last week you saw the logo finalists for the IHA Atlantic. This week, I've narrowed down three finalists for each team in the West Division for the logos I received. You'll begin voting on them tomorrow but for right now, have a look. I think we've got a good batch for this division.

BOSTON ROYALS

HARTFORD BEARS

MONTRÉAL ROUGE

OTTAWA CAPITALS

QUEBEC GLACIER

I'm leaving off credits here as usual. However, if your logo is featured here and you would like a credit, drop me a line via email and I'll be happy to add it. Otherwise, I plan to wait and credit the logos that win for each team.

Polls will be posted throughout the week to decide which logo should be used for each team. Along with each poll, I'll show some of the logos that were submitted but didn't make the final cut for one reason or another. So if you sent in a logo that wasn't selected as a finalist, it should be there. If it's not, the image you sent was probably unusable in some way.

By the way, I've tried to weed out any logos with elements stolen from actual professional sports team logos, but if I've missed anything be sure to let me know. I've got backups to put in for most teams as far as the polls go. Speaking of backups, there's one more logo I have to post because of it's homage to the Whalers.

I'm not sure it would be a good idea for this competition for obvious reasons, but how cool would it be for this alternate universe league to share a logo trait with the NHL's best like that? It would be like a destiny thing for the city of Hartford.

Seriously though, the Whalers had one of the best logos ever (even you guys agree as evidenced by your voting in the Vintage Logo Tournament). Anyway, I just wanted you guys to see it, but it probably won't be up for a vote in the poll this week.

Post your comments and critiques below!

Saturday
Aug092008

IHA Atlantic Final Logos

Almost four weeks ago we began Project: IHA and as we continue unveiling teams and logo finalists, we're now beginning the process of revealing the final logos for each team. Thanks go out to all of the amazing designers who had a hand in this.

Below are the final logos for the Atlantic Division. Each team has a primary logo as selected by the voters at Icethetics and a secondary logo from the artist's original set. I'm not posting wordmarks because not all of the winning logo sets included wordmarks.


Atlanta Fire
Designer: Ross


New York Americans
Designer: Sigma Kappa


Philadelphia Titans
Designer: Andrew


Pittsburgh Miners
Designer: Andrew


Washington Stars

Just to clarify once again, your votes determined the primary logos. The secondary logos are basically the other logo from the designer's set. The only exception being the Stars as these logos were submitted singularly. In other words, I made an executive decision on the secondary logo based on comments written on the poll post.

Congratulations to all the designers! These logos will be submitted for use in the IHA online fantasy league. If any of you would like your credit changed, let me know.

By the way, as a special bonus I have a couple of late submissions for the Titans and Stars that couldn't be included in voting. Wanted to share them with you.

If you guys have any questions, email me or ask in the comments. I'll be happy to answer.

Tuesday
Aug052008

Project: IHA Pacific

First, if you have no idea what the Icethetics IHA Project is then click here to get caught up.

You've seen the Atlantic, West and Northeast Divisions. Now we're headed to the Pacific. Remember, your job is to take the name and colors and create an identity for a hockey team from scratch. You can do it!

As I said last week, the response from artists has been phenomenal. You guys have come up with some great logos as you've seen with the first two divisions. This week we're voting on West Division logos. The week after will be this division so that gives you about two weeks to work on your concept designs.

Now here are the new teams!

IHA: PACIFIC DIVISION


LOS ANGELES SAINTS / Los Angeles, California
gold (C3AD49), green (388C38) and black (202020)


PORTLAND REBELS / Portland, Oregon
green (066641), orange (EE780E) and white (F0F0F0)


SAN JOSE EXPRESS / San Jose, California
red (BE1B1B), yellow (E5CF17) and black (202020)


SEATTLE METROPOLITANS / Seattle, Washington
purple (65009A), blue (135791) and white (F0F0F0)


VANCOUVER DYNAMO / Vancouver, British Columbia
blue (7093DB), grey (999999) and black (202020)

I've supplied colors in hexadecimal format. Should you need RGB conversion, here's a decent resource. By the way, you aren't tied to the exact colors here. Feel free to alter them a little if need be. But please shy away from the standard colors like total black or total white or total red. Remember, be different! As similar as it might be to the NHL, it's not the NHL!

GUIDELINES
Once again, follow these guidelines when submitting your original IHA artwork:

  • Don't steal artwork. I'm still surprised I have to say this but a number of people submitted logos from professional teams. This is supposed to be where you let your own creativity shine through. Send in something original!

  • Submit three (3) logos: primary, secondary and wordmark. Use a white background. If your logo requires a white outline (think Lightning or Capitals), then use a gray background with the white outline included.

  • Submit vector art if possible. I will accept .ai, .psd and .pdf files. If you cannot submit vector art, you must be able to provide high quality raster art in .jpg or .png files. No .bmp files, please.

  • Try to stick to the assigned colors. Change them only if you deem it necessary and then explain why you made the change. Remember, the "fans" chose these colors and they're who you're working for in the end.

  • Email them to nhllogos@gmail.com with IHA in the subject line. Please include your first and last name (it will not be posted). Please also submit your nickname which will be public if you don't want your real first name used.

  • By submitting your own original artwork to the email address above, you agree to grant permission of its use for online or print publication by Icethetics. Do not watermark your logos or they will not be considered.

  • And finally, be prepared to accept feedback and criticism of all kinds!

As always, you can email me questions directly or post them in the comments area. Start designing your logos! I look forward to seeing what you all come up with!

Sunday
Aug032008

IHA West Finalists Unveiled!

Last week you saw the logo finalists for the IHA Atlantic. This week, I've narrowed down three finalists for each team in the West Division for the logos I received. You'll begin voting on them tomorrow but for right now, have a look. I think we've got a good batch for this division.

CALGARY MAVERICKS

DALLAS PATRIOTS

DENVER MOUNTAINEERS

EDMONTON SEAHAWKS

HOUSTON COMETS

Like last time, I've left off credits here for a couple of reasons which I won't get into. However, if your logo is featured here and you would like a credit, drop me a line via email and let me know and I'll be happy to add it. Otherwise, I plan to wait and credit the logos that win for each team.

Also like the last division, polls will be posted throughout the week to decide which logo should be used for each team. Along with each poll, I'll show some of the logos that were submitted but didn't make the final cut for one reason or another. So if you sent in a logo that wasn't selected as a finalist, it should be there. If it's not, the image you sent was probably somehow unusable.

By the way, I've tried to weed out any logos with elements stolen from actual professional sports team logos, but if I've missed anything be sure to let me know. I've got backups to put in for most teams as far as the polls go.

Post your comments and critiques below!

Tuesday
Jul292008

Project: IHA Northeast

First, if you have no idea what the Icethetics IHA Project is then click here to get caught up.

I wanted to have the new division posted yesterday, but my computer issues prevented that. So now that you've seen the Atlantic and West Divisions, today we're heading back east for the Northeast Division. Remember, your job is to take the name and colors and create an identity for a hockey team from scratch. I believe in you!

The response from artists has been phenomenal. You guys have come up with some great logos. The response from many readers who aren't submitting work has been odd. I don't understand the complaints but you can never please everyone. Just have fun with this project!

As I've said, I'll be unveiling a new division every week until we've got all the team names and colors out there. This week we've begun voting on the Atlantic logos. Next week will be the West. The week after will be today's division. This gives you guys two weeks to come up with and submit designs.

Now for the IHA Northeast...

IHA: NORTHEAST DIVISION


BOSTON ROYALS / Boston, Massachusetts
yellow (F8BF24), purple (660099) and grey (BFCFD1)


HARTFORD BEARS / Hartford, Connecticut
green (03753B), blue (09549A) and white (F0F0F0)


MONTRÉAL ROUGE / Montreal, Quebec
maroon (6D0707), red (A90707) and white (F0F0F0)


OTTAWA CAPITALS / Ottawa, Ontario
grey (D0D5AB), navy (0C0A72) and black (202020)


QUEBEC GLACIER / Quebec City, Quebec
red (C20A2D), blue (013463) and sky (AED5FA)

I've supplied colors in hexadecimal format. Should you need RGB conversion, here's a decent resource. By the way, you aren't tied to the exact colors here. Feel free to alter them a little if need be. But please shy away from the standard colors like total black or total white or total red. Remember, be different! As similar as it might be to the NHL, it's not the NHL!

GUIDELINES
Once again, follow these guidelines when submitting your original IHA artwork:

  • DO NOT STEAL ARTWORK. I'm surprised I have to say this but a number of people submitted logos from professional teams. This is where you let your own creativity shine through. Send in something original!

  • Submit three (3) logos: primary, secondary and wordmark. Use a white background. If your logo requires a white outline (think Lightning or Capitals), then use a gray background with the white outline included.

  • Submit vector art if possible. I will accept .ai, .psd and .pdf files. If you cannot submit vector art, you must be able to provide high quality raster art in .jpg or .png files. No .bmp files, please.

  • Try to stick to the assigned colors. Change them only if you deem it necessary and then explain why you made the change. Remember, the "fans" chose these colors and they're who you're working for in the end.

  • Email them to nhllogos@gmail.com with IHA in the subject line. Please include your first and last name (it will not be posted). Please also submit your nickname which will be public if you don't want your real first name used.

  • By submitting your own original artwork to the email address above, you agree to grant permission of its use for online or print publication by Icethetics. Do not watermark your logos or they will not be considered.

  • And finally, be prepared to accept feedback and criticism of all kinds!

As always, you can email me questions directly or post them in the comments area. Start designing your logos! I look forward to seeing what you all come up with!