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!

IHA Poll: Hartford Bears

Cast your vote and leave a comment about your decision. If you chose a non-finalist, tell us which one. Then tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Starts Tue Aug 12
Ends Fri Aug 15

Below are a handful of the logos that were submitted but not selected as finalists. If you think one of these should be the Hartford Bears logo, select "non-finalist" in the poll and tell us your pick in the comments.

IHA Poll: Boston Royals

Cast your vote and leave a comment about your decision. If you chose a non-finalist, tell us which one. Then tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Starts Mon Aug 11
Ends Thu Aug 14

Below are a handful of the logos that were submitted but not selected as finalists. If you think one of these should be the Boston Royals logo, select "non-finalist" in the poll and tell us your pick in the comments.

Design Curtis Sanford's Mask!

Since there are a lot of Vancouver Canucks fans out there, by now I'm sure many if not most of you have seen the new contest on the team's official web site.

That's right, even you can design Curtis Sanford's mask! As you know, his teammate Roberto Luongo won the Tournament of Goalie Masks at NHLToL. Sanford, however, didn't fare as well being eliminated in the second round by Mathieu Garon. Now you guys have the chance to make it the best!

But obviously this isn't just for Canucks fans. I encourage artists of every stripe to take a shot at this. And as a bonus, feel free to submit your mask design to me at the same time as you submit it to the team. If you do an awesome job, I'll post it for everyone at Icethetics to see.

Have fun with it!

From The Ground Up

The IHA Project is going superbly as evidenced by the logo designs we've seen coming in for the fictional hockey league. But despite that, I still read comments and emails almost daily asking why nobody got any input on team names, colors, locations, etc. As I've said more times than I can count, that's not what the project is about.

However, it's made me realize that you guys would like a project where you get to exercise your creativity more — or at least your own opinion. A project where you build an entire fantasy hockey league from the ground up. Despite the time it will take to do this, I'm on board.

I'm adding a new element to the pollbar. It's called Fantasy and for the next few weeks it will feature polls that will allow you to guide the direction of this new league. Here is the question: Would you like to participate in the creation and branding of a fictional hockey league at Icethetics? If the response is positive, we'll move forward. If it isn't, I'll drop it.

The other question is about the geography. Two answers. North America or the globe? That's it for now. We'll see where we are next weekend when both polls have closed.

I hope this project doesn't prove to be a bad idea. I think this is something most of you want and I'm willing to facilitate it. So have fun with it. And if anybody's asking "what's the point?" The point is it's a hobby for logo designers and marketing wannabes. It gives you a chance to express yourself creatively if you want. And if you don't, it's something fun to look at every now and then.

Let me explain a little more about how this will work if we do go forward. Everything will be voted on. We'll start by choosing the number of teams in the league. Then which cities get teams. Then what names those teams will get. Then what colors they'll have. Then we'll go into logo and uniform design. I won't lie. It'll be a long process but everybody's voice will be heard. And I'll try to keep it as simple as possible while still making your vote the determining factor in every aspect.

And if you've got any suggestions for this process, don't hesitate to email me. I've got a lot of this already figured out but I'm always open to better ideas.

By the way, here's my plan for the IHA. We still have two divisions left. I'm going to see this through to the end. We'll get logos for all 30 teams and then it will be finished with it. No jerseys or anything like that. This project was always about the logos only. They'll all be turned over to Nicolas for use with his fantasy league — the International Hockey Association.

The one exception may be an IHA Logo Tournament just like all the other logo tournaments we've done. I'll gauge interest after we have all 30 and move on from there. But for anyone who's interested in following up with him about this fantasy league when the project at Icethetics comes to an end, I will find a way to get you in touch with him — likely via email.

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!

Make Your Own Jerseys

A reader named Mike recently brought to my attention a cool service that I'm sure would be of interest to the rest of you here at Icethetics. A company named Athletic Knit, which specializes in custom sports jerseys, has a special feature on their web site that allows you build your own custom jerseys. For those of you lacking the more creative Photoshop abilities but wanting to express your ideas for concept jerseys, this could serve as quite a useful tool.

Click here to visit their web site and see the graphic below for where to access the Online Customizer feature.

So naturally, using this feature, Mike tried his hand at all 30 NHL clubs and came up with his own concept third jerseys. I've split them into two sets for your viewing pleasure.

Very unique look for Anaheim. Everything else looks pretty tame. (Maybe Detroit and St. Louis are a little funky.)

Colorado and Washington. I'm just shaking my head. Got some odd striping for Columbus. Odd colors for that particular Vancouver logo. But I'm a fan of Tampa Bay so I can rest easy.

And because lately we can't seem to get enough of the Dallas Stars, here's a concept design that was sent in recently.

There are sweaters to go with these logos as well.

Interesting take on the Texas team.

Now feel free to spend the rest of your weekend at Athletic Knit cluttering up my inbox.

By the way, logo finalists for the IHA Northeast coming tomorrow. And boy, is it a doozy (I mean that both good and bad). You'll be stunned by what folks came up with for the Rouge, Capitals and especially Glacier. The Bears and Royals, not so much. Mainly the Royals. If anybody feels like cracking out an awesome logo for that team tonight, I'd be eternally grateful.

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.

New Logos For 'Yotes, Bruins, Sabres

I saw a reader posted links to images of new logos for the Coyotes, Bruins and Sabres and figured I'd post them for everyone to see. (Also, it will serve as a backup in case the original images disappear at some point.)

I'm not worried so much about crediting the original person who got these graphics considering they probably shouldn't have had them in the first place. But this is the internet. What can you do?

We can start with Phoenix. First, we've got a better shot of the alleged third jersey logo I first posted last week.

It's an amazing looking logo. Let's hope the sweater design can live up to it. There's also what may be a secondary logo for the alternate jersey along with a brand new wordmark.

Nothing bad to say about either of those.

The Bruins have a new wordmark as well.

Very cool. And we've got a bit of a better look at the vintage logo the Sabres will wear on their thirds.

Thanks to Resist The Machine for finding all of those. If you guys come across anything else, email me and we'll let the world know.

Freak Out Friday XLI

Another Friday is upon us and it's time to freak you out. I'm starting with a rather frightening rendition of a Senators third jersey concept.

Just look at those eyes staring back at you. Scary stuff.

We've been talking a lot about the Dallas Stars lately. Anybody want a real Old West theme for the uniforms?

If you did, I'm sure you don't anymore.

Stripes for the Sharks?

You know you'd buy that jersey. Don't try to deny it.

Here's a somewhat less freaky Wild concept sweater.

A new series within a series I started to FOFs ago showcased the infamous Mighty Ducks third jersey with the logos of other teams from around the league. We've done the Atlantic Pacific Divisions and today we've got the Southeast.

And while we're on this topic, under the heading of Other Things That Just Won't Die, the Iowa Chops are back for another round of mockery.

I don't think I need to say anything more. Just try to enjoy your weekend now that you've been freaked out.