Professional Concepts Revealed

It's a rare but always welcome treat when we get a peek at the hidden process of branding NHL teams. For whatever reason, we all have a unique interest in this aspect of marketing, and naturally, we usually only see what they want us to. Every once in a while, though, we do get a look behind the curtain.

Kings logo evolution / The Royal HalfThis morning, Los Angeles Kings fan blog The Royal Half posted some required reading for any Icethetics regular.

Chris Kontos interviewed Dan Simon, the creative director behind one of the most memorable third jerseys in NHL history. He had a lot of fascinating revelations about the process, including why he wanted to distance himself from the project.

Other cool tidbits: Why the beard was never meant to be purple. Why the sweater featured horrible gradients. Plus, see some video from the alternate jersey's debut, 15 years ago today — against the even more memorable Mighty Ducks third.

Anyway, it's a very fun read and I highly recommend it. It also provides the perfect opportunity to post some items I've been hanging on to for a little while.

Original Blue Jackets logo / Ken LohThe designer of the above Kings logo, Ken Loh, was also the mind behind the Columbus Blue Jackets original insect logo.

Mercifully, this logo was replaced by Loh's secondary mark in time for the uniforms to be designed. The little bug head, however, still took a place on the shoulders.

And for what it's worth, I always liked the electric green because it made the team stand out. Guess it was just too revolutionary to survive. But if you think you've seen it all, prepare yourself for this.

Blue Jackets mascot / Ken LohAccording to Loh's portfolio, this was going to be the full-body version of the bug — not that we ever needed to see that. And let me be clear here. Ken Loh is obviously a talented artist. I just don't think an electric green insect necessarily has a place in the National Hockey League.

His online portfolio also contains colorful concept logos and uniforms for the Carolina Hurricanes (rust/purple/gray) and Philadelphia Flyers (orange/teal). You might be surprised by what you see there.

And while we're on the subject of the Blue Jackets, the team took it upon themselves to show off some of the concepts considered for the new third jersey, launched in November.

Alternate logo concepts / Blue JacketsThis video on the club's website explains what was involved in designing the new sweater. But most notably, it gives us a glimpse at some of the initial logo designs that were shown to focus groups.

We're now familiar with the cannon logo they ultimately chose, but it's interesting to see some of the other options they thought about, including the crossed cannon, the simple CBJ mark, and — taken right out of the Wild/Penguins playbook — the primary mark encircled by the club's name.

It seems they had their minds made up about a circular logo pretty early on in the process. And notice that in each of this displays, there's an option without red — bringing back the steel blue from that original 2000 insect logo.

And there last thing I wanted to leave with is what terrible manner of thing could've happened to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim back in the early '90s. I think this image was originally posted at Uni Watch but later showed up in my email.

Update on Thursday · Jan 27 · 2011 | 5:23 PM PST by Chris

For those of you having trouble accessing Ken Loh's portfolio in the link I provided earlier, I'm adding a couple of images from his site to this post just so you can see his work.

First, here's what he has on display for the Philadelphia Flyers.

Flyers logo and uniform concept / Ken Loh

Whether you like it or not, there's no denying that it would not have been out of the realm of possibility in the mid-90s the way it would be today. Even with the non-traditional teal in the mix.

The other can't miss element of Loh's portfolio was designed with the Carolina Hurricanes in mind.

Hurricanes uniform concept / Ken LohAgain, he's a very talented artist but this certainly does not fit within the branding standards of the NHL. And those colors are definitely one of a kind. Instead, the Canes just look like the Devils.

It's not clear on Loh's site whether these are just concepts he toyed with or actual artwork submitted to and considered by the league and aforementioned teams.

I just have to ask Flyers fans... could you imagine your team wearing that half-teal/half-black jersey up there? Take yourself back to that era when you think about it. Remember the Kings and Ducks, and that the Lightning were wearing rain and lightning bolts down their sleeves.

What a time that was. I'm sure it'll all come back again some day.

Sunshine State Branding Updates

Both of Florida's professional hockey franchises are planning makeovers for 2011. And new information is trickling out bit by bit. Obviously, we have to start with my team.

The Tampa Bay Lightning initially planned to unveil new logos and uniforms for the 2011-12 season on Monday. They wisely put those plans on the back burner, however, when two local police officers were killed. Now they're gearing up to try again next week.

On Sunday, the St. Petersburg Times was the first to report on details of the coming changes. Specifically, the Bolts will drop black and silver as part of their color scheme, which has been unchanged since the club's inception in 1992.

Times writer Damian Cristodero explained that the new home sweaters would be blue with nothing but a big white bolt of lightning on the front. In a blog update posted Tuesday, he clarified, saying the logo will still have a circular background. The road jersey will incorporate a TAMPA BAY wordmark.

Now the Tampa Tribune is getting in on the action. Tony Fabrizio reports that there will be a "series of announcements next week" in which the new branding efforts will be revealed as well as plans for improvements to the St. Pete Times Forum.

Fabrizio says the Lightning will unveil a revised logo, going on to write:

Based on what employees have been told, here's at least part of what the Lightning have planned:

New blue and white uniforms with blue rather than black home jerseys (similar to the current blue alternate jerseys). There's an updated lightning bolt, and the name Tampa Bay will only appear on the white road jerseys. The jerseys will have ties at the front of the collars.

I'm jealous of Lightning employees right now. For so many reasons, really, but this is just the latest.

They just updated the logo and uniforms in 2007, which wasn't a huge deviation from what they've worn since 1992. I'm not sure how much you can change the logo so it sounds like the color scheme will be the biggest shock to the system. That might take some time to get used to.

"The Panther" / NHL.comAs for the Florida Panthers,  I'm irked to say that the useless NHL Guardian Project may be newsworthy today.

Don't worry, it's still entirely useless, but it does indicate to us that the Cats are probably counting on keeping out the red moving forward.

As you can see, "The Panther" is all about the blue and gold and he's wearing Florida's third jersey crest rather than the leaping cat primary mark — which is clearly not long for this earth. It's being replaced all over.

I want to thank Carlos for pointing this out to me — as I'm trying desperately to ignore the "guardians" at all costs. Also a tip of the hat to Joseph for always being the first to email in anything Lightning-related.

I should express a concern regarding the color changes that appear to be taking place in Tampa and Sunrise. It sounds as if the originality these clubs have had from the beginning is about to go by the wayside.

Yes, the NHL already has a blue/white team in the Maple Leafs. And they have two blue/gold teams in the Sabres and Blues. Before the Florida teams arrived, nobody was black-blue-silver or red-blue-gold (since the '70s, anyway — and the Blues don't count).

Anyway, that's just the tip of the iceberg on the blue and gold. We've been hearing unsettling things about the Predators' changes for 2011-12. But I'll save that for later.

In the meantime, enjoy the All-Star events this weekend and brace yourself for what's to come next week.

Whale Tale Gets Even Worse

Original artwork / Scott JohnsonThis is one of those stories that, as a creative professional, I can only shake my head at.

Earlier this month I wrote a post called Timeline of a Connecticut Fail — referring to the AHL's Connecticut Whale. As has been made clear, I'm not a fan of the team's recent rebranding efforts. And I'm not alone.

We felt like we were sold a bill of goods, thinking the spirit of the Hartford Whalers was actually coming back. Because that's what we were told.

But we were lied to. First it was the name. Then it was the logo. And now we find out that very logo may have been outright stolen without even bothering to credit the original artist.

Graphic designer Scott Johnson outlined his treatment by Howard Baldwin & Co. on his personal blog. It's staggering, to be honest.

When the new group wanting to bring Whalers hockey back to Hartford was in town, that colleague connected them with me. What a chance for me — creating a uniform for the team in Hartford!

Things went pretty well in the process at first. Lots of back-and-forth of what they wanted, lots of sketching, designs, and artwork. I thought we were going great — I did what they asked and more, and they used almost all of the work I did. The thing is, they just didn't appreciate it enough to pay for it.

The worst part for me wasn't the lack of payment, it was that another artist was allowed to take credit for my work — with the Whale's blessing. ... It's disappointing and unfortunate.

That's putting it awful mildly.

This is a huge thing that he is accusing this team of doing. And rather horrible too.

Despite having expressed my disappointment with the final product, I must admit I actually like Scott's original artwork. The whale is still a bit goofy, but he was following instructions he was given. Still, some of those jerseys are outstanding.

The "C" with the whale tail protruding in from the side is spot on. I'm not a fan of the wavy stripes, but as a logo it's perfect if what you want is to recall the spirit of the Whalers.

Anyway, we all have our own opinions on what looks good and what doesn't. But I think we can all agree that logo theft is completely unacceptable in every way. This goes beyond disappointing and unfortunate.

The sad thing is, it's not a rare event. Just this week our friends at PuckDrawn reported on a USHL team that purchased a logo design it had no idea was stolen — from a PuckDrawn concept competition.

These are minor league and junior teams, yes, but they still sell merchandise to turn a profit just like the pros. To see them stealing from talented artists is just repulsive and illegal.

Short of putting an end to displaying much-loved concept art on Icethetics, I wish there was something we could do to stop it. Just have to keep an eye out for thieves, I guess, and make their transgressions as public as possible.

Lightning Postpone Unveiling

Before I even had a chance to mention that the Tampa Bay Lightning scheduled a press conference for this afternoon to unveil new uniforms, some pathetic excuse for a human forced the team to postpone it.

Just yesterday, the St. Pete Times reported that the Bolts had submitted paperwork with the league to change their uniforms. Then last night, the team had already called a press conference regarding a "major announcement concerning the organization's complete brand and business transformation."

I was really looking forward to that.

Unfortunately, a weasel hiding in his attic shot and killed two police officers this morning in St. Petersburg. By the way, if that's not enough to convince us that guns really aren't cool, just yesterday two officers were shot by a lunatic outside Seattle. And four in Detroit.

But that's a discussion for a different kind of blog. Here's what the Lightning said on their website:

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s press conference scheduled for this afternoon at the St. Pete Times Forum has been postponed indefinitely. Out of respect for those involved in an ongoing emergency situation in St. Petersburg today, the Lightning has elected not to move forward as previously scheduled.

More information will be available later today. Thank you for your consideration.

Good for them. We can wait. This isn't news today.

I'll keep on eye on future updates regarding the rescheduling of the press conference, which will probably be sooner than later. Despite no longer living in Tampa, I'm very excited to see what my team is up to.

By the way, when the Times mentioned the postponement on its website, the headline specifically said that new uniforms would be unveiled as this news conference. The team has not officially confirmed this yet.

Classic Look on Tap for Lightning

We recently learned from Reebok that the Tampa Bay Lightning will be one of a number of teams getting new uniforms in 2011. But according to a St. Petersburg Times article, maybe we should be expecting a complete rebrand!

In this morning's paper, Bolts beat writer Damian Cristodero confirmed that the team has submitted paperwork to start the ball rolling on uniform changes for the 2011-12 season.

Also today, in his Lightning Strikes blog, Cristodero revealed new details and speculation about the upcoming changes, including dropping black from the color scheme and the possibility of a new logo. But rather then paraphrasing, I'll let him tell you:

Here is what you might expect when the uniforms are unveiled, perhaps as soon as this week:

The primary colors apparently will be blue (close to what is used now with the third jersey) and white. Sounds as if the color black, which has been the team's prominent color, and the silver trim will be gone. The logo on the home jerseys is expected to be just a prominent lightning bolt without the words Tampa Bay that are used now.

The road jerseys are expected to have the lightning bolt and the words Tampa Bay, though no immediate word on how the design will look. It is believed there also will be the classic strings at the front of the collar.

It also is unclear whether the third jersey will be retained as its color is believed to be so close to that of the home, dark jersey. Anyway, sounds as if GM Steve Yzerman had a lot of input into the details or at least into the idea of trying to create a classic look that will endure for a long time.

I completely agree with that assessment. It indeed sounds as if Yzerman is trying to make the Lightning look like the Red Wings — only blue instead of red. Not that I have a problem with that. One thing the team has never had is a look that will "endure for a long time."

As a Lightning fan, I'm skeptical about the idea of dropping the black and silver. I know the Wings have gotten away with nothing more than red and white for decades, but I'm not sure a monochrome look is the best thing for the Bolts. But I trust in Stevie Y.

I know it's all conjecture, but I'm a fan of almost everything Cristodero has written. The simple design, the lace-up collar, and the idea of dumping the "BOLTS" third jersey. I'm also eager to see a crest that doesn't have any text on it for the first time in 19 years — though I'm happy for the road jersey to still say Tampa Bay (as long as we steer clear of the Stars' look).

However, what shocked me about this article is where Cristodero says that the new uniforms could be unveiled as early as this week! As we know, teams usually wait until the summer to launch new sweaters, if for no other reason than to keep selling current inventory.

And this is also worth pointing out:

Neither the NHL nor the Lightning, which last changed its logo before the 2007-08 season and added a third jersey for 2008-09, would confirm changes are coming. But it makes sense a new ownership group, with principal Jeff Vinik and minority owner and CEO Tod Leiweke, would want to rebrand the franchise.

Announcements from the team are expected soon, perhaps as early as this week, concerning business and fan initiatives and what is believed a renovation of the St. Pete Times Forum.

Sounds like things are getting exciting in Tampa! Obviously, I'll be keeping a close eye on all this. But I think I may have picked the wrong year to leave Florida.