At Work on Columbus' NHL All-Star Logo

Since I'm in the process of reinvigorating the Concepts page here at Icethetics (with new concept posts daily!), it seems only fitting that this latest blog update features a number of professional concept logos that have been created for the NHL.

It all comes by way of a video posted on the Columbus Blue Jackets' website — the first in a series chronicling the development of the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend.

In the video, the guys who will be designing the All-Star logo talk about the process. It's all very fascinating to people like us.

Bill Frederick of the Frederick & Froberg Design Group and NHL Senior Design Director Paul Conway arrived in Columbus Tuesday to meet with Blue Jackets marketing and creative team members and begin planning the art for the 2013 All-Star celebration. Conway and Frederick have been a part of several NHL sanctioned event logo designs, most recently working on the 2012 NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa.

NHL All-Star 2012 logo developmentPerhaps the best part of the video is the B-roll in which we see the logo designers leafing through their incredible portfolio. Getting to see the logos that didn't make the final cut is very cool.

On the right are three screen grabs from the video that show the early development process of the 2012 NHL All-Star logo. Interestingly, it was the design labeled Concept A that appears closest to the final version.

Concept B is pretty nice, but it makes sense the overall shape of an All-Star logo is more of a — you know — star. And I guess the Peace Tower was kind of the obvious choice as far as a central design theme.

As the designers say in the video, the first thing they do is try to determine what makes the host city iconic — if anything. The goal isn't to rework the host team's primary logo with some stars in it — despite the fact that that's basically what happened with the 2011 game in Raleigh.

As Conway says:

“Some cities are more challenging than others, and Columbus certainly is one of those. There’s not that one key iconic aspect of the city that stands out, which makes this research phase and interview process even more critical.”

Columbus is a beautiful city, but I'm not sure the skyline is recognizable enough to cut it here. It'll be interesting to see what they go with since the Blue Jackets' primary mark is basically tailor-made for an All-Star logo — what with it being a giant star and all.

I hope the Blue Jackets continue to release videos throughout this process. It'll be fun to follow along with the development of an NHL logo. It's something we rarely get an inside look at — and something no Icethetics reader can get enough of.

Conway says the process can take about four to six weeks from start to finish. But that doesn't necessarily mean the official logo will be unveiled in April. It may not come until late summer. We'll obviously be keeping an eye on it.

One more thing. In the video we see someone thumbing through a Blue Jackets logo portfolio. It appears to share a glimpse of elements of an unused third jersey design.

I would guess the logo we see there was probably an intended shoulder patch. Beneath it we can see the numbers and letters that are actually used on the current third jersey — only in different colors. Bet it would've been a neat look. (UPDATE 2/26: After the initial post, Avi Stein put together a hi-res rendering of what we can see in that video frame.) And if you feel like putting together a uniform concept featuring this logo, maybe you can take some inspiration from some other Blue Jackets third jersey prototypes seen here last year.

For what it's worth, the NHL is currently promoting the 2013 All-Star Weekend with graphics like the one seen here. But it's merely the Blue Jackets' custom font. Nothing special — or permanent.

My thanks to Mike R. for letting me know about the video.

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While we're on the subject of logo development, Denver Post beat writer Adrian Dater posted a podcast he did with Dan Price, the creative director for the Colorado Avalanche in 1995 when the team moved from Quebec. He was responsible for the logo, but credits Michael Beindorff with actually designing it.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview to me was learning that the franchise was originally going to be named the Rocky Mountain Extreme. The name was actually leaked early by Dater in the Post but Denver hockey fans revolted and the marketing guys went back to the drawing board. Price points out that before the organization settled on Avalanche, they also considered naming the team Cougars and Black Bears. Glad they went with Avs.

Price is currently the head of a local marketing firm called Adrenalin. They are responsible for rebranding the Phoenix Coyotes in 2003 when Wayne Gretzky got involved with the team. Anyway, the podcast is a good listen if you've got a half hour to kill. But a necessity if you're an Avs fan.

Winter Classic Foes All But Official

2012 Winter Classic temporary logo / NHL.comThe 2012 NHL Winter Classic will take place not on New Year's Day but the day after, when the Philadelphia Flyers host the New York Rangers at Citizens Bank Park.

The New York Times says this information has been confirmed by a league official not authorized to speak publicly on the decision.

Technically, it's still speculative at this point, but it will be official as soon as the NHL releases next season's schedule. And that's expected as early as tomorrow.

This graphic to the right here is the first temporary logo being used to promote the 5th annual outdoor game. The final version of the 2011 Winter Classic logo was unveiled on the same day as the schedule release, so perhaps we could see it Thursday as well.

The Flyers-Rangers game will take place on Jan. 2, 2012, due to the fact that Jan. 1 falls on a Sunday and the NFL season will still be underway. And the NHL doesn't need that kind of competition.

I know most of us, Flyers fans excluded, aren't thrilled with seeing a Pennsylvania team involved in this event for the fourth time in five years. This pattern seems to be repeating past WC opponents to allow them to host a game of their own. If it continues, we could see Detroit hosting in 2013. Who would you like to see them play? The Avalanche? Maybe the Blues or Stars? Think of the throwback jersey possibilities.

Since I can't leave this post without something interesting to look at, here's a concept designed by DC Visual Arts. How about these for Winter Classic uniforms? Even NESN was sort of fooled.

Winter Classic 2012 concept / DC Visual Arts

A Look Back at the Infamous Slug

Taking a quick break from the somewhat fun but tedious work of creating new Jersey Galleries to keep the blog fresh. (By the way, Montreal is up next.)

Today marks the start of a new era for the Buffalo Sabres as a new owner takes the reigns. So you might wonder why I'm using the old logo in this post.

Charlie from Sabres Not Slugs directed me to a discussion last week on the SportsLogos.net forums regarding the genesis of the 2006 uniform and logo. The team's creative services director, Frank Cravotta, posted some early sketches to his online portfolio — which were later removed.

As luck would have it, that doesn't mean they're gone from the Internet at all.

Early sketches of 2006 Sabres logo / Frank CravottaVery cool to see the evolution of a mark that was so despised — and to see it from its earliest stages when it both looked like a bison and incorporated the swords for which the club is named. But the question remains, why were they removed at all? Usually that signals an artist claiming work not his own.

Well, that's not exactly the case here, as explained by Kristopher Bazen, a member of the team involved in the rebranding efforts. He wrote about the process and the harsh condemnations the logo received. 

I have several rounds of work where you can see how the "Buffaslug" took shape, so when I was given a heads up ... and saw the work online, I felt the need to speak up. I spoke to Mr. Cravotta and stated how the postings of some images could be misleading, due to the fact that the re-brand was a collaborative effort, and I thank him for removing those images in such a timely manner.

It's funny, I never really thought I'd be speaking on behalf of this project, especially since they've all but abandoned the mark, but since I'm on the subject, I guess I'll let it rip! The thing that frustrates me the most is a lot of people have no idea of the amount of work that goes into these projects, yet fire off at the mouth (or keyboard) like they are seasoned veterans at this stuff. ...

The truth of the matter is there was months of work that came from our team before this logo was decided upon. It's common for designers to work up a ton of sketches and options to please a client, but when the client has their own idea of how things should look.

Honestly, I'm thankful because I've grown thick skin by reading people's bashings and critiques. I don't believe I'm a bad designer, despite people calling for me (or should I say, "the designer") to be castrated, among other things. Does anyone remember www.fixthelogo.com, an online petition to have the Sabres logo scrapped immediately after the unveiling? I sure as hell do! That sucked because I was a young designer just trying to do my job and service a client, and happy for the opportunity to be able to accomplish a childhood dream.

In the end, I've learned to chalk it up as a learning experience and move on. I am happy to report that since that catastrophe, I've worked on other sports identities and luckily, response has been rather positive. I won't go into detail on that stuff, but I just figured I'd clear the air on that. ... It's all good!

Bazen has it right. As I've learned, you can never please everyone, so you just have to accept that people will shoot their mouths off even over things they know nothing about. But almost everyone is guilty of that at some point, myself included.

So with all the bad-mouthing this logo received during its short tenure, especially on websites like Icethetics, I felt it only fair to present the other side of the story. Consider it presented.

We seem to be a little concept-heavy these days, but I think most of us enjoy seeing the "what-might-have-beens." So continuing on that note, Cravotta had also posted a few of the early designs of the new third jersey the Sabres launched this year. It was also removed.

Early sketches of the 2010 Sabres third jersey / Frank Cravotta

Again, it's fun to see the options that were considered. Personally, I think my favorite of the four is the "Force Uniform" as it incorporates more gold. But they're all very cool. And I like that Cravotta included a picture of the number stitching that was the inspiration for the final design.

Lastly, since this seems to be a tale of two artists, I'll finish with the other one. Bazen's portfolio features a lot of sports branding and identity work, including other NHL teams. Here's a little preview.

NHL identity concepts / Kristopher Bazen

If you want to see more, check out his website.

If the Wild Weren't the Wild...

If there's one thing apart from new uniforms and logos that gets Icethetics readers excited, it's what was left on the table. We love concept art, especially when it's in the form of professional designs once considered by NHL teams. We've actually had a chance to see a lot of that recently with the Lightning, Kings, Blue Jackets, Ducks, Panthers, and even the Coyotes way back in 2008.

Now the team we know today as the Minnesota Wild has revealed what might've been in a new image gallery posted on their website.

Did you know that among the names considered early on were the Blue Ox, Freeze, Northern Lights, White Bears and Voyageurs? You may have. Those names have been floating around for a while, so now as they celebrate their 10th anniversary season, the Wild have hooked up with Minneapolis creative firm called The Shinebox to give us a visual representation of how the club might have otherwise looked.

Note: The following artwork doesn't truly fit in with the other teams discussed at the beginning of this post. Those were actual concepts the team considered once they had their name selected. In this case, the Wild turned to SME Branding to create their bear head logo only after a name was settled on.

Minnesota Blue Ox / The Shinebox

Minnesota Northern Lights / The Shinebox

Minnesota Voyageurs / The Shinebox

Minnesota Freeze / The Shinebox

Minnesota White Bears / The Shinebox

All rather interesting concepts, but none beats the Wild. And just like the logo, even the name Minnesota Wild is one of the best in the NHL. (Second only to, say... the Tampa Bay Lightning?) It's kind of interesting to see some personality added to the names that were considered for the team.

The Wild name was revealed to the public on Jan. 22, 1998 and the logo still in use today was unveiled Nov. 18, 1999. I highly recommend reading the article on the Wild's website as it talks a bit about the process of choosing the name and the trepidation the higher-ups felt upon its unveiling.

Inside the Lightning's New Identity

Just when you thought there was nothing more we could say about the recent rebrand of the Tampa Bay Lightning, we get an embarrassment of riches from the New York Times.

Times writer Jeff Z. Klein got the inside scoop on the Bolts' new look straight from the source, Ed O'Hara, the chief creative officer of SME Branding. SME is the creative force behind the branding of many NHL teams. And while reading this article, I was surprised to discover that, for as much work as they do, they only employ 15 people.

The article delves into details, including why an oval was used instead of a circle and how TV tests factor into the decision-making process. Even if you don't care for the Lightning's new identity, it's still worth a read just for the insight into how it all works.

Along with the article, the Times produced a video littered with some of SME Branding's conceptual work that ultimately led to the final design. I recommend watching the video, but here's some of what's in it.

Conceptual work for Lightning identity by SME Branding / New York Times

The whole process took six months and yielded a lot of interesting work. So what do you guys think? Are any of the early designs better than the final product?