Tuesday
Feb212012
0003: The Quebec Tempest
Rumors are hot and heavy these days of a possible relocation of the Phoenix Coyotes to either Seattle or Quebec. We covered Seattle on Sunday. Today, Ryan Barber gives us his take on a possible Quebec team. But for as cool as this concept looks, how could the Nordiques not be resurrected if the NHL returns to Quebec City one day?
Designed by 
Ryan Barber
Ryan Barber 
Reader Comments (24)
I'm from Quebec City, and you just can't put a maple leaf on a Quebec City team logo. The rest of the jersey is good.
The main logo is WAY too clutered !!
Like the design, not sure about the name...
Is it because the Maple Leaf is white in a blue background? Because even though Toronto has the nickname Maple Leafs last I checked the Maple Leaf itself is synonymous with Canada not necessarily with just one team - Winnipeg seems to be okay with putting a maple leaf on their jersey.
What if the tempest maple leafs was red in color on a white background - would that be better? Just curious.
Though I don't really know the written rules for the leaf on jerseys in Canada
This concept is amazing. It could very easily be transferred to a new Nordiques team. It's just beautiful.
I completely agree with you sir, if (and hopefully WHEN) the N.H.L. relocates to Quebec - why would they NOT be the Nordiques? However, this concept is really good! The striping on the uniforms are really nice, but can the author explain the logo a little more?
I really like these designs...but, I agree, Chris - how do you NOT bring the Nordiques back? And, while it looks great, what is the reason for the globe-style markings on the numbers/logo? It's a unique name, to say the least...but it's not the Nordiques.
Beautiful design! I love the colors and the stripes. The lis flower is very well designed... really original! But, I agree with the first comment. I'm also from the province of Quebec and it's "morally forbidden" to put a maple leaf on a Quebec City jersey. People won't appreciate.
I love the jerseys, and agree the logo is a bit busy. If you tone down the white lines behind the fleur de lis it could be more manageable. I love the little white maple leaf in the logo, however I'm from Ontario and not all that up to date with the Sovereignty movement (assuming that is why the leaf is forbidden). And I love the secondary logo
Dark Blue for Quebec??? mmmm, thats a bit too much like Toronto. may be better if you switch the 2 shades of blue around & make the lighter shade the main color?? Not a bad design, but not great.....
I love the double blue here and how the striping on the jersey front looks like a wave rising from the bottom and curling to the top.
Move the Coyotes and fund this now.
i think the design is perfect!!! now all you need is to name it the Nordiques!!!
Very nice concept!!! the name in French adds a nice touch
the main logo is almost a Q, I would simplify inside the circle a bit and extent the tail of the fleur de lis, or reposition it to really spell out that Q shape to the viewer.
I really like the striping on this jersey. the front and back don't match, it works!
Matt: I think it has something to do with Quebec being quite anti-canadian.
I agree with a few of the points here already. The logo's a bit cluttered (just barely), the Nordiques would probably be a more realistic name, and the maple leaf would need some modification to distance itself from the Leafs. The home jersey is a bit too dark for me, but otherwise this jersey is brilliant! Great job!
You can't put a maple leaf (canadian symbol) on a Quebec City jersey eventhough Quebec City is in Canada (you put a lily (fleur de lys) instead, a Quebec symbol). Just as you wouldn't put a rose (England symbol) on a Edinburgh jersey, eventhough this city is in UK (you would put a thistle instead, a Scotland symbol).
It's not a question of being anti-canadian. Sovereignist or not, Quebecers are proud of their difference: Quebec City is the capital of the only french nation in North America.
You can be pretty sure the name of the future team will be in French - or more likely "bilingual", something you can read in both languages, quite like Nordiques or National. But the "Tempest" doesnt mean anything in Quebec and would not be accepted by anyone up there.
Same for maple leaves, dont even think about it. If there's a flower on there, it will be blue lilies. But I'm not sure it's mandatory, look at the old Nordiques logo.
Anyway, was in Quebec two weeks ago, there are still so many Nordiques jerseys and hats, I dont think they would go for anything else.
First off thanks for all the compliments and constructive criticism. I'll try to touch on some of the main aspects.
Obviously I don't live in Quebec and as a Canadian I felt compelled to throw the maple leaf into the design. Being a Habs fan it was a difficult decision to throw the white leaf on blue but red didn't work. I played around with other options and there were many but I liked the leaf so I went with it.
I didn't come up with the name until I added the white curves to the backdrop of the logo. I thought it looked empty without anything there so I threw them in. Apparently now it's too cluttered and I can certainly see that perspective. The attempt was to depict a winter storm so the curves are an abstract illustration of a snowy wind - like I said it was an attempt. Pendulum has a great song called The Tempest so honestly that was my inspiration for the name.
I did angle the fleur de lis to loosely give the mark the look of a Q but at the same time I didn't want the logo to be identified as a Q so I didn't overdo it. Also to the point of the name, the logo was designed to be a generic Quebec logo so you could really call it anything but I wanted to try something different.
Finally I went with the dark blue colour on the jersey to again push the winter storm concept. I am well aware the Nordiques jersey was the lighter blue (I have one hanging on my wall in my room) but again wanted to distance myself from that look. The detail in the numbers is same as the backdrop curves in the logo - I thought it looked cool.
In my defense to all those die-hard Nordiques fans, I did put the three fleurs de lis at the bottom on the jersey on the back. That was my homage to the team.
Great design. Keep the maple leaf. I think is suttle and really ads to it.. the main symbol is the fluer de lys anyway plus there are 3 on the back. The UK analogy doesn't really work here anyway because Canada doesn't have Constituent Countries like the UK does. I don't think it's too cluttered but if that's an issue maybe remove the 3 interior white lines? And the name has to be the nordiques
Personally I'm not tied to a single idea of having the name be Nordiques however I just don't think Tempest is gonna happen... The National would be nice too... it references a fictional Hockey team that was based on the real life Nordiques... but seeing as Washington has named it's baseball team that since then it's not the greatest...
I like the logo. As for the maple leaf... I'm not allergic to those. It's small enough not to matter, but then why even have it at all at that point. Best to keep it all simple, or make it into a hockey puck.
Great design! Beautiful stylised lilly flower (inclined on the left... as our socialist government is... cough*shame*sarcasm). I really like the igloo shaped form surrounding the jersey. And as my predecessor, I ain't allergic to maple leaves, as it was, originally, our emblem (producing about 98% of world's maple syrup). As for the name, it is easily translatable and well chosen, but in my humble opinion, the name would more likely be the Nordiques (98%) or the Bulldogs (2%). Very nice work though! With only one funny comment: am I the only one finding that the background of the logo looks like a basketball? :P
Wow. Everything is in there. Even the design of the new arena evoques winter. I love the idea of leaving behind the Nordiques. Living in the past is over. We must go foreword. As for the Canadian Flag...keep it. I hope PKP is looking this concept.
I think the logo is more fleur de lils.....I like it more than the Nordiques logo....could still go for a lighter blue colour though