Week 13: Final Jersey Voting
Thursday · Jul 11 · 2013 | 1:08 AM PDTWell this is really it. The final polls of the IceHL's 13 Weeks of R&R project. We've come a long way since April and now it's time to pick the winning jersey designs for our rebranded teams. Based on their percentage of positive ratings, a few designs for each team have moved on to this final round. The number varies from team to team.
Results remain hidden until polls close. Winners announced Sat., July 13.
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The Calgary Stallions were not included here because the rating period determined that Bastian Schmülling's original design will remain in use. It was the only one to receive overall positive feedback.
You may also notice certain designs have been included in the above polls despite poor ratings. Let's call those executive decisions. As the commissioner of the IceHL, sometimes I feel the need to interject a little bit. But I've always said I won't substitute my judgment for yours. Just giving you some additional voting options here.
When the winners are announced on Saturday, this project will come to a close. So for the last time... happy voting!
Reader Comments (27)
These are all the same, we definitely have a type
Icethetics' user base has the most boring taste of all time. No offense to the designers, but look at the finalists for the jerseys. There's a grand total of at the most 5 designs that at all attempted something original. The Icehl is a fake league and the jerseys don't affect anything, but still everyone wants every jersey to be a palate swap of one of the original six jerseys.
I can't wait til Saturday! How's the yearbook going?
If I could I would wear a Colin Magee Vancouuver Lumberjacks jersey today. Nicely done good sir!
Colonials: I don't like Beatman's but I respect the other 2 and I picked Herbert's in the end
Chargers: Not a fan of Marczel's but I really like Lundrigan's
Dragons: I only like Heilmann's
Steelcats: Don't like Otter's but I really like the other 2. In the end I picked McElroy
Olympiques: I personally believe that Ell's blows the others out of the water
Aces: Big McElroy fan but I just can't stand the neck stripes. It was a very hard decision between the other two but overall I think Fuller's is the best
Snipers: Though I like all three designs I just LOVE St. Jeans submission. 6/5 stars!
Outlaws: Not a fan of the wavy stripes on Beatman's submission but I think Otter's looks very professional and is one of the best jerseys submitted
Lumberjacks: Tough decision between Wold's and Lundrigan's but I think Lundrigan's striping won me over
Sentinels: Would've chosen McElroy's if it weren't for the neck stripes again, so I chose Lyle's instead
Honestly all 4 Montréal jerseys are great. I think that'll be the closest vote.
Your Face, after looking through all these finalists I only found 4, 4 original jerseys. What you said is so true
@Guy: I agree. I was thisclose to scrapping the first round results and just posting my selections for final voting. I'm very disappointed with where we're at this year. That's not a knock on the designers. As others have said, they've done some solid work, but the fact that all the finalists look the same says something.
I think we're seeing why pro teams don't let fans vote on jersey and logo designs. Crowds are bad at it.
@Jordan Lowther: Yearbook's coming along. Still so much to do. Hoping I'll make my September deadline.
@Jordan Thank you so much! I never expected so much praise on that jersey!
While I'm excited to get one of my jerseys into the finals, I am disappointed that some really creative sets got shot down in the first round (for example some of the Charger jerseys that made great use of the lightning bolts and checkered flag patterns - Stefan's is pretty good). Maybe Chris is going to have to figure out a new system for future contests.
@Your Face @Guy @Chris- I believe that's why my designs did so crappy. We aren't here designing jersey's for the NHL or even the AHL, we are supposed to design jerseys for a fictional FANTASY league that we all adore. So why not design FANTASY hockey jerseys, that don't look like a science fiction cape, and have some fun with them.
All but maybe 2 or 3 of these designs, could be adopted by an NHL team because they aren't that original. I know 2 of my designs were awful (especially the Sentinels) but I did them because I wanted to see how they could turn out in a fictional league. Would we ever see pinstripes in the NHL now a days? No, but why not give them a chance in this league and see how it goes? Well I did, and I guess they didn't go over very well. But isn't this league the appropriate time to use those crazy templates? Isn't a time where we should push the envelopes and develop something we would never see in reality? I'm all for developing some of these designs (like the Lagers and possibly the Armada), but why not go a little nuts?
I may be wrong but I'm sure Chris would like to see something out of ordinary. He did say (and quoting his own words): "Do something creative and original. Avoid copying existing jersey designs. We want IceHL teams to stand out and be unique"
In my opinion, only a couple of these designs are "creative and original...unique"
Boston: Looks like Magee's White goes with Herbert's blue (double stripes) and Magee's blue goes with Herbert's white (thick stripe with thin yellows). Keeping the "exact" stripe on each color doesn't cut it.
Detroit: Mud. Black letters on red. Looks like mud.
Halifax: white numbers on white stripe? red on green stripe? red on green jersey? Schmulling by default.
Steelcats: Again, red on blue, blue on red? Gold numbers on blue gets the vote.
Olympiques: Austin simply for keeping the shoulders clean
Aces: Caleb Fuller has the same double stripes as above, but I give him props for red and gray. Unique.
Snipers: Pass
Outlaws: Otters just for legibility
Lumberjacks: the return of the original North Stars colors. Stefan's got the Fighting Saints vibe. Wold's got the Gump Worsley going on, but the green should be white stripe with gold trim. Lundrigan gets it in a close one.
Sentinals: Macho Man Randy Savage in front of the Washington monument (would've preferred the shield) Duncan's blue is the Oilers. Matt's is an Oilers wannabe. Fuller wins simply because we can see the numbers from the club seats.
As a Red Wings fan i tend to like simpler jerseys, but great original designs where left behind that where more deserving than some present here.
I would buy Matt Marczel Detroit Jersey in a heartbeat.
Hey chris -- just make all of the polls hidden, that way you can promote any jersey you want if you feel like the public has made a bad choice...the USA has been running their elections like that for 237 years now.
Also, what percentage of the votes do you think are coming from people who just wonder on to this site not really knowing whats going on, vote, and then never come back? If you could somehow limit fly-by-night voters then I think that would help a lot.
I think maybe we've seen all there is to see and have become jaded, reverting back to what we're accustomed to. We see so many concepts on this site, the truly creative gets lost in the shuffle I think. Speaking as a loyal reader with absolutely zero design skill, I think it's possible we've become spoiled and it's stifled our imaginations and made us intolerant of anything less than perfect. We've seen so many hundreds of fantastic concepts here, our expectations have become incredibly high and made us unaccepting of the truly creative and imaginate designs. I too am disappointed with how bland this turned out....I think I'm a conservative voter myself, but even I find a lot of these designs dull, although most are of a very high quality if not necessarily inspired. Lastly, I am so sick of red, blue and black jerseys it isn't funny, in leagues both real and fictional. Maybe you should ban these colours from future polls Chris, at least as base colours anyway! Where are the purples, oranges, browns, greys et al? We are truly living in a cookie-cutter time.
Colonials: Alan John Herbert for keeping a color balance (Would've voted for Gary Beatman, but he didn't use any shoulder patches)
Chargers: A bit tricky to decide, but I decided to go with Stefan Lundrigan...the bolt-yokes made it a winner!
Dragons: Derek Heilmann came OH-SO-CLOSE...but that white numeral does NOT go with that white stripe. If they'd been red, it would've gotten my vote. As is, I say Duncan Lyle (and seriously hope the Dragons are the next team to get a real-life jersey made up for them)
Steelcats: Justin Nahhas basically picks up the pattern of the old jersey, but as I keep saying, with the new logo, the dark sweater HAS to be blue (only way you can make out the logo)
Olympiques: Hmmm...every design is SOLID. My vote went to Austin Ell (for it making use of all three logos)
Aces: CHANCE WADDELL. Perfect balance of the logo and colors.
Snipers: Alex Hackert (because it's the only one that's blue...and the sweater should be blue so that maple leaf-faceoff circle stands out)
Outlaws: Still can't decide. Daniel Otters per coin toss.
Lumberjacks: Colin Magee (I LOVE THE TREE TRIM)
Sentinels: Caleb Fuller (The stripes stand out the most here)
PS: Are we still doing the Third Jersey Project for the IceHL teams which didn't rebrand this year?
What would you think about letting the designers narrow it down to top 3-5 next time and then everyone voting on those.
Thumbs-up / thumbs-down clearly didn't work. Maybe each person should be able to vote for 2-3 favorites; they might not be as uptight about non-traditional designs with their 2nd or 3rd choice. Meanwhile those designs are still racking up points from multiple voters.
I voted for Caleb Fuller's Washington, and Colin Magee's Vancouver jerseys. I think they have enough originality in them, be it the stripes referencing the US flag or the tree line banding, to warrant selection. I agree that a lot of these designs are just pre-exhisting nhl designs recolored and an icehl logo dropped on, which is fine. In the end WE all voted these designs through to the final, so we cant really complain. Perhaps rather than voting on every phase of design, each franchise gets a designer assigned to them (perhaps through a vote?) to brand and drive their vision of what the team should be. Yes, Its less inclusive which isn't great, but It may mimic the real world design process teams have to work through when they are re-branding.
while i do agree that while looking at these, they all seemed a to be very similar, and at times I felt like i was voting for the same thing over and over, in the end, i still voted on what i liked.
when i voted for names, logos, jerseys, etc, i based my votes off of what i would like to see had it been my actual team and what i would be willing to buy and wear. there are plenty of logos/ jerseys that teams i like roll out that i would never buy because i don't like how the look. that is the same way i approached my voting.
there were designs in the last round that i appreciated the work/ thoughts of the designer, but, in the end, if i wouldn't want to wear it as a fan, i probably wouldn't want to see my team wear it in the ice. (there were a couple that i saw that i would have liked as a one-off, for example, but never more than that.) the way the voting is set up, those simpler designs are more likely to make it though, because they are easier to not hate. once you get creative, there are more chances for fans to say, "eww, I don't like that."
On the "home page" for the initial round of evaluations, Matt St. Jean mentioned the possibility of using the five-star rating system that's in place for the Concepts page, which I'd second as being a potential idea for keeping the "creative" concepts at least in the running with the "traditional" ones. Ultimately, though, it seems like what we're all wanting is a culture change, which is harder to bring about, but at least everyone seems to be in agreement in the comments, which is a start. Maybe there's a way to restrict voting to people who've registered accounts with the site? (Which, admittedly, I haven't done, but I'm about to now that it's crossed my mind!)
But it sounds like everyone wants something to be done, and I know that, personally, my concepts that I was most excited about submitting (Montreal and Philly) got buried, while the two that have actually made it to these finals weren't necessarily ones that I phoned in, but ones that I didn't spend as much time on and didn't feel quite as connected with, Washington in particular. I'm proud of them, but I was EXCITED about some of my others, and was excited to see some of the others that ultimately got buried.
But hopefully the upcoming third jersey competition might be able to kick-start this culture change; maybe we'll see some concepts that some day get promoted to full-time jerseys, or at the very least, hit on an aesthetic that satisfies voters as both innovative and legitimately attractive.
tl;dr --- Have voting on a 1-5 star scale and make voters register, because even the designs of my own that have gotten to this stage weren't my favorites, but maybe the third jersey competition will be able to kick-start the desired trend away from traditional jerseys.
@Untvar: I disagree with your statement that "thumbs up/down clearly didn't work." You can't blame the voting process on the will of the voters. Binary ratings of positive or negative is the simplest way to go. There are no grey areas, unlike with star ratings.
What's clear is what the community as a whole prefers and it's the same as we saw last year. When you have thousands of people voting on design, you're always going to get what we think of as the safest looks. That's because what we call "safe" is defined by what's preferred by the majority.
All that said, I do agree that perhaps a change to the process is in order. I'm working on some plans I'd like to propose to you guys. Look for that in Saturday's post on the IceHL page.
I will admit I felt pressure to go way simpler with my designs this year.
That being said, I love the two jerseys that got through to the finals, and they at least have some creative elements.
I hope all the people who wanted plaid on the Lumberjacks jersey noticed my plaid victory stripes!
Also, the striping on the Snipers jersey is supposed to be reminiscent of a hockey rink - since the logo has a faceoff circle in it.
I understand that some of the die hards really wanted something more amateurish and minor league like for designs but those are generally negative in the eyes of most fans. They are usually love it or hate it when it comes to those designs and the majority will hate them which is what beared out when put to the public. I know I approached voting with what I would love to see if this were a real team that I would root for and on the whole I feel most probably approached voting in this manor. I was very against the name change to dragons as I loved the name Acadian but to be honest after seeing the dragons logo they are now probably my second very look behind the lagers and while Im a little disappointed there isn't a lagers type creative jersey here all these looks are generally something I would love to see in real life. I do hope going forward that there is a bigger restraint put on the use of red black and blue as main colors unless they are different shades of those colors like aqua or grey or maroons. I'm tired of seeing the same colors in both real life and fictional. That said I'm going to disagree with the lot of you and say these are all jeresys I'd purchase and be proud for my team to wear if this were real. Especially that dragons jersey of heilman
Colonials - Beatman, because I like the placement of the alt logo and the empty yoke.
Chargers - Lundrigan. I like the striping more, though the Marczel jersey looks pretty good.
Dragons - Schmulling because I like the striping better. The striping on the other two is pretty boring.
Steelcats - Bummed about this one. Some really good jerseys got passed over. I'll go with McElroy because the league has enough navy jerseys and too few red jerseys. I like the numbering too.
Olympiques - May or Schmulling. I'm really bored with the other two.
Aces - I really like both the Waddell and the McElroy jerseys and would be happy to see either of them win. Fuller's reminds me too much of the new Canes jerseys.
Snipers - Matt St. Jean. I like the Hackert jersey, but its way to similar to the Winnipeg Jets jerseys from the '80s. I don't like the nameplate and the numbers on Wold's design though everything else is fine. So I pick St. Jean because it is the least objectional.
Outlaws - Otters. I just think it looks better. I don't like the curved striping on the Beatman design's sleeves.
Lumberjacks - Wold. It seems like everybody was itching to get plaid on this team, and the Wold design is able to sneak it in there without being gaudy. I think the Magee design is ugly. I don't care if it's different. Lundrigan's is okay, but kinda dull.
Sentinels - Fuller. The striping is pretty original. Lyle's striping is not, and McElroy used a similar striping design on the Aces which I think works better with that team.
I agree with REDNECK on one very crucial point: color pallettes... Brown would be an AWESOME color for a hockey sweater--just look at the Mystery, Alaska design! It has a rustic, throwback feel to it that really pops. And as a second example, the new Hershey Bears set. Now that they've moved from the Colorado Burgundy and into something truly unique in all of Pro Hockey, they stand out in the best of ways. This is why the Lumberjacks' color pallette works so well. The old NorthStars colors is something that is sorely missing in the NHL right now.
"I think we're seeing why pro teams don't let fans vote on jersey and logo designs. Crowds are bad at it."
We're bad at it because we have our preference?
Most people are traditionalists when it comes to a sport with so much tradition behind it