Ducks & Kings to Unveil New Logos

[Guttersniped]

Be careful what you wish for...


1989-90 Toronto Maple Leafs - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database

1989-90 Washington Capitals - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (yes, these are awful)

1989-90 Winnipeg Jets - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (yes, these are awful and boring)

1990-91 Winnipeg Jets - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (and so are these, poor Jets have never had good jerseys)

1991-92 Minnesota North Stars - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database

1992-93 Hartford Whalers - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (severe downgrade)

1992-93 Tampa Bay Lightning - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (another team who has never had a good jersey)

1995 Calgary Flames - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database

1995 St. Louis Blues - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database

1995-96 New York Islanders - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (Kill it with fire, kill the RR with fire, never let it see the light of day again, let alone the ice)

1998-99 Nashville Predators - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database

And that's not even covering all the horrible 3rds that came in in '96 and after, and all the teams that went with navy and black (later 90's for that, of course), or any of the more liked jerseys that I personally really don't (black/red Sabres, late 90s Sharks with the weird stripes, gradient-RoboPen, navy/maroon Orca Canucks, and others I am sure I'm forgetting...)

The 90s were not the jersey heaven people think, it was just relatively nice looking (especially early)

“poor Jets have never had good jerseys”

Ok, that’s a subjective opinion that’s objectively wrong lol.

 

[DrandonBudinsky]

I'm definitely ready for a change. I do think this is a better logo than the home plate one but it is still disappointing to not see much creativity put into it. Love them or hate them, these S.O.B's added glitter and a lion with sunglasses on it and the stupid wordmark instead of a bottom stripe once upon a time. Now it's like, here is the original Gretzky-era logo with a few minor tweaks. See you in the pro shop for $299 a jersey.

Yeah, agreed. This could have been their chance to truly go in a new direction. But since the Kings were full steam ahead with the return to the “Chevy” logo, making adjustments to the Gretzky era was their only safe path. The original Kings font was light in weight. Making all the fonts bolder and slightly less skewed was a logical move without upsetting the balance while maintaining that recognizable brand. It could have been worse. I give it a B+ or A-, only because the crown could have been freshened up a bit more.

Plus, it now differentiates it enough to the Lakers use of essentially the same font.

I know the Kings adopted the forum blue/gold first in 1967. But, I never realized how truly married these 2 teams were in look and branding until you put the 2 logos side by side. They share essentially the same serif font and treatment. The “K” were similar in both. As if the graphic designer back then gave the owner a 2 for 1 combo special.

 

[The Marquis]

I hope they try something new

 

[BigKing]

Yeah, agreed. This could have been their chance to truly go in a new direction. But since the Kings were full steam ahead with the return to the “Chevy” logo, making adjustments to the Gretzky era was their only safe path. The original Kings font was light in weight. Making all the fonts bolder and slightly less skewed was a logical move without upsetting the balance while maintaining that recognizable brand. It could have been worse. I give it a B+ or A-, only because the crown could have been freshened up a bit more.View attachment 884940
Plus, it now differentiates it enough to the Lakers use of essentially the same font.

View attachment 884941
I know the Kings adopted the forum blue/gold first in 1967. But, I never realized how truly married these 2 teams were in look and branding until you put the 2 logos side by side. They share essentially the same serif font and treatment. The “K” were similar in both. As if the graphic designer back then gave the owner a 2 for 1 combo special.

Jack Kent Cooke was the owner so, yeah, checks out on getting the 2-for-1 special.

Looking into it a bit more, it doesn't seem like the Kings were first to purple/gold by that much: Lakers played their first home game at The Forum in December of 1967 with the Kings first ever game being October 14th of that same year. While it is the Kings original color and they wore it first, seems like the Lakers would have had the same colors in October of 1967 as well if The Forum was ready for use.

 

[DrandonBudinsky]

Jack Kent Cooke was the owner so, yeah, checks out on getting the 2-for-1 special.

Looking into it a bit more, it doesn't seem like the Kings were first to purple/gold by that much: Lakers played their first home game at The Forum in December of 1967 with the Kings first ever game being October 14th of that same year. While it is the Kings original color and they wore it first, seems like the Lakers would have had the same colors in October of 1967 as well if The Forum was ready for use.

In that technicality, yes, they both shared it at the same time when it comes down to the nitty gritty.

But, I’d have to think Jack Kent Cooke chose that color combo because purple and yellow are usually associated and reserved for royalty. Perfect colors for your new expansion team named the Kings. The Lakers were just along for the ride of the rebranding. As fate would have it, the Lakers showtime made the combo more famous and they’ve owned it since.

Funny to imagine that in some multiverse version of LA, the Lakers switched to silver and black when they trade for Michael Jordan while the Kings go on to be a Stanley Cup dynasty.

 

[DrandonBudinsky]

Here's a bit of a clearer mock-up of the Ducks logo based on the jersey leaks/teasers.

- Orange eye
- Orange sticks
- Gold accents in lieu of silver
- Removed the extra striping around the puck
- Assuming the Orange and Gold pantones are the same as their current brand

Nice job @BKarchitect!

Seeing both rebrands laid out like this now

…this mashup of Wayne and the Ducks are trolling us from 1994 …in June 2024

 

[kingsfan28]

Yeah, agreed. This could have been their chance to truly go in a new direction. But since the Kings were full steam ahead with the return to the “Chevy” logo, making adjustments to the Gretzky era was their only safe path. The original Kings font was light in weight. Making all the fonts bolder and slightly less skewed was a logical move without upsetting the balance while maintaining that recognizable brand. It could have been worse. I give it a B+ or A-, only because the crown could have been freshened up a bit more.View attachment 884940
Plus, it now differentiates it enough to the Lakers use of essentially the same font.

View attachment 884941
I know the Kings adopted the forum blue/gold first in 1967. But, I never realized how truly married these 2 teams were in look and branding until you put the 2 logos side by side. They share essentially the same serif font and treatment. The “K” were similar in both. As if the graphic designer back then gave the owner a 2 for 1 combo special.

Knowing how cheap Cooke was, he probably told the designer I'm only playing for 1 font and you're only getting paid for this as a package deal.

 

[hfman]

Yeah, agreed. This could have been their chance to truly go in a new direction. But since the Kings were full steam ahead with the return to the “Chevy” logo, making adjustments to the Gretzky era was their only safe path. The original Kings font was light in weight. Making all the fonts bolder and slightly less skewed was a logical move without upsetting the balance while maintaining that recognizable brand. It could have been worse. I give it a B+ or A-, only because the crown could have been freshened up a bit more.View attachment 884940
Plus, it now differentiates it enough to the Lakers use of essentially the same font.

View attachment 884941
I know the Kings adopted the forum blue/gold first in 1967. But, I never realized how truly married these 2 teams were in look and branding until you put the 2 logos side by side. They share essentially the same serif font and treatment. The “K” were similar in both. As if the graphic designer back then gave the owner a 2 for 1 combo special.

-new "Kings" font is too thick. This also shortens the action lines. It's just a little too bulky and when comparing it with the 90s version, there is less "action" in the logo now. It doesn't quite look like it's scrolling/running sideways to the right like the 90s version did.

-the new crown is too small. The lines are too thin compared to the "Kings" and "Los Angeles" above it. Enlarge the crown a bit and thicken up some of the lines to harmonize the entire logo. There's also too much detail in it for how small it is. Way too many circles. If the crown is going to be that small then they need to remove 50% of those small details so it's readable.

To sum it up it's less action-oriented and a little too bulky and conservative now. They have to slant the Kings wordmark a bit more to the right like it used to be, and reduce the thickness of the fonts which will in turn lengthen the action lines a bit more. I don't know. It's just really imbalanced with all the thick lines/small details/inconsistent line weights throughout.

Why do they always gotta screw things up

 

[JianYang]

Kings logo looks sharper than the original Chevy.... it's adequate but just leaves something to be desired still.

 

[IceManCat]

Be careful what you wish for...


1989-90 Toronto Maple Leafs - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database

1989-90 Washington Capitals - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (yes, these are awful)

1989-90 Winnipeg Jets - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (yes, these are awful and boring)

1990-91 Winnipeg Jets - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (and so are these, poor Jets have never had good jerseys)

1991-92 Minnesota North Stars - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database

1992-93 Hartford Whalers - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (severe downgrade)

1992-93 Tampa Bay Lightning - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (another team who has never had a good jersey)

1995 Calgary Flames - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database

1995 St. Louis Blues - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database

1995-96 New York Islanders - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database (Kill it with fire, kill the RR with fire, never let it see the light of day again, let alone the ice)

1998-99 Nashville Predators - The (unofficial) NHL Uniform Database

And that's not even covering all the horrible 3rds that came in in '96 and after, and all the teams that went with navy and black (later 90's for that, of course), or any of the more liked jerseys that I personally really don't (black/red Sabres, late 90s Sharks with the weird stripes, gradient-RoboPen, navy/maroon Orca Canucks, and others I am sure I'm forgetting...)

The 90s were not the jersey heaven people think, it was just relatively nice looking (especially early)

I love them all like children

 

[JianYang]

If we had to stick with black and white, I was hoping it would look something like this:

View attachment 884901


The classic Forum Blue and Gold jerseys were also incredible, I wish we would have adopted these:

View attachment 884903

If we wanted something more modern, the first set of reverse retros were pretty much perfect:

View attachment 884904


But instead, we're probably just going to get this lego block logo and more shiny helmets.

I like those silver crown jerseys. That's a better look imo than what they went with.

 

[DrandonBudinsky]

I just realized this rebrand KINGS font is actually a closer streamlined derivative of this version of the original ‘60s logo rather than the ‘90s Gretzky era KINGS wordmark. They just added the motion lines and slightly skewed the KINGS to the right

That stylized lower leg tail of the “K” was the giveaway.

 

[FMichael]

I just realized this rebrand KINGS font is actually a closer streamlined derivative of this version of the original ‘60s logo rather than the ‘90s Gretzky era KINGS wordmark. They just added the motion lines and slightly skewed the KINGS to the right

That stylized lower leg tail of the “K” was the giveaway.

View attachment 885024

I like it - Kings have had both ends of the spectrum when it comes to their logo/jerseys.

From what I've seen so far the Ducks looks great as well (never been a fan until the RR Ducks featuring the orange).

 

[BaileyFan]

Switching the colors was never going to happen after they’ve spent so much effort tying their brand to black and white. I’m hoping we get some purple and gold 3rds that they actually wear more than three times a year but with Luc in charge, I suspect we’ll get a sparkly silver 3rd like the Vegas gold ones that will become the primary jersey within five seasons.

 

[kilowatt]

The Ducks going back to this logo is great

The Ducks not going back to eggplant and jade is a f***ing crime

 

[EpochLink]

The silver and black LA Kings was the one I grew up with. I don’t mind them going back to this concept.

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

I did a simple concept mockup of what “could have been” in their 3rd jersey rollout had the Kings went the Rangers & Bruins route and went for a bold crest design instead of the gradient sashes.

View attachment 884851

Would the Kings fans at the time been open to this? Or would it have been given the Islanders’ “fishsticks” mockery?

Can you do a mockup of this jersey, but with the gold of the crown as the primary color and the stripes with the purple of the beard?

And then do the reverse, with purple as the main, gold stripes, and change the beard to gold, and the crown to purple?

 

[Crazy8oooo]

To be fair, so do the Angels and orange is nowhere near their look, not even in their alternates or anything. Probably because it's one of those things where you *could* make the connection, but it's by no means so obvious that it'd even necessarily cross your mind. And I mean clearly it didn't really influence the thinking of the original Mighty Ducks brain trust at all.

Leaning into the orange is definitely a choice they can make, but I would make an argument that black as a secondary color is a little too on the nose. For starters, orange/black is something the Flyers already do very well and 'own' in terms of people's perception. I think orange may actually work well with the purple of the original Mighty Ducks color scheme.

I’m not really a fan of the orange and black, as a Ducks fan, but I don’t get this at all. A couple of you have said this now about Philly owning orange and black. How many other teams in the league share similar color schemes and nobody seems to have an issue with it? The owners are embracing the county they play in, Orange County, for better or worse.

 

[BKarchitect]

Nice job @BKarchitect!

Seeing both rebrands laid out like this now
View attachment 884976

…this mashup of Wayne and the Ducks are trolling us from 1994 …in June 2024
View attachment 884977

Well I was close! The real logo gives the sticks a little more pop. Looks like they are gonna lean into that metallic gold that Vegas uses.

 

[cptjeff]

I’m not really a fan of the orange and black, as a Ducks fan, but I don’t get this at all. A couple of you have said this now about Philly owning orange and black. How many other teams in the league share similar color schemes and nobody seems to have an issue with it? The owners are embracing the county they play in, Orange County, for better or worse.

6 primary/secondary colors. 7 if you add black. 32 teams. There has always been and always will be significant overlap in color schemes, for anybody to say that one color belongs exclusively to one team is simply idiotic. Maybe you can get that advantage if you lay claim a tertiary color like the Sharks did, but even then you're not entitled to it.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Is this going to be their new logos, or is it some garbage 3rd jersey thing?

 

[LuckyDucky]

Is this going to be their new logos, or is it some garbage 3rd jersey thing?

These will be the Ducks' primaries.

 

[DrandonBudinsky]

Is this going to be their new logos, or is it some garbage 3rd jersey thing?

New primaries. Not sure what the plan is for NHL 3rd jerseys with the Fanatics switch happening. No leaks of the Kings new jerseys yet, but there’s been a leak of the Ducks’ new sets:

The LA Kings are the only ones who have officially released their “new” logo. The Ducks have had teasers and leaks, but @BKarchitect made a mockup that is pretty close.

So for folks keeping score, all 3 California teams have now “rebranded” to a essentially a version of their 1990’s identities within the last couple of years. The pull of nostalgia is strong

...and lucrative.

Now we wait for fulltime RoboPenguin to join the party.

 

[DrandonBudinsky]

Party like it’s 1993!

What’s old, is new again.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Pretty boring “new” logo for LA.

Glad the Ducks ditched the worst logo in the league. Not sure about the orange, gotta see it on the ice in action. Their purple-green jerseys (Kariya/Selanne era) would have been perfect imo.