The 2015 NHL Jersey Awards on Along the Boards

[PALE PWNR]

Better contrast and bolder lines/shapes than the current
The details are cleaned up on the new one
The current one has too much detail, and too many things are competing for visual hierarchy

For example, the current logo at a first glance the first thing I notice is the white space on the Panthers chest then the red in the paws and then the face. The face it the 3rd thing that grabs my attention.
The new logo that white space is reduced and not the red of the nose and mouth is what grabs my attention first and that is what you want.

For the record, I think the new one still has too much detail, but for a logo evolution rather than a full rebrand it's passable.

It's difficult for us who are used to the old logo for so long to judge it objectively.. Happens all the time in the graphic design/marketing industry when you have a client who has a totally unrecognizable logo/brand, but they are convinced they have a following based on their logo and are totally reluctant to change, when really no one would recognize the logo but those in the company. Even when the research and focus groups show otherwise.

Yea but... the most detailed jersey logo in the entire NHL is declared as the best by default over and over and over again in these things, AND gets recognition as one of the best in all of sports. Idk, maybe I'm out to lunch, I think the Panthers logo is one of the best in the league and at this point is classic. Do Panthers fans feel the same way as you?

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

Explain that, please. I'm a graphic designer and am pretty pleased with the classic look of the Islanders logo. Frankly there are very few NHL logos I'd consider bad, and certainly none nightmarish. I'm curious what it is you find so offensive about the Isles crest.

- The island outline looks live traced in illustrator. Why does it connect to the circle on one end, but not the other?
- The NY at a glance reads as My
- The Inconsistent thickness of the NY
- The Islanders distorted type and bad kerning
- Look at the bottom of the 2nd 'S' in Islanders it's smashed
- The shaft of the stick is thinner at the top and gets wider as it descends
- The puck is just placed awkwardly

Yea but... the most detailed jersey logo in the entire NHL is declared as the best by default over and over and over again in these things, AND gets recognition as one of the best in all of sports. Idk, maybe I'm out to lunch, I think the Panthers logo is one of the best in the league and at this point is classic. Do Panthers fans feel the same way as you?

no clue.. have to ask them.
Design preference is mostly subjective, and my opinions and critiques are based on what I learned in school and working within the industry. I'm a design nerd and the practices I was taught and my aesthetic would steer away from anything like the Panthers current logo. But if it works stick with it I suppose.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

How is the Ottawa Third jersey crap? That's one of the nicest alternate jerseys in the league.

 

[PALE PWNR]

How could you guys *not* understand Carolina's storm flag 3rds when the storm flag was literally all over our old jersey set, both as the secondary logo on the shoulders and in a band at the bottom of the jersey?

I just read that comment

 

[PALE PWNR]

no clue.. have to ask them.
Design preference is mostly subjective, and my opinions and critiques are based on what I learned in school and working within the industry. I'm a design nerd and the practices I was taught and my aesthetic would steer away from anything like the Panthers current logo. But if it works stick with it I suppose.

So may I ask what your opinion on the Blackhawk logo is

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

So may I ask what your opinion on the Blackhawk logo is

Aside from it depicting a native american, which I’m not sure of my opinion about about that yet. But thats a completely different discussion.

It has more detail than I would prefer, but it’s nowhere near detailed as the Panthers. The panthers logo has a lot of jagged lines and lots of shadow that can be distracting. Whereas the Blackhawks logo has more flowing lines that is easier for the eye to follow than a bunch of jagged ones.
Another note that should be had comparing the two logos is that the Blackhawks logo is only showing the head, whereas the Panthers logo is trying to fit the whole body of the animal. If the main focus was just the head of that logo, I wouldn’t have that much of an issue with it.

This minus the stick is even an improvement IMO

At first glance of the Blackhawks logo, I see the yellow sqwiggly in the Native American’s hair (which I am not even sure what thats supposed to be) because it creates the highest amount of contrast with the yellow on the black which flows my eye down to face, so it’s quickly recognizable as to what the logo is. From an execution standpoint, there is some work that could be done to clean it up, but really only a graphic designer would catch. Like why are the vines of the red leaf white when the outline is green and it's not consistent through the other leaves. Some of the edges looks like sloppy illustrator work.

 

[bsutch]

- The island outline looks live traced in illustrator. Why does it connect to the circle on one end, but not the other?
- The NY at a glance reads as My
- The Inconsistent thickness of the NY
- The Islanders distorted type and bad kerning
- Look at the bottom of the 2nd 'S' in Islanders it's smashed
- The shaft of the stick is thinner at the top and gets wider as it descends
- The puck is just placed awkwardly

Excellent assessment of the Islanders logo. Any time I criticize it in conversation with other Isles fans, I get a lot of dirty looks. As you'll read in Part III tomorrow, this logo looks like it was designed in MS Paint before MS Paint existed. I'd love to see the Isles keep their current uniforms, but with a slightly updated logo, when they move to Brooklyn.

 

[Jerk Store*]

"Ottawa's unpopular alternate jersey"

Swing by Ottawa and see for yourself

 

[Quack Shot]

Yeah saying the Sens alternate jersey is unpopular lost the guy all the credibility he had, no matter how little credibility he actually had.

 

[bsutch]

"Ottawa's unpopular alternate jersey"

Swing by Ottawa and see for yourself

Yeah, plenty of people shelled out good money for those black Islanders alternate. Doesn't make them any prettier.

 

[bsutch]

Yeah saying the Sens alternate jersey is unpopular lost the guy all the credibility he had, no matter how little credibility he actually had.

It was unpopular amongst our voters. Damned if I know how many people north of the border are walking around in those shirts.

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

Boston Bruins got it right over 80 years ago, long before any of the others came along to muck it up

Boston protested the color change to the NHL, arguing that black and gold had always been exclusively associated with the Bruins. However, the Penguins prevailed by virtue of a precedent set by the Pittsburgh Pirates hockey club of the late 1920’s, which sported the colors.

 

[And You Feel Shame]

- The island outline looks live traced in illustrator. Why does it connect to the circle on one end, but not the other?
- The NY at a glance reads as My
- The Inconsistent thickness of the NY
- The Islanders distorted type and bad kerning
- Look at the bottom of the 2nd 'S' in Islanders it's smashed
- The shaft of the stick is thinner at the top and gets wider as it descends
- The puck is just placed awkwardly

If your point was to criticize the subtle differences in how the logo is represented on various websites, products or promotions, then fine.

If one were to look at the actual crest they are wearing, many of your bullet points above turn out to be not just picayune but inapplicable.

I'm not trying to promote this as the best logo ever. It's not. But nightmarish? Not even close, and after our turn with the Gorton's fisherman, we Isles fans would love to see this logo locked in long-term.

Excellent assessment of the Islanders logo. Any time I criticize it in conversation with other Isles fans, I get a lot of dirty looks. As you'll read in Part III tomorrow, this logo looks like it was designed in MS Paint before MS Paint existed. I'd love to see the Isles keep their current uniforms, but with a slightly updated logo, when they move to Brooklyn.

Tweaks are fine - one would think they might be necessary upon the move - and I've seen some variations that would make a fine alternate or shoulder patch, but the above criticisms really are stretching and in some cases simply off base.

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

If your point was to criticize the subtle differences in how the logo is represented on various websites, products or promotions, then fine.

If one were to look at the actual crest they are wearing, many of your bullet points above turn out to be not just picayune but inapplicable.

I'm not trying to promote this as the best logo ever. It's not. But nightmarish? Not even close, and after our turn with the Gorton's fisherman, we Isles fans would love to see this logo locked in long-term.



Tweaks are fine - one would think they might be necessary upon the move - and I've seen some variations that would make a fine alternate or shoulder patch, but the above criticisms really are stretching and in some cases simply off base.

- Still reads as My at a glance
- The thickness is still inconsistent
- That Islanders Distorted Type to me is the biggest eye sore of the whole thing
- The Kerning (space between the letters if you didn't know) is inconsistent, some letters are close to each other and some have a good amount of distant.. for example.. look at how close the L is to the A and then how far away the N is from the D..
- The connection of the N and Y is just awkward, especially with the sticking in the photo you provided. They would be better served to separate them and not have them connect.
- I still don't understand the puck's placement.. or why it's even necessary in the first place.

I know the logo holds a lot of weight with it's history, but that doesn't mean that they can't clean up the basic design elements of the logo. Not a complete overhaul, but to fix those things would benefit it a lot.

It's still this graphic designer's nightmare and if you ask other professional designers, you'll likely get the same response.

There are some really cool concepts I would like to see them switch to when they move.

like these:

Not saying i love everything about those, but I think it would be a step in the right direction and a good logo evolution.

 

[bsutch]

Tweaks are fine - one would think they might be necessary upon the move - and I've seen some variations that would make a fine alternate or shoulder patch, but the above criticisms really are stretching and in some cases simply off base.

If nothing else, they need to adjust the current logo to incorporate the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, which are cut off.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

like these:

I don't think i am alone when i say that i hope the islanders keep their original logo.

That said, if they had to make a switch, this is logo really does a decent job representing the original. I hate this one the least.

 

[hockeyfanOU812]

They rag on New Jersey for having had the same jerseys for the last 30 years. I can't wait for them to wet themselves over the O6 jerseys and how great they are because age.

Literally exactly my same thought when I saw the New Jersey review, and literally exactly what they did

I am sorry but there are too many things on this list I do not agree with to list.

I would like to add this though. I think the Rangers have a top 2 Jersey and the Islanders logo is unique in that the top of the letter "i" points to where NVMC currently is. When they move, will the crest be changed?

And the Canucks need way more love for their unique colour scheme.

 

[terranraida]

That article is basically "HURR DBURR NEW IS BAD"

 

[hambone1818]

My criticism: this is exactly what we've seen from most other jersey rankings: the original 6 get bumped up because they're 'classics'. I think much of the attraction to those jerseys is the teams that wear them, the history behind the jerseys. That's not a bad thing, but from a pure design perspective, from an attractiveness perspective, there's better than the original 6 imo.

The Blackhawks logo and jerseys are amazing. And I've always been partial to the Red Wings; great logo, simple clean design and the red pops on the ice. Beyond those I'm not much of a fan, the others are a bit outdated and I'd take any number of other jerseys/logos over many of them. I say this as a Bruins fan...they have a nice logo, good colors, but not top-10 in the league imo.

The Bolts third sucks, otherwise I love everything about their jerseys. Same with the Blues, stick with home/road and they're awesome. I love the Islanders jerseys, the colors pop and I prefer the logo to the Oilers personally. Oh, and Dallas...they're friggin awesome, they belong top-5 imo.

I also think Vancouver's criminally low, that color scheme is incredible and I like the simple stick logo.

I don't know...not a fan of this list at all. Seems to me another boring 'Original 6 is awesome...then everyone else' ranking.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

that article is basically "hurr dburr new is bad"

"and old is boring"

 

[hambone1818]

"and old is boring"

"except when Original Six"

 

[benjiv1]

It was unpopular amongst our voters. Damned if I know how many people north of the border are walking around in those shirts.

Were your voters NBA fans by chance?

Ottawa's third is regarded as one of the best jerseys in the league. Period.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Well I enjoy the Pittsburgh Home jerseys and alternates. U think the away jersey is awful though.

BLACKHAWKS in the top 10 :/ what a shame.

 

[bsutch]

Were your voters NBA fans by chance?

Ottawa's third is regarded as one of the best jerseys in the league. Period.

By whom? Not the 12 people who voted on this.

 

[And You Feel Shame]

If nothing else, they need to adjust the current logo to incorporate the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, which are cut off.

Yes, they do.