Design Help For Michigan Roller Hockey

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Today I'm calling on all graphic designers. The roller hockey team at the University of Michigan is in need of some assistance. They're looking to redesign their uniforms and if you've got an eye for design, maybe you could help them out.

The VP of the club wrote this in his email to me.

I'm a student at the University of Michigan, and have become a fast fan of the Jersey Blog, and absolutely love the concept gallery.

I'm also the Vice President of the school's roller hockey club, and am in charge of the purchase of new jerseys. Unfortunately, the companies we are dealing with to get the jerseys haven't been great (One company presented us designs with an outrageous look that isn't traditional enough, another too boring, another wasn't even consistent with the school colors). Anyways, they don't want to re-pitch designs for free and are trying to charge us for any more development, which we can't justify.

This in mind, I was wondering if theres any way for me to get in contact with your concept community to try and work out some designs with me. I don't know how/if at all would be the best way to do that, and figured an e-mail to you couldn't hurt.

So basically, this is the perfect opportunity for those of you who like doing concept art to potentially see it realized. Here are the specifications of the design.

The most important images are the M, and the Seal. Also are Michigan's Ice Hockey jerseys. And the team colors are "Maize and Blue", with white being used as well.

The roller hockey uniforms, are slightly different than ice hockey, in that rather than a pant and socks, we have a pant that is a full pant (down to the skate).

We really like the tradition of having the seal on the shoulders, and either an M, or some sort of michigan text as the logo on the chest (Theres a few variations such as the script michigan, and the block text michigan). As for everything else, we are open.

We are looking for a traditional hockey look (Not a flashy roller hockey look or anything hideous like the RHI Jerseys), but really want something to differentiate our look from Michigan Ice Hockey. Its tough to define what we mean, which is why I guess its hard to get the design.

He sent along some images including logos for you all to work with.

These are the ice hockey team's jerseys.

Here are the school logos.


And finally, here's a sample template of the pants he was talking about.

You can email your design ideas to Ricky at michiganrollerhockey@gmail.com. If you send them along to me as well, they might even end up here on the blog. Good luck!

Poll: Blackhawks Logo History

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1935
1937

1955
1964


Place your vote and then feel free to leave a comment as to how you came to your decision. Tell all your friends to drop in and vote! The more voices heard, the more accurate the results!

Poll opening date
Sep 22 @ 10:26 AM		Poll closing date
Sep 29 @ 11:59 PM

07BONLH | LHCHI

Just To Freak You Out VII

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I've decided to make the Freak Out series into a weekly feature to be posted on Fridays from now on as long as crazy artwork keeps landing in my inbox. And man, do I have some stuff for you this week.

We'll begin with our friend Pfizer who's created mish-mash logos for the likes of the Vancouver Canucks, Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders (check out the Freak Out series for those if you haven't yet). Now comes another shot at logo merging for the Los Angeles Kings.

For my money, it's not his best effort, but it makes me laugh no less. I'm a little disappointed he couldn't find a way to work in the current crown logo. But then it does feel a little thrown together. You have to admit, though, that king face is a great logo. Don't mess with that son of a bitch.

Meanwhile, I've got some completely new takes on a couple of team logos and uniforms. Imagine the Boston Bruins swapping out the yellow for red. Then imagine a cartoon bruin the likes of which might be owed money by Yogi Bear.

He's come to collect. Then imagine the Colorado Avalanche adopting a yeti for their primary mark. Might it frighteningly go a little something like this?

We should hope not. Lest ye bear the brunt of the abominable snowman's ever-clenched fist. And what's up with the upside-down feet on the shoulders?

Speaking of what-ifs, let's say the Kansas City Scouts were to make their glorious return to the NHL. Let's also say their return was marked by the uprooting of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yes, this design was made in the days when the Pens' future was uncertain. I point that out merely to explain its color usage.

If you enlarge the image, you can read the designer's explanations of the three logos, so I'll spare you the details here. What I will say is that I like Patch 2. I'm a big fan of city skylines in logos, though you don't see that a whole lot. What's cool about this one is the new Sprint Center being placed to look like a puck. Clever.

The horse's eyes are freaking me out, by the way.

This next image is probably best viewed while high. I don't condone drug use, but chances of one having an "experience" are rather great. See for yourself.

Someone with a good deal of free time and an inability (or not) to cure boredom came up with this. He basically recolored the Montreal Canadiens' logo in the colors of various teams around the league. Conspicuous is the absence of the Tampa Bay Lightning's colors. But I guess not everything is about the Lightning.

Now I want to show you some of the scariest things of all — because they're real! Okay zombies aren't real, but movies are real. A reader emailed me a production still from the new Resident Evil movie. One of the zombies appears to be wearing an old Nashville Predators sweater.

Talk about foreshadowing. That's not even right.

And finally, a reason for all those NHL fans out there bemoaning the arrival of the new Rbk EDGE jerseys to quiet themselves. It could have been so much worse. A fact proven by the AHL's Philadelphia Phantoms.

AHL fans, continue your bemoaning. It's perfectly warranted.

Freak.

Out.

Updating The Wings

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Yesterday I posted a great Florida Panthers rebranding concept and lots of you responded. I know one comment in particular asked about a Detroit Red Wings concept of similar quality. Well that reminded me of this logo I came across a while back. And I would contest that it's even of a higher quality than that Panthers' concept.

Before I talk about it any more, take a look at it.

It took me a second to even realize what I was looking at. It's just so different. One thing I've always thought about with regard to updating the Wings' logo was maybe using a more contemporary-looking wheel.

The current wheel is classic but dated — and as long as we keep making new cars, that will always be the case. But this thing just floors me.

First of all, the design itself is top-notch. I mean, don't get me wrong, I know nothing like this will ever don a Wings' sweater — not even a third jersey — but it's way cool to look at. Second, it definitely has a "now" sort of feel as opposed to something stuck in the 1950s.

My favorite thing about this logo is in the wings. At first glace, you may not have noticed, but hidden within them are an "R" and a "W" — standing for Red Wings, naturally.

Like I said, nothing like this would ever come to be accepted by hockey fans in Detroit, but it's fun to wonder.

If somebody wanted to create a concept uniform around this logo, I'd be open to posting it. In the meantime, what do you guys think of this? Worthy of a Detroit jersey? Or too crazy to ever make the cut?