Just Imagine: Detroit Red Wings

Not going to lie: this was a hard one to re-imagine. You have a great look (but poor wordmark), classic uniforms and a timeless icon. I can see why this would be hard to touch and upgrade...

Wordmark is usually in Red, but you get the idea...

I took a real chance on this Original 6 team. The easy way out would be to go with an airline or nature theme, but that's not "Detroit". Detroit is the motor city; going against that wouldn't work on this concept.

Heavily influenced by Detroit's auto industry, I wanted the logo to reflect a classic hood ornament (though I did expand my search to retro style gas logos). Art-Deco Wings, chrome, the whole nine yards. The top logos are what would appear on the sweaters, while the script logo is just that: a script logo.



New look in the Motor City..



Yes, the "Red Wings" script is the same font as what I used my Rockets concept, but I honestly can see "Red Wings" on the side of a '57 or other classic hot rod. This font just matched up perfect with it. You can also see the inclusion of silver to the scheme. Red and white look really good together, but the silver reminds me of the chrome you would see on a classic car. I think it's simple, but understated and doesn't overpower the winged D shield.

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Just Imagine: Houston Rockets

I initially started the "Just Imagine" contest over on the AsylumBoards. Basically, the premise was off of Stan Lee's Just Imagine Comic Series (a series which he took the names of established DC Comics characters and gave them a complete new spin on it), but to do it with sports teams. 

Sadly, the idea didn't take off like I hoped it would (maybe next year!), but out of it came some really imaginative concepts (which was really the purpose of it). 

Oddly enough, the first "Just Imagine" concept I did was one for the Pittsburgh Pirates then the Detroit Red Wings (both of which are in sketch phase and in process of finishing for posting). Houston was just the brainchild of a thread I saw on the Creamerboards, followed by some geniune accidental design work.

Logo History of the Houston Rockets


 First things first: I had to scrap just about everything the Rockets used before and start fresh. Did my homework on various rocket designs and old NASA mission patches; chose colors which I felt best reflected Space and that "Astro" (for lack of a better term) look. Out are the Red/Gold and in are Navy, White and Silver.

First Concept..

So - there's a few things I did right.. and some I did wrong. From what others have told me, I pretty much nailed this on the first try. Complaints/Issues included too many outlines on the "Rockets" wordmark and the unnecessary "R" logo on the secondary.

Round 2..

In this version, I simplified the wordmark and removed the "R" from the secondary. It looks good, but something's off on the main logo..


Houston...we have lift-off!


I changed the wordmark altogether on this one to go with something more retro/space race-esque. While the modern may work, there's something about the simple script which works better in my eyes.

Uniforms based off of this design are a possiblity as I know people want to see how this works on a uniform set. Future update? Maybe..

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Girls of Summer IV

I went through many revisions of this one, but the one thing that stood out was the image of Mt. Baldy; it had been in every previous version of the logo, so I felt a sense of obligation to keep it there. I also started with a field design, but while I was initially happy with the beveled lettering and overall look, over time I really grew to not like this attempt:

Initial design with star at home plate.

Lightend up the silver and removed home plate star...

So - after many months and revisions, here's what I ended up with. The purple links to the city's official colors, while the mountains link to the view of Mt. Baldy which can be seen throughout the city (and the fields). The neon-yellow softball proved to be too much of a contrast, so to help balance the white and purple, silver was added to the design in various keystrokes and the stitching of the ball. The interlocking "RC" was based off of the RC used by the local high school and hopefully will be used for hats and coach's shirts (as they were using the RC cola logo for this).  

Off-hand, I should probably darken the purple more and remove the "RC" from the secondary. The mountain/ball design is strong enough to stand on it's own. I'll see about posting a revision later on (and later this week, not in 4 months!).

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