All Good Things...

Thanks for the memories! 2012 - 2013

I started to get serious about designing almost a year ago. I feel like I've seriously grown as a designer: putting out really quality items which will hold up over many years.

Over this past year one of my major re-brands was for a musician (that will be the subject of a later blog), however in one of the cutting room floor designs, I saw something which really struck my eye. Luckily for me, he discarded the logo without a second thought.

The logo I designed for this musician just called to me; more so than the existent "FD-Green" icon which used to be my trademark. This one had all the elements I had been looking for, but never knew it: classic-look, streamlined, retro elements, simple and still maintains that "hot-rod" cool I grew up with. So, without further adieu, I present the new logo for Fuentes Design:

In the update, we still have ties to the old logo (roundel and cursive script), but this one (minus the rounded square) just seems...classier than the other one. I love the fact that this works in all colors and when the scheme is inverted, it really stands out against photo backgrounds (like my new header image).

Crisp, clean and elegant... I think I needed this change.

Read More

Fantasy Warfare III

Making little tweaks to the concept. I replaced the script with a new font as the script just seemed out of place with the overall concept. Also - figured it out and added in a new interlocking "SF" logo. I'm really proud of how it came out as I think the "SF" is one of the stronger items I've done.

SF Bees Version 2.0

I'm also debuting what may be the proposed 'Road' and 'Home' uniforms:

Bees' Home (L) and Road (R) uniforms

I tried to keep this as simple as the logos; nothing flashy, but a solid baseball look. Typically, the city name would be on the road grays, however "San Francisco" just didn't look right to me. The interlocking SF is pulling double duty (and is reminiscent of the Giants' 1983 - 1993 road uniforms). My ony issue is how I can't seem to find a home for the honeycomb/hive logo. The initial home plate icon was just a throw-away, but it really adds to the uniform (and makes a great BP hat!). My only issue now is to see how this looks with pinstripes, but not wanting to make it look like Major League III's Buzz:

Read More

Fantasy Warfare II

From sketches to designs.. We now have a first look at what I'm putting together:

You can see a lot of the design elements from my sketches incorporated into the first set of logos. The main Bee logo had been modified from it's butterfly wings and is now incorporated into the homeplate/stinger design.

The main crest evolved from circle to hexagon to go give a honeycomb effect. The modified bee now rests atop the city moniker while the simple ball is added to the bottom for balance. The secondary roundel is an abstract thinking of the bases, with the hive representing home.

Still thinking of a cap logo as I'm trying to work with an interlocking "SF" and not make it look like the Giants or 49ers. Uniforms are also in the works, but for now I think I have something solid going.

Read More

Fantasy Warfare

I'm a big fantasy sports guy. I started playing back in 2003 and have been in various fantasy leagues across all sport (yes, even a NASCAR league). One of the bigger pleasures of doing these leagues is creating a working identity set for some of my teams. So, with this, I'm working on a possible identity change for my Asylum League team, the Las Vegas Dragons.

2012 Asylum League Logo Sheet

This set is based off of a scrapped Arena Football League Logo (which is my current family Football League logo) and inspired by the Baltimore Orioles Script/Diamond with Chicago White Sox colors. The finished product added purple to the set, but the logos remain unchanged.

It was a quick and dirty set, but I never fell in love with it. So what to do? Re-brand and relocate.

For all intents and purposes, I'm leaving the locale off until my finished product. However, I'm going with "Bees" as the new team name and building the brand off the name and it's associations (honey, honeycomb, hives, etc.)

 

Some of these design elements will make the final cut, but there's also some items off the list. Now I just need to fine-tune what I have into a possibly great identity.

Read More

Podcast-A-Go-Go

A friend from High School started up his own comedy company and is doing the stand-up circuit around Southern California. He's expanded the business aspect of it to include a podcast and so far, his ventures have been pretty successful. A while back, he had asked if someone would be willing to donate a logo for the podcast to help the cause. I had some ideas in my head, but never really went forward with it nor contacted him about it.

Original Podcast Logo

The original logo had that Island-vibe; reminded me of a Hawaiian luau or restauraunt. It had some personality, but it also had a retro-vibe which called out to me.

Here's the update (not mine)..

Jamal's new "logo" was ok in my opinion. From my perspective, it's a little generic and I'm really not feeling it. Though, the green, black and white are really cool colors to work with..

My version...

So, I finally had an idea and went with it. Wanted to play up the "Ass" portion of the name and I think the leaping donkey satisfies that element. I also wanted to keep the retro idea of the initial logo and tried to mimic some old-school radio logos of the past by using a radio antenna and lighting bolts.

I haven't sent this to Jamal, but I may later on (after some revisions of course!). I think getting a stronger branding will help his cause, but not sure how an unsolicited logo would go over.

Read More

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.

Read More

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..

Read More