Monday, June 23, 2008

Designs For The Desert

One of my favorite new designers submitting artwork has sent in a lot of great concept logos for teams including the Devils, Predators, Senators and most recently, the Flyers. Up next, he's taking a shot at the Phoenix Coyotes.



And it seems to me his work just keeps getting better with every design.



I've read that some of you are comparing his logo designs to Matt's work and I'm not sure I can argue with you there. These two concept logos are top notch — definitely worthy of any professional sports club.

That's all I've got for today, but what we lack in quantity here I believe is made up for in quality. Let me know what you think of these in the comments.

48 comments:

scott said...

I am loving this one. Great work

rene said...

love it!

DaneykoIsGod said...

While I don't necessarily see any need for change in Phoenix (their newer logo set is WAY better than the old), these concepts are just fantastic. Great work!

Kevin Y said...

This guy needs to be hired by the league. If any team had logos this good, I'd buy their jerseys in a heartbeat. I like how he incorporates the current secondary patch as the backdrop in the second image, and the coyote certainly looks intimidating in the first. In the second design, the coyote just looks incredibly majestic.

Anonymous said...

i love these logos, also WHERE IS GFB i personally am getting tired of waiting for his worl when this sigma kappa guy makes higher quality work at a staggering pace

jesse111 said...

this guys awesome!

Anonymous said...

Great looking logos, although its more of a wolf than a Coyote.

Jason said...

Good work once again! Their current stuff is great and doesn't need changing, but this is still nice. The second one reminds me of the Soo Greyhounds, a logo I've always liked.

cb said...

ive said it before (many times) and i'll say it many more times.

CONTEST

TJ said...

I'm wondering what he can do with the swords....

Unknown said...

Ugh. No, just...no.

How many bad ideas am I going to see? I can see why this guy and Matt are being compared, both keep turning in performances that make me thankful they aren't actually doing this for teams. These are terrible.

Anonymous said...

this is REALLY sharp

i like the coyotes logos now

but these are good, the last to by this guy have been good

and to please cody brown

8 of his 8 of gfb

1 winner

Unknown said...

Great work. But is it not weird that the background depicts players from different teams?

Unknown said...

I think we have a rivalry brewing here, loll.... Chris, maybe you should have a poll to see what percentage of your readership likes either designer, i'd like to know loll

IMO both of them are really good, but i wanna see a redesign from both of my Red Wings (arguably the hardest team to redesign in the league), before i decide :D

cb said...

personally, i think the coyotes one, and the preds one are easily the best two (between gfb and this new dude)

but chris, you should contact both these fellas on a few teams that havnt been done yet. post their results and then poll to see who makes the better logo. 1 point per winner. first to like 10 points wins or something.

Check5ive said...

I like this new i dea for a competition between gfb and the new guy. PLUS the coyotes sweaters are really looking sharp, i would like to see those on jerseys.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Cody Bown. A competition is needed.

I suggest the following:

-The contest is limited to only logos which the artists have not posted up on here yet.

-8 logos each

-Each week, Chris names the team they have to do, and at the end of the week, it's posted. The day it's posted, Chris names a new team for them to do, and while we wait for that one, all the readers get to vote on the one which was just posted. With this format, there's never any dead time, and it sort of works with the normal production schedules of both artists, so neither gains a real advantage.

-At the end of the 2 months (8 weeks=8 teams=2 months), a winner is named based on who won the most. A tiebreaker could be a classic team, named by Chris or the vote of the readers.

After that, the competition could be over, or we could do more head to head match ups, either with these artists or others who'd like to try their hand at it. If we did more of GFB and SK, we could do all defunct teams, or possibly even minor league stuff.

All just suggestions Chris, feel free to take what you like, and discard what you don't.

Leafers LP said...

Interesting how this guy only does alternate logos. None of these have been meant as a primary. So everyone who's apparently hating on these, cool your jets and get a life. Dan Angell, get real. You seem like one of those stubborn people who can't admit that anything can improve. Yes, as good as the Coyotes' logo is (I think it's tops in the league), and I know these are alternates, but I think these are better.

So all you whiners, how about you make something better if these are so "Ugh. No, just...no." Oh yeah, you can't, so give him some respect.

Anonymous said...

for the guy that suggested all of the rules to a showdown the teams have to be like the ones whos logos are difficult to rebrand

red wings, black hawks, leafs, canucks, canadians, penguins ect ect

then like the tie breaker would be like the seals...hahaha that would be fun

Unknown said...

holy crap amazing!!

Unknown said...

Here is is a challenge to both designers...re-tool the Avalanche logo. I dare you. Can you come up with anything better? What can you possibly create the will be better than the existing primary AND secondary. Snow coming down a mountain in a deadly fashion (hard enough to conceptualize) with the NHL team twist. Good luck to both of you...you are going to need it.

Der Giza said...

Again some GREAT work! Would love to see a redone Rangers-Logo from this guy.

Unknown said...

Let's get a remake of the SJ Sharks! (didn't really like GFB's remake, no offense)

Damme said...

Awesome logos! And like leafers lp said: These are alternate logos, so the primary logo would be even more awesome!

I personally prefer GFB's logos, but these are great too.

Btw there hasn't really been any Blues logos ;)

Cale Putnam said...

If there's gonna be a contest, then they should do some vintage logos - Whalers, Jets, Nordiques, etc. I'd love to see that.

Anonymous said...

Is it visually appealing? yes, it is - Sigma Kappa's work definitely has a professional aesthetic to it that puts other pieces of fan art to shame. Props to him.

But this particular logo, though - I can't tell if what I'm looking at is supposed to be a coyote or a phoenix. Clearly he's drawing on the symbology of both, but in the end, it feels a little indecisive. Either SK, or the logo itself, can't decide what it wants to be.

I feel awful continuing my criticism here, but the second one looks like an ad for the AZ office of Greyhound Bus Lines..

Like his entire collection thus far, the PHX logos are visually stunning. But they're still a little off the mark, and in my opinion no better or worse than what the team has going for them already..

Ericjjyy said...

GFB does have a job Godsave1thequeen, i was just talking to him on the chris creamer's message boards, and he was making a logo for one of his clients, and i think he deserves to get that out of the way first, since he doesnt get paid by NHLTOL to do his stuff....

about the logo, i like it except for in the primary, it looks kinda out of place with the fur, its like the head and the fur from the shoulders, but the shoulders arent on there.

MrDolomite said...

The coyote running over the map outline rocks! The coyote howling without a mouth is creepy. But two paws up for another excellent set of designs, colors and overall appearance.

Daniel said...

I usually don't pay much attention to concept art, but this one struck me because the top logo just looks way too much like a rooster.

awildermode said...

two cents:

$.01 - eyes and cactus need to be slightly bigger to read from afar

$.01 -slim down the neck, loses coyote profile from a distance.

other than that, these are AWESOME!!!! would like to see jerseys to match these. i hope Wayne and Co. are surfing this site.

i agree. it is contest time. but, let's include everyone. give everyone a week or two for redesign. to be 'fair', do not give the name of designer until end of tournament.

Tony said...

These look the same as GFB's...

While they may be decent attempts at art, they LACK all the qualities that make a good SPORTS LOGO.

That is what people seem to miss with these renderings.

A logo should be simple, easily recognzible and reproducable. All these fancy attempts look like the lower leagues and comics that do not know how to create brand identity.


Look at Montreal, Toronto, Boston.... it is a simple concept not an elaborate desert scene.

Nathan said...

While I think these are great. The current yotes logo is perfect in my opinion and is too difficult to improve upon.

asnowballschance said...

why does it take GFB so long to create a new set of alternative logos????????

Pawscal said...

what do you mean by
" elaborate desert scene"??
there is only ONE cactus in the background,geez

GBM said...

Tony is correct. I agree GFB's are better than these guy's. And can you all stop hating on GFB? Do you know how long it can take to complete a whole concept from start to finish? There are a lot of stages and much trial, error, and planning... plus GFB does uniforms as well. I guarantee you this guy had completed these before and is just submitting them one after another.. plus it is lower-quality work (though it is still quite impressive), in terms of sports logos, than GFB's. Lighten up people, be patient.

GBM said...

Oh and plus the second one looks like a horse and I can't tell the top one is even a living thing. Just work on the hand shadows a bit.

Unknown said...

I'm no designer, but I know what I hate, and I hate these. I have yet to see a good one come from either guy. Am I not entitled to my own opinion?

I respect him for trying, but these logos are just terrible. I don't have to like them and I'm going to continue to say that I think they suck when I think they suck. That's the only way you get any improvement.

Oh, right, I forgot I was talking to a Leafs fan, you haven't mastered that one yet.

asnowballschance said...

for some reason, i always think of mozilla/firefox when i look at these logos.

also, whats with the contrast of eye color? white in the first but black in the second?

Looking'EmOver3 said...

Again, great stuff, so close, but some feedback for future designs.

Not bad. The alternate is a little dark all in all.

I love the alternate logo patch, but it seems for some reason like a fox, and not a coyote. Not sure why.

On a different note. Why do all the Arizona teams incorporate the state flag? Is there a rule?

Nolo said...

this is by far my favourite!

wheres GFB?

Daniel said...

If I was in charge of design for an organization based in AZ, I'd want to use the flag too. Why? Simply because it's quite possibly the best looking flag on earth.

Bryan said...

These are really good, my favourites by this guy. Personally, I believe he is hit and miss, while GFB is consistently good with his designs (except I really hated that Ducks one). All in all, these arent perfect, but they are really good still. Also, that guy that did the Rangers and Kings is just as good as Sigma Kappa, hit with Rangers, miss with Kings. This site just keeps getting better and better.

Sukhraj said...

Love the logos..hope you can make one for the Canucks!!

Anonymous said...

BRILLIANT!

Leafers LP said...

To Dan Angell: All I asked was for you to show him a little respect for creating what OTHER people think are beautiful logos. I understand everyone needs a little constructive criticism, but at least encourage him if you're not a fan so that hey, maybe he'll make a set that you actually like. Your attitude reminds me of Mike Keenan, someone who needs to chill and get happy.

Unknown said...

regarding the bottom logo (coyote running across arizona): what if the inside of the bottom of arizona (the black part below the coyote) was the gold color and the most inside outline was changed from gold to black?

the only reason why i ask is because the ground seems to blend in with the shadowed part of the coyote and you might not see the coyote from a distance (if you were a fan at the arena).

Anonymous said...

Even though the Coyotes new logos are worlds better than the old ones, this work is just beautiful. Incredible stuff, man, literally breathtaking (eh, not so dramatic, but I was definitely speechless when I saw them!)

VWH said...

I seen way better logos on NHL Connect then anything on this site. V