Totally 80's - Anaheim Ducks Unveiling

Well, I have to admit, this has been a very hard project considering I naturally want to make everything look 70's or modern-style instead of 80's. But, anyway, here's my Totally 80's Anaheim Ducks concept.

 

The logo:
I think I looked at a million duck photographs on Google and did not see ONE that would pass as cool or tough looking. A duck is just not as badass as, say, an eagle or a hawk. I can see not selecting a hawk as a team name since it would be too similar to the BlackHawks, but why not Eagles? Wouldn't you rather play for the Eagles than the Ducks?

I sketched about ten duck heads - at first trying to be very literal in my interpretation. None of them worked for me - not for a hockey logo. This sketch was my final attempt and my quickest. I think i spent about ten seconds on it when I realized it was easily the best form of the bunch.

It's rare that I'll stick to a sketch once I'm inside Illustrator. You can see that I ditched the wings and replaced the bottom wing for a river/water element.

The color scheme was rather simple to nail down for this logo. And luckily the colors matched those of my previous Ducks redesign illustration. Since that jersey was ready to go, I could spend more time on the duck.

I wanted a color scheme that was kind of "outdoorsy". Something that matched the tones of most of the photographs I used as inspiration. (And if I was actually getting paid to design this, I probably would have researched the ducks that are indigenous to California, rather than just arbitrarily designing any old duck, thinking they are all the same! Ha!)

The orange beveled ring that the duck head is flying out of represents the "O" for Orange County, which is where Anaheim resides, of course.

 

The jersey
There's not much to say about this jersey that I haven't said already. By far, the '87 L.A. Kings jersey is my favorite as far as cut and design. And the green/orange/white color scheme is something I've always wanted to try. This jersey and the Totally 80's Ducks concept logo really fit well together in my opinion.

All in all, I'm happy the way this concept turned out.

(UPDATE: Green alternates - view here)

Last team up for the Totally 80's concept is the Phoenix/Hamilton Coyotes. Stay tuned.

Comments

[Link]

It makes me think about the Golden Seals a little bit, and in this case its a good thing I believe. Also, does the O encircling the duck has anything to do with the team being in Orange County?

[johnny griswold]

Yep, the "O" is for Orange County. I was actually starting to do a wordmark that featured "Orange County", but ran out of time. And I definitely started to see the Golden Seals, so I worked that a little bit.

[Mike]

I was going to suggest that the only thing I'd change is making the O an A for Anaheim or D for Ducks...but then I read that it actually does represent Orange County...and that made me happy. I really like this logo, actually. It would be a definitely upgrade from their current garbage.

[Ryne]

I saw Golden Seals right away too, and like link said, thats not a bad thing.

[johnny griswold]

One of my favorite sports logos is the Anaheim Angels. That "A" is fantastic. I didn't want to blatantly rip that off.

I'm not the worlds greatest sports logo designer, but their current logo and uniform is easy to upgrade.

[Koho]

I'd like the jersey better if you used the dark green color of the duck instead of the teal green color. Teal is a 90s color, I think the dark green would make it much more 80s.

[johnny griswold]

It's not really teal. It's supposed to be more of a dark emerald green. At least that's how it looks on my monitor.

[WildEyes]

I would like to see this jersey used today its a nice and unique Jersey good job

[johnny griswold]

Hey, thanks, WildEyes

[Koho]

nhluniforms.com was updated!

[johnny griswold]

Back to the teal subject real quick. From what I remember, it was the Sharks that started the teal craze.

http://www.nhluniforms.com/Sharks/Images/Sharks03.png

I think this is more teal than my Ducks jersey.

[Koho]

Could you make another version of it with the green color of the ducks head in your logo as the jersey color? I just have a feeling it would look more 80s than teal. Could have people vote which is better/more 80s like. Considering the logo is inspired by the Seals, maybe it would look better on a green jersey too. Other than the main jersey color, the rest of the jersey works very well with the awesome logo.

[johnny griswold]

Sure, I'll give that one a whirl. Though, I doubt I'll put it up to a vote. I really like the emerald green (not teal. haha)

[Link]

Koho has a point, the teal makes it feel more like its from the 70s. Also, green makes me think Ducks, and I've always thought that Anaheim could benefit from a darker green.

[johnny griswold]

I posted a two versions of a green colored jersey. One with a darker shoulder yoke and one with the same green as the primary. To me, the new greens look very 70s.

What the hell is up with making mascots angry? Why do they have to be angry? I don't understand this mindset. It's completely pointless and uncomfortable.

[Josh]

I was going to say that you could change the O with the two uprights of an 'A' and have the duck be the crossline, though I guess the O for orange county works too.

[Jonee]

I like this a lot, but it doesn't look 80's to me at all. Seems very contemporary and "made with Photoshop." Excellent color scheme. That might be the only part that seems retro to me. Regardless, it's a pretty cool hockey sweater and much, much better than what they have now. What is it that makes it 80's to you? To me, a quintessential 80's hockey uniform is the Vancouver Canucks of that era. The post-giant "V" sweaters with the stylized skate.

[johnny griswold]

My respond to the nameless commenter about angry mascots:

All my future concept designs will be smiling, buck-toothed, retards. This will be complimented by the pastel color scheme I choose.

Gimme a break, fool. Let me offer you a quote from the late, great Flyers coach, Fred Shero: "Take the shortest route to the puck and arrive in ill-humor."

If your mascot could speak and coach, it would probably say something like this: "Take a leisurely approach to the puck and arrive, eventually, with a smiling grin and a cup of tea (pinkie up).

Just sayin.

[Josh]

OHHH and the white inner line of the O totally makes a C... the OC. Nice touch.

[johnny griswold]

What makes it 80's to me is the cut of the jersey, modeled after the Kings 87 jersey.

I created the big "Orange County" "O" to reflect the style of the 70s/80s. Many teams used a circle to hold their image.

The duck image is illustrative, I concede that, but it's just what I saw when I designed it.

I think, overall, this jersey looks like something from the 80s and not a modern one.

But that's just me.

[johnny griswold]

Josh, as much as I'd like to take credit for the white inner line creating a "C" for "County", I can't. haha. That's just one of those lucky things that came about. The "O" was for "Orange County" by design. Actually, I didn't even catch that the white inner line created a "C" for "County".

[mcd]

this may be the worst thing i've seen

[johnny griswold]

cool, mcd.

[Ivy]

I like your color scheme but prefer this logo redesign by Dave Cormz:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v649/DaveCormz/ducksoptimized.gif

I would love to see that combo.

:)