Totally WWII - Team Nazi Germany Unveiling

Oh, the long-awaited Team Nazi Germany unveiling. There was much discussion on this jersey in the comments section of the original concept post a couple of weeks ago. But, rather than have another raging debate, lets just say that I had every intention on including Nazi Germany in this World War II jersey concept project. To not include them would be a slap in the face of history. However, this is not a glorification of the Nazis.

Moving on...

This jersey was rather easy to design. I knew right away that I did not want it to look like the Nazi flag. So there would be no giant swastika in a white circle on top of a red jersey. That would have been taking the easy way out.

I wanted to have something that still looked menacing, but not overly obvious. There was no way that Team Nazi Germany would take the ice without a swastika somewhere on the jersey, so I decided that their crest would be the eagle on top of the swastika image.

Click image for larger view.

Wikipedia entry on the eagle design:
German Eagle: The Nazi party used the traditional German eagle, standing atop of a swastikainside a wreath of oak leaves. When the eagle is looking to its left shoulder, it symbolizes the Nazi party, and was called the Parteiadler. In contrast, when the eagle is looking to its right shoulder, it symbolizes the country (Reich), and was therefore called the Reichsadler. After the Nazi party came to power in Germany, they forced the replacement of the traditional version of the German eagle with their modified party symbol throughout the country and all its institutions.

(Perhaps some historians can chime in on this bit of data from Wikipedia. I've read some conflicting statements on various sites as to the direction of the eagle's head and what it signifies.)

The hardest thing to come up with was how the home jersey would be designed. Would white be less menacing than the dark away jersey? But, eventually, I figured that the white home jersey would play just fine considering the hometown arena would most likely be filled with Nazis and Nazi supporters—and that's intimidation enough for the visiting teams.

There were a few obvious designs from the Nazi regime that were used to create the style and color of this jersey. The many flags of the Nazi regime, the different military uniforms, and propaganda posters. There's really no reason to display too much of that imagery; you can find that by doing a simple Google search. Everything that I felt would belong on a Nazi hockey uniform is pretty basic: red, black, white and some sort of Nazi insignia.

I had actually planned on going into some detail here on the art and design of the Nazi regime, but I really feel no need to go into a deep history lesson here.

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The next Totally WWII jersey to be unveiled will be either Team Canada or Team Soviet Union.

Comments

[Adam Edgington]

Prussian Blue would have been an interesting color choice as well. Kind of a light bluish/grey.
Why is the red more of a maroon?

[johnny griswold]

The base color is red, but with the shading, it looks a little darker. However, my red was darker to begin with because I wanted it more menacing and less bright.

[Adam]

I understand now. I do like the trim color on the dark jersey. Might have worked instead of the white as well. Kind of a military uniform color would give it an authorative look.
The white works though. Obviously the Nazis did not think of themselves as the "bad guys" and would not seek to wear a more intimidating or militaristic color on the ice. White would be the standard for home uniforms and the Nazis would follow suit.

[MikePho3niX]

I must say johnny. for someone that dont like black Jerseys. you already have 2! LOL Im not sure i like this in black maybe a red with black striping would have been a better choice. Then again i do see that this whole thing could have all the teams with red jerseys as well. I do like how your makeing them look vintage.

[johnny griswold]

Oh, I was just waiting to catch hell for the black jerseys! haha. But how can you have a Nazi jersey and NOT have the primary color be black?

I am struggling with the red because of the amount of teams that would use that as a primary. Nazi Germany was a no-brainer to have a black primary.

Canada will have a primary red. No way was I gonna take that away from Canada.

[Tyfighter77]

These jerseys are fantastic. Any reason you opted to go with the logos instead of the jerseys as icons for the lefthand links?

What's the status of the retro Coyotes jersey and are you still planning to do the Totally Reebok thing in the future?

Finally (and the reason I bothered to post), it would be AWESOME if you designed a bonus French Underground jersey. But I'll take what I can get.

[johnny griswold]

Tyfighter, I opted for logos instead of jerseys so it was easier to identify each "Totally" concept from each other. I think that, since this is sort of an "international" competition, it would be fitting to have the country logo rather than just the jersey. Makes it stand out a little bit more.

Yes, I will be finishing the Coyotes.

Yes, I will be doing the Totally Reebok, but that's gonna be after the Totally WWII project is finished. I didn't want to have a ton of unfinished icons on screen, so that's why the Reebok stuff is gone for now.

What is a French Underground? I'll have to Google that one...

[Tyfighter77]

That's all good news.

By French Underground I was referring to the French Resistance fighters. Not sure what you'd use for a logo. But they contributed hugely to the allied war effort with sabotage, intel... that sort of thing.

[Fake Orgasm]

this disgusts me. can you say hate crime?

[johnny griswold]

There's no reason to respond to you, Fake Orgasm, because you obviously are not going get what this project is about. History is not a hate crime. Neither is this WWII jersey project.

[Fake Orgasm]

zeig heil johnny griswold. your fuhr is proud

[johnny griswold]

Grant Fuhr? The old Edmonton Oilers goaltender? You combined a hockey reference with stupidity. Congrats.

[DSP]

I didn't know Grant fuhr was into history....

I like the jersey (especially the menacing dark one) but I'm not wild about the crest. I keep looking at it and thinking "hieroglyph" or "museum piece". Maybe the Maltese falcon, but it doesn't say "hockey" to me. I think, perhaps as an alternative for the white one instead of the red I would have substituted good ol' (SA?) shut-up-and-don't-question-your-orders brown OR a "Nordic blue", something very pale (in either case would probably require retinting the crest from black). You know how "pure" and "Aryan" the Nazis wanted to be. Don't forget, the most menacing thing of all was their desire to have everything "perfect", and never reveal what was done in achieving that goal.

[marc]

good deflection, johnny. trolls pop up everywhere, eh?

[johnny griswold]

haha. yeah, that guy is a pisser.

[Harold]

I like the design. The logo looks good. The only other color than black for the dark jersey would be brown, since they were referred to as the "Brown Shirts"

But good job overall, I like the project.

[johnny griswold]

Thanks Harold.

[Harold]

No prob Johnny...

So now I read you are a Flyers fan.. me too! Grew up in Philly.. now in Atlanta.

Have you designed logos for any other sports? Have you had any selected as a teams logo?

[johnny griswold]

Harold,

Giant Flyers fan here.

No, I'm not really a sports logo design guy by nature. The only sports logos I've done are the hockey logos for the Totally WWII and Totally 80's stuff (Not including the Atlanta Thrashers logo, which was the first one I did for the Totally 80's project and wasn't sure how I wanted to handle each logo yet...).

[Custom Logo Design]

Nice shirts Logo Design, i like it guys.

[Tisi]

Sorry boys but this is too much.
I know its about WWII but this disgusting.

Im German an im not Proud of this part in german history but after 60 Years its enough.
Nazi Germany its over so please let it be.

Thx an greetz from Germany

Tisi

[johnny griswold]

Tisi, nobody said you had to be proud of that part of German history.

It would be intellectually dishonest NOT to include Germany in a WWII project.

[Dirk Smith]

Johnny, all of your jerseys are outstanding. I would buy any of them just for the historical significance. Of course, some of the PC comments miss the point, which leads me to my question...

Where are the Fascist Italy jerseys? As the purveyors, along with Soviet Union, of art deco, those would produce great jerseys as well. Perhaps the three fasci logo on the Regia Aeronautica wings would suffice.

Keep up the imaginative and great work; let me know when any of these would be produced for sale.