Maple Leafs Re-branding Competition - Friday Edition

Happy Friday, everyone! I have more Original Six: Toronto Maple Leafs Re-branding Competition submissions for ya. They're really starting to roll in now!

Before I get to today's submissions, let me just throw myself under the bus here for a moment.

I was excited to work on my design for this competition. It was going to be all nationalistic, but as I was illustrating, some elements had to come out because of balance issues or just too much going on. Initially I had planned to have some mean hockey dude with a Canadian flag affixed to his hockey stick, waving behind him. Well, this is what I ended up with... Yeah, my concept was ALMOST a Toronto Maple Leaf player on the jersey of a Toronto Maple Leafs player! WTF!!?? I was just about done with the rough design and realized my mistake. So, here's the unpolished graphic. I have to start all over again with perhaps another idea. I may be able to work the nationalistic angle, but in a different way. Man, I'm a complete fucking idiot.

 

Anyway, lets discuss the graphics that came in yesterday...

The first concept was sent in by Roccot. He's one of the few who's really thinking outside the box. No, the Toronto Maple Leafs will not be making any radical changes, but for this competition, let's have some fun with the submissions - which is what Roccot has done here.

Maroon, black, gray and white! What do you think about this color scheme, Leafs fans? And the angry leaf crest? Pretty brave on Roccot's part, eh? I like the dark uni much better than the white uni. In my opinion, the white logo seems to work much better than the maroon logo. On the maroon logo, the eyes are reversed out, which looks odd to me. Then again, the white logo version on the white jersey probably would not look as strong. ... The shoulder patch is an interesting design, though I don't know what it represents. So far, this is my favorite in the competition.

The next submission was sent in by Untvar. Another soccer inspired design, which is definitely not a bad thing. I think it's a unique approach for this competition and hockey concepts in general.

 
  

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View unis larger
View Untvar's portfolio

Here's what Untvar had to say about his design:

In this re-brand, I imagined an evolution of the most recognizable team in professional sports. For the uniforms, I got an idea from the 'kit clashing' in soccer. For example, the English team wears white jerseys and blue shorts for their primary uni, but red jerseys and white shorts for their secondary.

Here I've left the home uni blue and white as the Toronto fans expect. The jersey design is inspired by the bold contrasts used in the '70s and '80s. However, the away uni is more patriotic, resembling the Canadian flag; and the design is more in tune with the RBK style.

For the shield logo, I used two shapes that are common in heraldry (tau-cross and crescent) to create a 'TO' allusion. Then I used that shield to replace the lettering on the leaf. If there's one team in all of sports that doesn't need the name spelled out on the jersey, it's the Maple Leafs!

I like a project that is well thought out! I'm actually having a hard time figuring out which jersey I like best here. Since there's enough blue associated with the Leafs, I'm gonna go with the patriotic red unis. Really diggin' that "T" shield in the primary crest a lot.

.....

Finally, we have Ron Shasta's design. Again, like most of the concepts submitted so far, we have a big maple leaf, center stage, with a blue and white color scheme. However, Ron added another shade of blue, which ads a different look to the standard Leafs colors. As for the crest, the first thing I would do is take off the dark black outline from the maple leaf. It makes things a little muddy looking on both home and away jerseys. It's hard to tell, but if those are black stripes on the elbows, I'd probably ditch the black and have a wider white stripe on either side of the new blue color that Ron introduced. But, hey, that's just me.

 
  

That's it for today. What do you think of this round of submissions?

Comments

[Sledgehammerr]

Hey Johnny, i find this intriguing that you chose an Asian man for the logo. Why's that?

[Adam]

Roccot's concept is awesome. Only I think that is not an angry leaf; it looks like a leaf shaped old school goalie mask. Not cartoony like the Mighty Ducks, but fierce and scary like it would give Jason nightmares.
I love Untvar's design because of its soccer influence. Kit clashing is the best thing about soccer (except MLS doesn't do it). I also like the logo. It makes me think of Toronto FC, which is also owned by MLSE. But not in the direct sense. Just creates a sense of continuity between the teams.

[Ben]

Leafs fan here, and I loooooove Roccot's concept, I never want to see the team in it, but if there were a parallel universe where the Leafs existed, then that should be their jersey.

[johnny griswold]

No, it's Aaron Asham, Sledgehammerr.

[untvar]

I think Asham is part Eskimo, which explains the Asian-like features.

[johnny griswold]

You could be right, Untvar. As a Flyers fan, I should know that. But I hate this team right now, so I take no interest in any player other than Dan Carcillo.

[Link]

Untvar created some of the best concept logos that I've seen for the Leafs. I really like them through and through.

[Nick May]

Johnny you made a human version of the Calgary Hitmen! and then moved them to toronto!

[Sledgehammerr]

I don't understand the connection between Asham and the Leafs or Toronto.

[johnny griswold]

Sledgehammerr, there is no connection between Asham and the Leafs/Toronto. It was a volley back from your "Asian" joke/comment.

Nick May, I'll have to go look at the Calgary Hitmen graphic!

[johnny griswold]

HAHA! Nick, that is too funny. I just went and did a Google search for Calgary Hitmen, and sure enough, you were right. Too funny.

[Brad]

I like Roccot's maroon design its pretty cool, but at first glance it looked like the leaf on the dark jersey was crying to me... maybe thats just because i'm a Sens fan ;)

[platinum maple leaf]

Great! It is nice to know this. Just always update us. Thanks!

[b]

Roccot's design would be the frontrunner in my opinion at this point. I really like the uniqueness of the design and it's something I would've never expected.

Roccot has my vote at the moment, unless someone else is going to come up with a better design (which will be hard by this point...there's only so much you can do with the Maple Leafs)...

[vlad]

b, but they don't have to stay the mapple leafs. :)

[b]

Yeah, I know, but seems like no one is really going down that route at the moment.

[rob]

untvar - your logo looks alot like the Toronto FC (soccer) club's logo in Toronto.

Roccot - your logo looks alot like the Toronto Rock (Lacrosse) logo.

[Sledgehammerr]

@johnny griswold

oh ok... lol

[UGG Outlet]

The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.