PROJECT4
Designing a brand for four potential NBA expansion teams
First up is my hometown team: the Vancouver Grizzlies! I decided to keep the name, and hopefully, Memphis wouldn't mind changing their name to something more fitting (don't think there are any grizzly bears in Memphis). I made the logo somewhat similar to Memphis', but of course it has unique differences. This grizzly seems a little more fierce with the open mouth and teeth. I used dark green and creamy white, which I found more fitting (the green is supposed to represent the forests) than the hideous teal in the original (where the heck did that come from, anyway?). However, I did sneak in some teal into the eyes. As for the font, I used a sharp, fierce font.
Now for the jerseys. First up is the home jersey. I was really tempted to mimic the Bucks jersey, which I think is gorgeous, but with the colors, it would look like a rip-off. So I decided to do a simple stripe across with the text inside. I decided not to do anything else with it, just to keep it clean. I did the same with the away jerseys, just with flipped colors. Next, for the alternate jersey, I used Brush Script for the words "Vancouver" (during my research if found that the team name is on normal jerseys in the NBA and the city name on the alternate jerseys) and I used just a plain type for the number 95 (1995 was the Grizzlies inaugural year). Now comes my personal favorite, the "throwback" edition. It features the old Grizzlies secondary logo: a bear claw grasping a basketball. It is a dark gray base with gold be used for the logo. The final jersey is the "slate" jersey. Golden State occasionally sports a slate uniform, which I think is really sharp. So I used the same dark gray for the base and as a replacement for the green in the logo, which is on the front of the jersey. The outlines and logos are in the creamy white from the logo.
That brings us to the end of the Vancouver showcase. Next up: Seattle!
Ok, now we have Seattle. I opted to use a jet instead of the space needle (they are called the Supersonics, anyway). I decided to go simple, with a shaded fighter jet (an F-16), and in the background is a basketball. I decided to stick with original Sonics colors, because, unlike the Grizzlies colors, they're not half bad. The text is simple with some shaded bevelling, a bit of edge.The text has a green stroke in photos with a white background, but a yellow stroke in photos with the green backdrop.
Now to the uniforms. My personal favorite is the home jersey, just because it's simple and clean, kinda reminds me of the new Phoenix Suns jerseys. Next is the away jersey, which is green and has the word "Seattle" as a pose to "Sonics". I've noticed a lot of NBA teams have city jerseys (i.e Clutch City, Buzz City, Rip City, etc.) so I decided to follow that trend with the "Jet City" jersey. Next is the alternate jersey, which is just a simple "Supersonics" around the player number. And finally is the throwback jerseys, which are the same as the old Gary Payton era jerseys, with a bit of a modern twist. I really like these ones, as well.
And with that, we finish off the Seattle exhibition. Next stop is just over the border: Mexico City!
Ok, now for Mexico City. I decided to give them a Spanish name, just because that way the locals could really have a team to call their own. So the Ciudad de México Víboras (Mexico City Vipers) came to be. The viper has pretty plain coloring, with some simple shadowing, and a basketball worked into the little rattle on the tail. I also used red for the eyes to make it a bit more fierce.This was the first team without a set name or a pre-existing logo so I got a bit more creative liberty on this one.
I really like these jerseys. I had recently seen the Ohio State Buckeyes white jerseys, and I loved them. So yeah, I used those as my inspiration a bit.The away jerseys are the same, just the colors are inverted. But there is something about those ones I really like. The alternate jersey has some Spanish written on it, again playing off the whole 'City' concept. The words translate to "Hoops City". The second alternative, the kind of 'Slate' jersey, and probably my favorite for this team. I just did a two-color palette and used a new font. And finally, the 'flex' jerseys. They have those two stripes, which also form a 'V'. I used the Portland Trail Blazers jerseys as inspiration for those.
We've come to an end to the Mexico City showcase. Final stop: Louisville!
