VHL Branding is a Mixed Bag

[Rin 170]

It's been a while since the league needed to expand into four new franchises from the ground up, but still recent enough that I remember being around when things were being prepared. As was the process for VHLM logos as well, a group of people would comb through a few websites that hosted pre-made mascot logos and decide which ones were usable enough for the incoming franchises. At the time, it was a perceived limitation that we needed to pick something premade and ready to go, as we didn't have anyone within the community to go to for something custom. As such, we ended up with a number of franchises whose only inspiration was the availability of the logo; the Predators, Phantoms, etc were born of this mindset.

 

However, if we were willing to spend money to grab a premade logo from a site that had them in bulk, we could have just as easily hopped on Fiverr and used the money for something a bit more custom or tailored to a vision. I wish I could have suggested it at the time, but with a few reference images and shitty drawings, I've been able to get some logos together for other projects that feel a lot more close to the creative idea at large. Every team started as a concept or an idea that was tied to their location, and having the ability to request a logo specifically for that purpose adds so much to the experience. I feel like we maybe could have put some better thought into a few teams from the ground level, releasing them with a cool little story and connection to the places they're from.

 

I could also just be naive to some of the thought behind certain team branding. Obviously, the Halifax 21st have a very specific tie to the city, and the Las Vegas Aces have been reworked from the most generic gambling reference imaginable to a double-entendre that recognizes the city's rich history in aviation. The Chicago Phoenix are (a bit loosely, maybe retroactively) tied to the great Chicago fire, so on and so forth. If I'm missing any more of the cool stories behind team names, I'd really love to be corrected because I find that shit super fascinating.

 

Forever and always, though, fuck the stupid esports text in logos. Looks super cheap, a good logo really shouldn't need a big "TEAM NAME" text in the middle of it.

[Gustav 6,545]

1 hour ago, Rin said:

If I'm missing any more of the cool stories behind team names, I'd really love to be corrected because I find that shit super fascinating.

 

Off the top of my head, Calgary has a cool tie to their team concept. "LA Stars" also works well as a nod to the film industry. 

 

In the M, the Ottawa Lynx share a name with a former minor league baseball team and Miami works really well as a team concept because of an extensive history of piracy around Florida.

 

I'm not immediately aware of other things for other teams though.

[tcookie 962]

2 hours ago, Rin said:

Forever and always, though, fuck the stupid esports text in logos. Looks super cheap, a good logo really shouldn't need a big "TEAM NAME" text in the middle of it.