In my last post about the Reno Ice Adult League I finished the A-League part of my concept with the Whisky Dekes. There are more teams in A-League that did get added during the fall season. Those teams will be added at a later date. In this concept for now the A-League consists of Miller Lite, the Mustangs, the Reno Gamblers, RT Janitorial, the Swamp Donkeys and Whisky Dekes.
Primary Logos
When I started I didn’t want teams to look too similar. I wanted each branding to be unique. I wanted them to not only stand out but also stand out from each other. Unfortunately, the mustangs and the Reno Gamblers have similar layouts. The Swamp Donkeys and Whisky Dekes also have similar layouts. That was done unintentionally. I think it actually helps the logos look like they belong together. Despite their similarities they still stand apart from each other. Thanks to other factors like shape and color the logos can be easily recognized even when grouped together.
One thing that I didn’t realize until I was almost finished with Whisky Dekes, is that every team in the A-League has their name in their primary logo. Several pro teams throughout the NHL, AHL and ECHL do this. Most notably every team in the NBA has their name in their primary logo. I think this is just an interesting fact about this concept.
Jerseys
Quick recap on jerseys. For this concept each team has a Dark, Light, 3RD, City, Retro, and Surge jersey. The home team picks their jersey first, then the away team can pick their jersey. Both teams not use the same primary color jerseys. As an example two teams can’t both wear white jerseys. For more on jerseys check out these posts here, here or here.
Even though there are a lot of logos, jerseys make up a large part of the concept. There may not be as many jerseys as logos but they make up fifty to sixty percent of what the Reno Ice Adult League concept is about. As far as the design I wanted them to be unique yet realistic. I didn’t want any two teams to have similar style jersey designs. I wanted the designs to stand out compared to other real life jerseys. I wanted the designs to be a good representation of each teams branding. Lastly I wanted them to feel like they could be used by each team in real life. I think I accomplished this fairly well. Every team has jerseys that stand out. I also think that a lot of each teams branding for this concept can be seen through these jerseys.
I like all of these jerseys. If I didn’t like one, I wouldn’t have used it. My favorite Miller Lite Jerseys is the 3rd or retro jersey. It’s kind of a tie with the city jersey in a close third place. My favorite Mustangs jersey is the Light jersey. My favorite Gamblers jersey is the Surge jersey. Non of the other Gamblers jerseys come close to how much I love that one. I do the love the Gamblers retro logo too, but the Surge jersey is just so much better than the rest. My favorite RT Janitorial jersey is their City jersey followed by the Retro and Surge. I think the every RT Janitorial might have the best set of jersey. My favorite Swamp Donkeys jersey is the 3rd jersey followed closely by the Surge jersey. My favorite whisky dekes jersey is the Surge jersey. It is just so unique in this jersey landscape.
Dark Jerseys
There are two dark blue jerseys, two red Jerseys, and two jerseys with green. I swear that wasn’t on purpose. My favorite jerseys here is the RT Janitorial jersey. That is closely followed by the Swamp Donkeys jersey. The Whisky Dekes jersey is definitely the most unique.
Light Jerseys
They are all white. When I started I didn’t mean to make all of the Light jerseys white. I wanted more variety within the Light jerseys. It just didn’t work out that way. As I said in a pervious post this isn’t like the NHL. As long as both teams aren’t wearing the same primary (or main) color (ex. two white jerseys), both teams can wear any jersey in their set. My favorite Light jersey is the Whisky Dekes jersey. I really like the colors in contrast to white, I also think the wordmark logo with the number on the front of the jerseys is complements the white jersey.
3RD Jerseys
3RD jerseys are supposed to act as alternate jerseys for this concept. Only the Mustangs have a white 3RD jersey. My favorite is the Swamp Donkeys jersey. I would really like to see a game with the Miller Light vs Swamp Donkeys 3RD jerseys.
City Jerseys
City jerseys in this concept are meant to connect each team with the city. Every team plays at Reno Ice so the designs should represent the Reno area. The Miller Lite City jersey is red, tan and blue. It represents the United States, but is also inspired by the Reno Rodeo. The Mustangs City Jersey has a Nevada outline with a star where Reno is. The Reno Gamblers have a City jersey that is inspired by casino signs. The RT Janitorial City jerseys is inspired by the Reno/Tahoe area with it’s mountain like design. The Swamp Donkeys have a silver City jersey as Nevada is the “Silver State”. The Whisky Dekes City jersey has “Biggest Little City” on it which is Reno’s most well known nickname. My favorite of these jerseys is the RT Janitorial jersey.
Retro Jerseys
This is the A-League Retro jerseys. This is what the teams would have looked like in the 90s/2000s. For this concept some of these jerseys would have been worn during the same seasons. My favorite Retro jersey is probably the RT Janitorial Retro jersey. It is defiantly the most unique jersey. I would love having all of these in my collection though.
Surge Jerseys
The Surge jerseys are probably the most unique collection of jerseys for this concept. When I set out to design the surge jerseys I originally wanted something inspired by the NFL color rush jerseys. I wanted to do a better job. The NFL didn’t do a good job with the color rush series and gave up on it. I liked the idea and so far I think I am doing pretty good. It’s hard to choose a favorite Surge jersey. If I had too I would say the Whisky Dekes are my favorite. Thats just because I haven’t seen any other hockey team put deer antlers on the sleeves of a hockey jersey.
Zac Electrifly 