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Timothy Batzinger Redesigns and Rebrands the NFL (NFC West Edition)

Tim Batzinger is a Uni Watch reader who is also a uniform designer, and he too has redesigned (and rebranded) uniforms for all the NFL teams. Unlike the two recent concepters who made slight tweaks and minor fixes to the current NFL uniforms, Tim has gone in a different direction. These concepts are decidedly more radical than more recent tweaks shown on Uni Watch. Like the other recent concepts, I’ll be running these by Division, and will be posted between now and the Super Bowl.

Enjoy!

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NFL Redesigns/Rebranding Project: NFC West
by Timothy Batzinger

The goal for this project is to reimagine each team with all-new (or updated) branding and uniforms. To keep it simple, I’ve created a new primary logo, secondary logos (in some cases perma-memorials), a word mark, and 3 uniform sets – Home, Road, Alternate.

I’ve tried to stay true to each franchise’s history, whether they’re more “traditional” (think Packers) or more “risky” (think Seahawks). For some teams, there are alternate pant and sock combos, but for the sake of keeping this uniform (pun intended) I’ve kept it to what I feel is the best representation of each team’s brand.

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Arizona Cardinals

Branding: The Cardinals branding is inspired by indigenous artwork from the southwest. The primary logo includes a “C” for the eye, and the colors of the Arizona state flag are included throughout. Black has been replaced by navy blue, silver has been replaced by copper, and the “white” is more of an off-white to mimic desert sand. The secondary logos are a full-body cardinal with an Arizona flag motif, and an “A” that acts as an abstraction of a flying cardinal.

Uniforms: The home uniform is very traditional – a solid red base with numbers – but with copper “diamonds” added to the collar to continue the indigenous styling from the logos. The away is the same, but with stripes added to the sleeves – in line with their history. The secondary logo is featured on the hips, with the Arizona flag on the back of the helmets. The alternate uni prominently features the Arizona flag on the sleeves, with a new red helmet.

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Los Angeles Rams

Branding: The design of the primary logo is inspired by classic California highway signs. The ram head is a modification of the logo they had when they returned to LA. The “LA” monogram features a horn/wave – referencing both the team name and southern California’s surfing culture.

Uniforms: The uniforms are a more direct return to the classic Rams unis worn from 1973-99, with slight modifications. The numbers have been moved to the shoulders, the contrasting collar color has been tapered to mimic a ram’s horn, and the primary logo has been added to the left chest. I’ve also darkened the gold from the “sol” they wear today, in order to bring it more in line with what they had before. The alternate is a navy/white version, harkening back to what they wore in the 1960s and upon their return to LA in 2016.

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San Francisco 49ers

Branding: The primary logo includes a pickaxe as a reference to mining and the gold rush. The star is taken from the California state flag. The framing of the icons is a reference to the Golden Gate Bridge — San Francisco’s most iconic landmark.

Uniforms: The 49ers have an established, classic look, so I didn’t want to mess with it too much. Looking through their history, they’ve featured a block shadow on their numbers at various times since 1955 – a uniform directly referenced in the alternate, which is a throwback to those 1955 uniforms. The home and away uniforms are in line with what they’ve worn over the majority of their history, but I’ve added thin gold outlines around the stripes.

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Seattle Seahawks

Branding: The branding is inspired by indigenous art from the pacific northwest (much like their current logo). “SS” on the wings stands for “Seattle Seahawks.” I’ve updated the hawk head logo to match the new full-body design. The colors have been updated to reflect Seattle’s weather – “white” is now a grayish “cloudy” white, and a dark gray has been added. Navy and royal blue are both present, linking the two eras of their history (pre and post-Kingdome).

Uniforms: Silver/gray helmets and pants return for the first time since 2001. A wing/feather motif has been added throughout the uniform – on the sleeves, collar, and pants. The alternate is a fauxback to pre-2002, with a royal base and the hawk head logo on the sleeves, but otherwise retaining the modern design and color palette.

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Thanks, Tim.

Readers? What say you?

 
  
 
Comments (45)

    Digging the regional/culture vibes of both the Cardinals and Seahawks logo, great work on those.
    I think I prefer the existing logos, but these are great pieces of art.

    It’s great to see more changes than some of the efforts with the other divisions.
    I have mixed feelings about the Cardinals. Not sure I like the St Louis Cardinals Baseball blue over using black. I like the logo, but the Bidwell’s will need to sell the team before something like that happens.
    However not a fan of changing the 49er helmet logo.
    As for the Rams alternate, change it to the correct white jersey and I’d love these.

    This is a different contributor. But I agree with your point. I prefer this style of redesign to the minor tweaks that aren’t immediately evident to an NFL casual like myself.

    Nice, awesome work. Love it all but the SF helmet but get this is supposed to be a new concept and overhaul.

    I dont like how the San Fran helmet turned out. Current logo is pretty darn good no need to replace.

    LA is a huge upgrade. Their current uniforms are so close to looking good, but just don’t come together for me. I love how this design honors the current design and still calls back to the historic elements that make an iconic Rams uniform.

    I love the Arizona, LA, and Seattle designs.
    SF is my least favorite, but only because I think their current uniforms are basically perfect–the design here is just fine. It’s personal preference, that’s all.
    Arizona: YES. Finally, a design that actually says “Arizona” in more than just stupid block letters on the chest! Love it, love it, love it. My favorite of the 4.
    LA: Going back to the classic look (with the classic-classic look as the alt) is all any of us want. Keep it simple, Rams.
    Seattle: The sleeve wings are very cool. I like continuing the reference to indigenous art and this is an upgrade across the board.

    Getting serious Arizona Wrangler vibes off that AZ alternate! If any Cardinals fans are reading, contact the FO post haste because these need to be put into circulation!

    Terrifically redesigned Seahawks helmet logos, and while I like current modernized Rams uniforms, your take is even better than those!

    Really loving these!
    The Cardinals should definitely embrace the desert more, and copper and sand are a perfect way to do that. This Rams concept fixes pretty much all the problems I have with the Nike redesign, and even though I don’t really like the 49ers redesigned logo, the jerseys are fantastic. The Seahawks design looks very modern without hurting my eyes, and is just classic enough to be really appealing (and I love the font). All of this is great, I can’t wait to see the next ones, and if/when I ever try a project like this myself, there’s a lot of inspirational material here.

    It’s crazy how pretty much any AZ concept kills it except what Nike and the team actually came up with. This one is no exception. Personally my only beef with the Rams actual unis is the Fibonacci horn (and the crummy logo). There’s just something about the way it fits on the helmet that bothers me. That said, it’s certainly not a perfect set, and this concept is very nice and I wouldn’t have any complaints if they wore it. The niners don’t need a refresh (what they need is to finally put a nail in the coffin of the drip shadow era). This one isn’t bad though. A team that keeps it simple leaves room for redesigns that also keep it simple, and while we niners fans are fond of the shield logo and the saloon font, I like these concepts and wouldn’t be mad if the niners tried something different like this for a while. The Seahawks are a fraught team. We all know what we want from them, and they are so far from it that it’s not likely to happen outright any time soon. These walk a good line between what I’d like to see (simplify, simplify, SIMPLIFY!) and keeping some of the current design hallmarks. Plus the throwback. I also love that the logo here straightens out the hawk head. I’m so tired of the edgy angry bird. It’s supposed to be Haida art, and I prefer it that way, but this is again a nice compromise with some old and some new.

    All in all, very nice.

    Add my name to the list of readers who love the Arizona redesign. I moved to Phoenix seven years ago and never understood why the team never embraced Southwest culture. Big bonus for incorporating the state flag. Really like the LA and Seattle logos, too. Eager to see what you come up with for the rest of the league. I’m looking at you, Tennessee Titans.

    I like all but the 49ers suggestions. Leave them alone please. I especially like the Rams and Cards designs. In particular, using the navy/white set as the Rams alt is great, with the normal sets being closer to their best look.

    The only thing I don’t like is the SF helmet logo.

    Everything else is FANTASTIC

    If we are going to keep creating new logos for teams named Cardinals, we need to finally drop the yellow beaks. They have orange/reddish-orange beaks.

    I do like the ideas.
    For AZ, I’d love to see the flag shoulders from the alt onto the home red. That was just a little too plain.
    Rams look great. The “my name is” patch is gone and the freeway sign is far and away better.
    Hawks need a little more action green somewhere.

    Cardinals: Like it, especially the alt with the navy and copper color scheme. I’ve always wanted the Cards to adopt the 1984 Wranglers’ colors, and this comes close.

    Rams: Very good but don’t put the numbers on the shoulders. The alts might work better with a white jersey, if only because the Rams rarely wore blue jerseys (and never at home until/except 1972) during their navy-and-white years (1964-72), and only the white jerseys had shoulder loops/horns.

    49ers: I for one like the drop-shadowed numerals but the helmet logo doesn’t work for me.

    Seahawks: Not bad; better than what they have now, but maybe that alt should be the primary.

    This is great all around, fun concepts and not just settling for what they currently have. Well done all around and looking forward to your other posts where you hopefully do the whole league!

    I think Arizona should ditch their white jerseys and make them even sandier than shown here. There are more than a few teams that could ditch their white jerseys for a light/pastel coloured jersey. Maybe a series like Phil did for MLB would be worth considering…

    Interesting thought. I mean the rams kinda sorta tried it but…

    it’d be weird to think about teams having a pastel/faded/light color uni INSTEAD of a white, rather than it simply being an alt, but the cards for sure could do a tan, the titans could do a powder (or lighter) blue, and the Seahawks and Lions could do a light grey, I could even see the raiders in a light grey top with black or white pants.

    I mean… These designs are a thousand times better than any of these high priced NFL selected firms have produced. Great job, well thought out and executed! Bravo.

    Rams and Seahawks are really well done. Im actually a bigger fan of the lighter blue Seahawks jersey than the navy one. The classic Rams are how they should be. San Fran helmet is really bad.

    Rams are good, and Seattle is ok except the wings on the shoulder. Arizona and SF are brutal though.

    I do like almost everything seen here; have to agree with several others, leave the Niners’ helmets as is. You’re not going to top a classic, and the current logo is up there with the Canadiens’ C, the Tigers’ old English D, etc..

    And yes, the Rams need the ‘ram horn’ hoops on the shoulders. New Era did it right for the Alouettes’ mid-70s throwbacks, Swooshy can certainly do it right for LA. Doesn’t matter that there’s no sleeve to work with; just follow the contour of the sleeve cap, tapering as you go along, and end below the armpit – done.

    Seahawks fan here. I *LOVE* that set of uniforms and color combos. If we applied that to what we have in real life right now, we’d be a damn good looking team.

    The silver helmets have gotta come back full time.

    Sorry, the Cardinals’ “white” looks too much like dishwater to me. The 49ers helmet is almost as bad as their 1991 helmet debacle.

    link

    In general, some good stuff to be taken from these.
    AZ – don’t like any of the logos, the “Flying A” or the abstract bird. I REALLY like everything else – the navy, the copper, the lack of silver, the lack of black, the font. My favorite of the set.
    LAR – you got rid of most of the gimmicky crap they have now – no dishwater, no gradient numbers, no unnecessary split on the horn. Maybe my favorite of the logos. Horns back on the sleeves, but I would have made them big enough to accommodate the numbers inside the swirl. Not crazy about another bespoke font.
    SF – my least favorite of the set. From the logo to the helmet to the numbers (which are too wide as a number font, leaving a lot of blank vertical space on the jerseys). Sorry
    SEA – mixed bag. White jerseys should be crisp white, not dull dishwater. Another bespoke font that tries too hard. The monogram is OK but you’re keeping the helmet logo and now have a full bird, so what’s the point of a new logo that isn’t being used?

    I don’t think off-white of any kind should show up in American football uniforms as more than an accent color. I think the consistent universality of white and black is the saving grace of a lot of uni matchups that feature clashing shades of primary colors. Also, I agree with the consensus here that it’s very difficult to improve on what the 49ers actually wear.

    But your Rams set is a clear improvement, and the Cards and ‘Hawks sets are fantastic (in isolation; they’d look better on the field with true white).

    I like the general concepts of these designs, but I feel like the Rams and 49ers’ logo redesigns are the overall weakest of the bunch, especially that secondary “LA” logo. I can barely even see the horn motif.

    There’s a reason why “SS” is no longer used as a typographical symbol. Putting it in the company of a hawk/eagle doesn’t help the case.

    Haha, that was my thought as well. “SS” paired with a bird having outstretched wings… where have we seen that before…

Comments are closed.