2016 Rebranding Project: Dragons Redesign?
/
We're currently accepting logo design entries for our four recently renamed teams: the Aces, Frost, Flamingos and Smoke. But — cue the dramatic music — there's been a plot twist in the IceHL 2016 Rebranding Project!
Monday morning I received an email from Halifax Dragons logo designer Francis Matte. Francis caught wind of some of the unrest this summer surrounding the team's colors and whether it was appropriate for a team from Nova Scotia (New Scotland) to have Welsh colors and insignia.
Not enough fans were bothered and the team was not selected for rebranding this summer. But Francis himself still wanted to go back to the drawing board. Of his own accord, he redesigned the Halifax Dragons branding and asked me if it could be implemented.
It's not unprecedented for an IceHL artist to revisit his work. In 2013, Alaska Huskies designer Slavo Kiss refined his logos. They were implemented without a community vote because the changes were minor. Also that year, Eric Poole revised his Boston Colonials logos, but they were implemented only after a community vote because the team was selected for rebranding.
This case is unlike those. First, the changes aren't minor. Francis's new design is significantly different in a number of ways. Second, the community did not select the Dragons for rebranding. However, since Francis has done the redesign, it warrants further consideration.
So I'm making an exception here. This week, I'm running the poll below, which will allow the community to choose between the two designs. If a majority votes in favor of the redesign, it will be adopted and we'll add the Dragons to this summer's jersey design contest.
Here goes. Happy voting!
As for the obvious follow-up question — what if other designers ask to redesign their IceHL logos? I say, bring them on! I'm always open to improving the league.
Any designer who wants to improve on his IceHL work should be more than welcome to do so. All I'd add is that it's best we deal with these things in the summer when we already have a jersey design contest on the horizon.
UPDATE · Aug 1 · It's official! By popular vote, these are the new logos of the Halifax Dragons!