Six Winning IceHL Logos Revealed!

At this late stage of the IceHL's 13 Weeks of R&R project, I'm pleased and excited to announce the winning logo designs for six of the 11 IceHL teams undergoing rebranding this summer.

Based on the first round results, there's no need for any further voting for these teams. Scores (out of 100) were determined for each design based on the voter evaluations. Any logo whose score was at least 20 points higher than the next highest — demonstrating a clear favorite among the voters — automatically won for their team. Here are the victors!

Eric Poole decided to refine and update his original Colonials logo from 2008. The designed earned a score of 84/100 — the second highest in the entire contest. The runner-up for the Colonials this year was Matt McElroy's design, which earned a 64.		Chris Smith (the other one) retained his place as the logo designer for the IceHL's Calgary franchise — even with the new name — with a score of 77. Chris is hard at work on a new wordmark for his logo set. Once again, Matt McElroy was the runner-up for the Stallions, earning a 53.
Slavo Kiss got his second contest win in as many years. The Narwhals logo designer created a clear favorite for the Chargers, earning an 82 for his efforts. Once again, Matt McElroy was the runner-up with a 55.		Francis Matte's logo design will represent the Halifax Dragons. With a score of 87, it was the highest-rated logo of the entire contest! Jesse Feltner had the runner-up design, which earned a 62.
Finally, after multiple second-place finishes, Matt McElroy has a winning logo design! His Steelcats set picked up an 84 — tying Eric Poole's Colonials entry for the second-highest-rated design of the summer. Unseated was Chris Smith's original 2008 design, which earned a 61.		The talented Francis Matte is a winner twice over this summer. His Texas Outlaws logo earned an impressive score of 83. Mark Morgan had the runner-up design with a 55.

If you're curious about how the scoring worked, it's pretty simple. We use the percentages from the polls. Take the positive score and round to the nearest whole number (45.5% becomes 46). Take the neutral score and round it up to the nearest whole number, then divide that in half (round up again if necessary to get another whole number, so 36.5% [37/2=18.5] becomes 19). Add those two numbers together and you have your score.

Five more logos still to be decided

That leaves five teams with logos still to be decided. Those polls go up first thing Monday and will be open for a week. The top two designs for each team will be included in this next round. Next weekend we'll get started on designing jerseys for these 11 teams.

If you want to know which designs will be facing off this week (and you don't want to do the math yourself), I've got you covered:

• Olympiques: Craig Wheeler (current) vs. Francis Matte
• Aces: Matt McElroy vs. Francis Matte
• Snipers: Dave Delisle (current) vs. Matt McElroy
• Lumberjacks: Matt McElroy vs. Tim Schellenberg
• Sentinels: Rik Oko (current) vs. Matt McElroy

So clearly, Mr. McElroy is the man to beat! He already has one winning design in Hamilton and now has the potential for four more. Matt entered logos for all 11 teams and was the only designer to do so. But he's got stiff competition for these teams.

I'm excited to see how it all turns out. Until then, what do you think of the winning logos we already have?

IceHL Podcast: Episode 11, Part 2

The IceHL Podcast wraps up another multi-part episode with host Tony Pomposelli (Snipers GM), IceHL Commissioner Chris Smith (Barracudas GM) and Matt McElroy, one of the top designers participating in the IceHL's 13 Weeks of R&R project.

In Part 2, the crew gets back to talking about the IceHL as they deliberate on some of the 100+ logo sets submitted to the summer's design contest. And Matt gets the chance to share the inspiration behind some of his entries.

Recorded 6/9/13

Resources: Music Provided by OverClocked Remix. Opening: Never Stop by Cyril the Wolf. Closing: Blue Reflection by injury.

IceHL Podcast: Episode 11, Part 1

The IceHL never rests — not even in the offseason. And neither does the IceHL Podcast. In this two-part episode, host Tony Pomposelli (Snipers GM) leads a discussion with IceHL Commissioner Chris Smith (Barracudas GM) and Matt McElroy, one of the top graphic artists participating in the IceHL's 13 Weeks of R&R project.

In Part 1, the panel weighs in on the new looks recently unveiled by the Carolina Hurricanes and Dallas Stars. In Part 2, they'll examine some of the many logo entries in the IceHL's summer rebranding project.

Recorded 6/9/13

Resources: Music provided by OverClocked Remix. Opening: Forrest of Illusion by Forrest Fire. Closing: The Castle of Everlasting Night by Chaos.

Part 2 coming soon!

2013 IceHL Logo Evaluations

The time has finally come to begin voting on next logos to join the IceHL ranks as 13 Weeks of R&R continues. We have more than a hundred logos representing the work of dozens of artists. Because there's so much here, each team gets its own evaluation page. The number logos for each team varies, though, with some having as many as 15 designs to choose from and others as few as five.

The logo decisions will be a two-week process. This week, you'll grade all eligible entries on a very simple scale. Positive, neutral or negative are your options. These results will determine which logos make it to the final voting round next week.

NOTE: Included among these sets are not just logos submitted in the last three weeks but, if applicable, select logos submitted the first time around when we began this league back in 2008. We're allowing some second chances for those designs.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask and feel free to share your thoughts on each team's set of submissions in the comments on each page. Happy voting!

Update on Wednesday · Jun 12 · 2013 | 12:06 PM PDT by Chris

Two days in, voting is going very well. The designs are getting lots of feedback — good and bad. And it looks like we're on our way to having some great new logos for a handful of IceHL teams next season. While we're still early in this process, I wanted to take the time to answer some questions.

Can logos from different sets be put together?

No. I know some of you may like the primary logo from one set and the secondary from another. But in most cases we're looking at two very different design styles. Each artist has put together a package of logos that they believe complement each other and we're not going to fracture their vision. We're voting for the entire package, not piecemeal. All or nothing.

How many logos go to the final round of voting?

This is a tricky one. I don't have a set number. It will vary from team to team based on the sort of feedback the logos are receiving. For example, if three different entries are neck-and-neck, I don't want to have to throw one out because of an arbitrary rule that there can only be two. Something like that.

So instead, I'll look at it case-by-case. If there's one design that's running away with positive grades and I don't think any other designs stand a chance, I might call it this weekend. For teams where multiple designs are doing well, the final round of voting could have 2 or 3 options.

How is the score determined for each entry?

If you want to figure out how I'm scoring these jersey, it just takes a little bit of math. Take the positive vote percentage and round it up to the nearest whole number. Take half the neutral vote and round that up to nearest whole number. Add those together and you have your score out of 100.

For example, at the time of this writing, I'll score Eric Poole's redesign of his Colonials logo. It has 71% positive (71 points) and 21% neutral (11 points, after rounding). So right now the score of that design is 82 — very high. If other designs end up approaching that number, they'll be included in next week's polls.

How do I know who designed what after I vote?

I realized some of you were having trouble describing your favorite designs after you voted, since the designer's name was only visible in the poll question. First off, if you click "Return to Poll" it'll take you back to the original question. But just to save the extra click and make life easier, I've added the designer's name beneath each entry.

Once again, happy voting! (And let me know if you have any other questions.)

2013 IceHL Logo Submissions

We're halfway through this summer's 13 Weeks of R&R to reinvigorate the IceHL Project. Now the time has come to put our talented artists to work! If you have an idea, send it along.

The Teams

Voters have made 11 teams eligible for rebranding this summer. See all the names and recommended color palettes here and scroll down for the design contest rules.

The colors are not mandatory. If you have your own color scheme in mind, we won't stand in your way. However, I'd encourage all designers to avoid any shade of blue. It is easily the most overused color in the league. We could use a little variety at this point.

The colors listed include current, suggested and alternate so that each team has at least two color palette options. If no "suggested" palette is listed, then voters picked the current palette. Again, you're not limited to these colors, but this lets you know what the voters might prefer.

The Rules

There aren't many rules in IceHL design contests, but they must be followed: 

• DO NOT STEAL ARTWORK. No copying or tracing. No clipart. No adapting existing designs. No "borrowing." Create something original and distinctive!
• Exception to adaptation rule: Since we're rebranding teams, you may choose to update the team's current logo in some way. In that case, you will share credit with the original designer. (I'll decide whether you've made enough of a change to be included in voting.)
• Entries must be submitted via email to icethetics@gmail.com.
• Valid entries will include at least a primary logo and a wordmark. Secondary logos are at the designer's discretion.
• Please submit vector artwork (PDF/AI/SVG) if at all possible as this will be helpful to me when creating graphics for the web as well as the IceHL yearbook. (I will also accept high-resolution JPG and PNG formats.)
• Include your first and last name as well as email address on the actual artwork. 
• Finally, by submitting artwork you agree to allow Icethetics to use it in conjunction with IceHL-related projects and publications. 

DEADLINE: Saturday, June 8

You have three weeks to design and submit your work. Have fun and good luck! We'll begin voting on Mon., June 10 so if you end up needing an extra day, please let me know in advance.

Non-Designers Can Help Too

One more thing. You may not be skilled in graphic design, but maybe you're the big-picture type. If you have a great idea for a logo design, but can't put on paper, try putting it into words. Describe your idea in the comments and maybe it'll help one of our designers who's struggling to come up with an idea. You may not get a design credit, but you can still be part of the process!

Good luck to all!

Thanks to the IceHL Branding Committee

I also wanted to make a point of thanking the hastily-formed IceHL Branding Committee. It was a group of 12 guys who had some great discussions on how best to brand our relocated franchises in Halifax and Philadelphia. Their work resulted in the names Halifax Dragons and Philadelphia Aces.

The committee was comprised of (in no particular order) Ross Taylor, Matthew McElroy, Andy Petzold, Tony Pomposelli, Mike Burmeister, Matt Riegler, Ed Power, Matt Marczel, Thomas Ogilvie, Mike Kelly, Brandon Hebert and Dan Roesch. They are GMs, former AGMs, designers and all-around fans of the league and each made a lot of great contributions to the process. We'll surely go back to them to solve any future branding problems.