RETHINKING THE WASHINGTON COMMANDERS
The Washington Commanders (f.k.a. Football Team and Redskins) unveiled their new brand in February 2022. To say it was divisive is an understatement. The new logos and uniforms cause a wave of colorful reactions. I have to say, I felt it was very disjointed and felt it had a lack of effort. Before I go into my ideas, here's a look at what I'm talking about.
So, let's talk about what I think the positives and negatives are.
Positives:
-New name is not as bad as some put it. Given the constraints they themselves stated, it was the best available name left. Sure, it leaves an unfortunate short name out there (Commies), but it sounds more professional than any of the other finalists.
-Burgundy and gold are still the colors.
-Satin burgundy helmet is a nice modern touch, although the old metallic shade was great too.
-The home uniform is the best of the bunch. Simple, with a classic design, although it could get rid of the massive chest logo.
Negatives:
-The W logo lacks creativity and originality and is only an slight change to the WFT identity.
-The "crest" logo looks like it was made with clipart.
-Black is a really unnecessary addition to the color scheme and creates a disjointed look in the uniforms.
-Having 3 different designs for the uniforms makes the team look like a peewee league club, especially with the overdesigned away and black-for-black's-sake alternate.
-The white uniform is doing too much with the gradient numbers, color scheme, and striping. It results in an overall unprofessional look.
-The black uniform's simplicity is nice, but feels more like a solider cosplay than a football uniform, and the black does not work well with burgundy and yellow.
-Overall lack of imagination and effort. This feels more like a "wash our hands dry of the situation" rebrand more than anything resembling actual intentionality to making the new name stick.
How can we fix this? Here's my take!
First off was a new logo. I decided to take an element from a previous design I did for the Commanders back when news first broke of their old name being dropped. I went for a Warriors concept, and the main focus was a "Monument W" icon I thought was a great mix between a simple, yet meaningful, symbol. I decided to bring it back, but dropped the shield and background stripes for something simpler. I went for 3 initial ideas:
1: The Star: This idea uses 2 triangles on each side of the W icon to create a resemblance to a star, a recognizable American symbol. Simple, but it works in the abstract more that it is practical.
2: The Chevron: This idea places the striping of the Washington D.C. flag below the W to create a chevron shape, reminiscent of lower-rank military insignia.
3: The Badge: The ideas builds on the Chevron, but uses higher-rank insignia as a base, using the chevrons and the W in opposite pointing directions. A star fills the space in the gap left over.
While I have all three ideas pictured here, I decided to go with the Chevron as the main idea, as it is the most simple and direct design.
I decided on showing off both a signature burgundy/athletic gold and a new burgundy/old gold color scheme for all logos. This is a way to showcase some new ideas regarding the Commanders identity, without venturing too far from team roots.
There is also a few ideas for uniform designs, each with a different influence:
1: Classic: A uniform inspired by the days of John Riggins and Doug Williams, with a broad two-tone stripe.
2: Chevron: A uniform that uses the D.C. flag chevron as a central uniform element.
3: Dress Set: A set inspired by the dress uniforms of the USA's armed forces, with shoulder insignia and a simple look.
All logos, uniforms, and colors are meant to be interchangeable to nail down a signature look, but I wanted to give some variety in rethinking the Commanders brand here, hence all the options presented.
INSPIRATION BOARD
CONCEPT
All work is property of SSmith Designs