Top 5: Worst Designs of 2016

By JVDW
In John van der Woude
Dec 29th, 2016
3 Comments

2016worst-636It’s that time of the year, where everyone and their top-5-favourite-dogs-of-the-year are counting down the best and worst lists for 2016. We here at Hockey By Design are not immune to such things. In fact, we do it on a semi-regular basis. Why? Because they’re addictive. And because you seem to like them.

So today, we’re got the Top 5 Worst Designs of 2016 in the NHL. Why worst first? Because you always pick the bad news before the good news when given the option. Always. Remember, these are the Top 5 Worst Designs that were announced in 2016. Not all of them have necessarily been used in a game yet.

• More: Top 5 Best Designs of 2016

 

2016worst-5For a team with such a rich and eclectic jersey history, including their iconic purple-and-gold jerseys, they made an odd choice when designing jerseys to celebrate their 50th anniversary. First off, grey? Not silver, because jerseys aren’t metallic. It’s grey. Second, the subtle use is gold trimming seems really odd when in combination with the aforementioned grey, as it lessens its impact considerably. And it’s especially odd when they literally have gold jerseys already that could’ve been used in some way. Actually, they could have added some gold trim to any jersey in their library and it would’ve been better suited than on these. I guess it could be considered a gold lining on a grey cloud? But that grey cloud is still depressing. 

 

2016worst-4There’s so much to not like about this name. First, leaving the “Las” out of Las Vegas, making the team name a slang/casual reference to where they play. It may be more convenient, but it’s still really unprofessional and strange. As for Golden Knights, there were legal circumstances that forced Las Vegas down a certain path with the team name, but the other contenders (Silver Knights and Desert Knights) are both better than Golden Knights, evoking images of cheesy and fake-gold-plated statues standing guard at the casinos. And now with their current legal issues surrounding the name, the whole process feels like it was botched from the beginning.

• More: HbD Breakdown: Vegas Golden Knights (Part 1): Name and Wordmark

 

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2016worst-3Staying in Vegas, there’s a bunch of issues surrounding the wordmark. The kerning and tracking of “Golden Knights” is maddeningly inconsistent, as the letters appear to drift further and further apart as the words go on. The “Vegas” is way too prominent compared to “Golden Knights”, about 6 or 7 times the size, appearing as if the team just wants you to forget about the moniker of the team altogether (which would be understandable, given what’s at #4 on this same list). The typography is a strange custom typeface with curves, serifs and hard-angles that don’t work well together. And then there’s alignment issues, where the gold line sticks out farther than the stars and “Golden Knights”. The star elements are the nice element saving this wordmark from total disaster.

• More: HbD Breakdown: Vegas Golden Knights (Part 1): Name and Wordmark

 

2016worst-2The 2016 All-Star Game jerseys weren’t awful at all, and the new format of a mini-tournament between 4 divisional teams was a huge hit and turned what’s usually an awful 3-hour game of half-hearted hockey into an enjoyable event. And of course, there was the whole John Scott story. But, if you’re having 4 teams, why do you only make 2 jerseys for them to wear? It’s a missed opportunity that made little sense, forcing at least one team to change jerseys during the tournament, and forcing the league to have a jersey for each player in both white and black. There was an easy remedy to all this while staying within the Nashville Predators’ branding colours and using the same jersey template. Hopefully this all gets remedied for this year’s edition of the ASG in LA.

• More: HbD Breakdown: 2016 All-Star Game Jerseys

 

 

2016worst-1Some of you loved the logo, which I totally understand. It’s got a great rebellious, death metal vibe to it. Some of you even loved their black home jerseys, which I can kind of see in that they’re unique and aggressive. But their white road jerseys? Just awful. The grey patches of texture look like duct tape wrapped around their sleeves. The awesome bright orange on their logo crest is nowhere else to be seen on the jerseys, pants or socks, making them stand out in a not-good obnoxious way. And because there’s little else on the jersey, all the cool aggressiveness and impact from the black jerseys are completely lost here and it just looks…boring and disconnected. Like a glorified practice jersey, but somehow worse.

• More: HbD Breakdown: WCoH Jerseys – North America
• More: The World Cup of Hockey Jersey Countdown (Part 1)

 

So that’s the worst of the worst in NHL design this year. Want to know the best designs of 2016? Click here!

 

Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments or join the conversation TwitterFacebook and Instagram! And if you’re interested, we’re now on Pinterest too.

 

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3 Responses to “Top 5: Worst Designs of 2016”

  1. […] Best Designs of 2016 in the NHL. Yesterday, we did the Top 5 Worst Designs of 2016, and you can read that here. Why worst first? Because you always pick the bad news before the good news when given the […]

  2. […] • More: Top 5 Worst Designs of 2016 […]

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