I love sports design. Nicknames, logos, secondary logos, uniforms, tertiary logos, stupid playoff slogans… I dig it. The Alliance of American Football just started playing, which means we got a whole new league of brand systems to chew on. Let’s get to it.
I think the AAF took a very interesting approach. Each team’s design system is part of a larger league design system. Judging from a one-step-beyond-cursory level of research, it appears one design team created the whole league’s logo and uniforms. Initially, that hit me as unorthodox, but for a league competing with the NFL, having all your teams’ design systems within the same visual language is a smart move.
Take a look at the logos.
The logos share thick outlines and hard shadows and highlights. The typography shares the same location/nickname relationship. Again, not a criticism, but smart choice for brand recognition. Frankly, I’m a little jealous of the creative team. Exploring a smaller environment of creative parameters can really up your creative output. I’m also a sucker for creating design systems.
Let’s go to the uniforms.
Very modern, modular, panel-based system. Trunk, collar, shoulders, sleeves, side piping, pants, pant stripes, socks. You could use Madden’s create-a-team on these. Most of the sleeves and collars are a different color than the base. The TV numbers are all flat with no outlines and in the same place (top of the shoulder, not on the sleeve) on each jersey. I say kudos to the design team for setting themselves up for a successful launch.
Other stuff:
Big fan of having numbers on the helmets for the Hotshots, Legends, Commanders and Fleet. Super old-school touch, even better with a logo on one side.
Good on the Iron for going all black but not making it not look like pajamas.
I’m not a fan of helmet gradients, but the Express do it as well as you’re going to, I suppose. Still, the colors could use more contrast.
The Apollos missed an opportunity to use non-primary logo on helmet. The Stallions took it, but I have a little disconnect with wings being on the helmet for team with a horse mascot.