The 2014 Illini Nike Uniforms and Rebrand

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#1,302      

tiburon

Chicago
The rebrand finally got a mention on Brand New today, which is, as far as I know, the most popular site dedicated to brand identity on the web. They didn't give Illinois a full review like they did with FSU and Arkansas, but they did write up a couple words.



The writer called it "one of the better" recent Nike redesigns and praised the victory badge, but described the font as "bland and uncool." The general public voted decisively in favor of both the victory badge and the uniforms in the poll.

Astute commenters noted the disagreement between the rounded corners in the I and the sharp corners in the victory badge, and a couple agreed that what someone described as the "tabletop-esque extension" atop the shield made it feel unbalanced.

Overall though, the consensus seems to be that the rebrand as a whole is a success. I'm really happy to see Illinois featured on the site, and even happier that the rebrand seems to be well received by the design community. :thumb:
 
#1,303      

tiburon

Chicago
Just noticed an even more astute commenter pointed this out:

Nike's descriptions of U of I's type: "The letterforms are bold and energetic, infused with speed. The serifs are sleek and powerful, drawing inspiration from the fast cuts and aggressive playing style of Red Grange."

Nike's description of Mizzou's type 2 yrs ago: "These unique characteristics of the typeface are infused with speed and the serifs are sleek and powerful drawing inspiration from the ear of the tiger."

:eek:
 
#1,304      
either computer binary codes are goofing things ups, but one look above at our previous logo and the new I , and our orange now is really half orange/ half red. very similar to Auburn's orange. :(
 
#1,305      

STL FANATIC

S
Guest
^ I pointed that out a while ago, and it may or may not have been my co-worker who shared that in the comments section after I told her. (Hint: it was.)

I think the general notion from the recap & the blog is right.

Which is that it's fine. Maybe better than what Nike has done recently, but not worth his time to really analyze.

Speaking of which, I still have yet to finish my task of doing so. I still want to. The document is still open. It's probably for the best that I gave it some time to breathe, though. On the other hand, that time has turned to apathy. I still dislike the design, but I've started to just care less. We looked mediocre for many, many years, and now we'll look mediocre in a different (slightly better in most sports) way. The missed opportunity still pains me, but perhaps there is no better representation of Illini sports than that, anyways.
 
#1,306      

OrangeAndBlue217

Decatur, IL
I disagree that we will still look mediocre. I think the football uni's are fantastic. Need to see the basketball uni's all together on the court first but the younger/recruiting age kids apparently really like them as well. Just my opinion.
 
#1,307      

STL FANATIC

S
Guest
either computer binary codes are goofing things ups, but one look above at our previous logo and the new I , and our orange now is really half orange/ half red. very similar to Auburn's orange. :(


The textile values of our new orange is fine, it's the RGB (and perhaps CMYK—we haven't really gotten a chance to see print executions much) that are troubling.

Our NEW RGB orange is redder than Auburn's, I can tell you that. (Auburn was the other school I worked at.)

I know the DIA is aware of the issue with new orange.
 
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#1,308      

STL FANATIC

S
Guest
I disagree that we will still look mediocre. I think the football uni's are fantastic. Need to see the basketball uni's all together on the court first but the younger/recruiting age kids apparently really like them as well. Just my opinion.

I know. And mediocre is just my opinion. I'm outvoted. That's one of the reason I'm becoming apathetic. It's a futile fight. I can't unsee what I see, but if nobody else cares about those things I see, why should I.

I do agree the football uniforms are pretty good. Those are a drastic improvement over what we had. That's the one area I can say that. But there are still a lot of things I dislike about them.
 
#1,309      

OrangeAndBlue217

Decatur, IL
I know. And mediocre is just my opinion. I'm outvoted. That's one of the reason I'm becoming apathetic. It's a futile fight. I can't unsee what I see, but if nobody else cares about those things I see, why should I.

I do agree the football uniforms are pretty good. Those are a drastic improvement over what we had. That's the one area I can say that. But there are still a lot of things I dislike about them.

I cant wait to see what combinations of the jerseys they wear this fall. I guess that might be limited if the whole no blue jerseys is true.
 
#1,310      

Hugh Jorgen

H
Guest
Oh, I loathe them. But they put us in a position where we had to choose between the Chief and our student athletes, and I'm glad we chose the latter.

I'm not, because in actuality we didn't have to choose between either of them period. And a University of :shield: status with a law school knows it.

There were numbers of other institutions that had the same mandate placed upon them, and they called the NCAA bluff and it predictably disappeared.

Its moot at this point given the spineless leadership of our University as it all unfolded, but the :chief: was and in my humble opinion will always be the finest logo that any athletic team has ever had. Honorable, colorful, and demanded on more apparel than virtually anything else I've ever seen.

As a minor example, and to satisfy nitpickers in advance, no, I don't have a link to this...it came from a very close friend who was in information technology with Eastbay. But a few years back in '05, they released the throwback uniforms and advertised the shorts with the :chief: on the side panels at the bottom. He mentioned that there were roughly 13,000 orders placed for those within the first 7 hours of them being posted as available on the website. Word spread when a poster on scout linked them.

When Eastbay ended up pulling the product after the University contacted them due to violation of right of use concerns, my buddy literally mentioned that roughly 12,800 of the orders ended up being cancelled by customers.
Ironically enough, I was one of the first orders that was placed, and after significant complaining, I was actually able to have my single pair order fulfilled with the :chief: intact.

Anyway, to this day, I don't purchase or wear any Illinois apparel without the :chief: on it...and I won't as long as I'm around. Doesn't mean anything to some folks, but its my own little way of making my stance on the topic known. So while I agree that all student athletes need to receive the highest level of support from the institution, our administration simply caved on the issue out of their own desire...and used the NCAA threat as a reason to deflect attention for doing so. We could have still maintained the :chief: and hosted tournament events if push had come to shove.
 
#1,311      

Redfoxdogs

Gurnee, IL
Is it at all true that our new orange is a match for Nike's neon athletic shoe orange? A friend thought so, but I can't say I've paid enough attention to the shoes to know.
 
#1,312      

Redfoxdogs

Gurnee, IL
I really hope they can get the blue shirts. Not crazy about orange on the field with so many "red" teams.
 
#1,313      

illini1

Springfield, IL
As a minor example, and to satisfy nitpickers in advance, no, I don't have a link to this...it came from a very close friend who was in information technology with Eastbay. But a few years back in '05, they released the throwback uniforms and advertised the shorts with the :chief: on the side panels at the bottom. He mentioned that there were roughly 13,000 orders placed for those within the first 7 hours of them being posted as available on the website. Word spread when a poster on scout linked them.

When Eastbay ended up pulling the product after the University contacted them due to violation of right of use concerns, my buddy literally mentioned that roughly 12,800 of the orders ended up being cancelled by customers.
Ironically enough, I was one of the first orders that was placed, and after significant complaining, I was actually able to have my single pair order fulfilled with the :chief: intact.

Anyway, to this day, I don't purchase or wear any Illinois apparel without the :chief: on it...and I won't as long as I'm around. Doesn't mean anything to some folks, but its my own little way of making my stance on the topic known. So while I agree that all student athletes need to receive the highest level of support from the institution, our administration simply caved on the issue out of their own desire...and used the NCAA threat as a reason to deflect attention for doing so. We could have still maintained the :chief: and hosted tournament events if push had come to shove.


I got my hands on a sample pair a store owner got from a sales rep before they were pulled.

 
#1,314      

Hugh Jorgen

H
Guest
I got my hands on a sample pair a store owner got from a sales rep before they were pulled.


Yep, those are the ones. Classic design, although I wish the material was less dull and more shiny like the finish we had on our '05 jerseys. :chief:
 
#1,315      

illini1

Springfield, IL
Yep, those are the ones. Classic design, although I wish the material was less dull and more shiny like the finish we had on our '05 jerseys. :chief:


The store owner also had a pair of the white shorts. I'm still kicking myself for not buying both.
 
#1,316      

Kams Bathroom

K
Guest
So, bummer for me, I dawdled on buying my shield merchandise, and now there's nothing available in a normal size anywhere. :(
 
#1,317      

SuperMetroid

Evanston
So, bummer for me, I dawdled on buying my shield merchandise, and now there's nothing available in a normal size anywhere. :(

I got the shield T-shirt with the sleeve stripes at Niketown on Monday. They had all the sizes when I was there. Had the block I shirts with the Grange stripes too. The display from the unveiling was taken down already. Too bad because I wanted to see the new unis up close.
 
#1,318      

KJKobs

Chicago, IL
^ I pointed that out a while ago, and it may or may not have been my co-worker who shared that in the comments section after I told her. (Hint: it was.)

I think the general notion from the recap & the blog is right.

Which is that it's fine. Maybe better than what Nike has done recently, but not worth his time to really analyze.

Speaking of which, I still have yet to finish my task of doing so. I still want to. The document is still open. It's probably for the best that I gave it some time to breathe, though. On the other hand, that time has turned to apathy. I still dislike the design, but I've started to just care less. We looked mediocre for many, many years, and now we'll look mediocre in a different (slightly better in most sports) way. The missed opportunity still pains me, but perhaps there is no better representation of Illini sports than that, anyways.

Dude, do you need a hug or something? I hope one day you can find inner peace.
 
#1,319      
New volleyball court is a lighter wood color with blue borders and orange letters. Wouldn't surprise me to see the same when they redo the basketball court and possibly to see blue endzones in football with orange wordmarks.
 
#1,320      

STL FANATIC

S
Guest
Dude, do you need a hug or something? I hope one day you can find inner peace.

Not until everything I care about is beautiful. No rest until then. ;)
 
#1,321      

illinicb

Northbrook
So, bummer for me, I dawdled on buying my shield merchandise, and now there's nothing available in a normal size anywhere. :(
Me too. I bought a shirt the next day for my son and as it turns out, he wants a different one and his size isn't available. Obviously they will be again, just hoping it isn't months away.
 
#1,322      

IlliniByProxy

St. Joseph, IL
New volleyball court is a lighter wood color with blue borders and orange letters. Wouldn't surprise me to see the same when they redo the basketball court and possibly to see blue endzones in football with orange wordmarks.

Unless they rip up the end zone turf, it's safe to say we will have orange end zones until the next re-turf. The question is, which word mark will they get, Fighting Illini, or Illinois?
 
#1,323      

HsvIllini

Alabama
Unless they rip up the end zone turf, it's safe to say we will have orange end zones until the next re-turf. The question is, which word mark will they get, Fighting Illini, or Illinois?

I thought that was the whole reason they just painted it on until the re-brand - wait until the branding is done, then replace it with something permanent. I would think they will need to do something with whatever is on the 50-yard line anyway which is going to require replacing portions of the turf, so I would think they could do it all at the same time. It's just a matter of do they wait until they get a new turf to do it all.
 
#1,324      

mattcoldagelli

The Transfer Portal with Do Not Contact Tag
Overall though, the consensus seems to be that the rebrand as a whole is a success. I'm really happy to see Illinois featured on the site, and even happier that the rebrand seems to be well received by the design community. :thumb:

Looks like we can finally slap a time of death on GHD's "objectively, everyone who is not a total Nike fanboy and posts on this site will think the shield is jokey garbage" promise.
 
#1,325      
Looks like we can finally slap a time of death on GHD's "objectively, everyone who is not a total Nike fanboy and posts on this site will think the shield is jokey garbage" promise.

Perhaps it's my dislike for the shield, but I read the write-up as, it's OK and it's certainly less bad than everything else Nike has done recently. That's a far cry from it being good.

Also, I'd encourage you to read the posters' comments in that link. Far more complaints than praises.

I think the consensus is that it's not as bad as I think it is, and it's not as good as you think it is.
 
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