The Kraken are here! As someone who has an interest in Seattle sports (my sister lives there so I have made several trips) I am always interested in what is going on. I root for the Sounders in the MLS, since there isn’t a team close by. I remain enraged that the Sonics left. I enjoy watching the Seahawks, even if they aren’t my number 1. I don’t bother with the Mariners (neither does much of Seattle). So I was delighted to see the new Seattle NHL team release its inner (and outer) Kraken.
Whoa. Very nice job. Whoever developed this design deserves a big raise. First, the S logo is great, with the eye, the tentacle in the negative space, the font and the shading, this looks fantastic. The anchor combo with the space needle is nice (although I feel like people in Seattle are sort of tired of being endlessly associated with a tourist trap that has expensive mediocre food. No one in Seattle goes there). Finally, the nice original font looks great. The color scheme slides very nicely into the gap between the Mariners and Seahawks without taking too much from them. It is also a combo I have not seen elsewhere, so credit for originality. Verdict: A +
Let’s look at the jersey. Use of the primary and secondary logo are, of course, excellent. The red from the eye spills over just a little bit into the jersey, which is important. Having 3 or more colors on a jersey is very important to create contrast and dimension (it is a key part of my jersey evaluation here and here). The colors mix nicely on the sleeve, while they didn’t get carried away on the bottom with the many rows of stripes some NHL teams use. This allows the excellent logo with space to breathe. Verdict: A
Here we get a look at the away jersey, which is also good, but loses a hint of the ocean’s dark depths that exist in the home look. I still like it. Verdict: A –
Overall a great new look, and a contender for next year’s jersey review for certain. In a Tale Of Two Cities situation, today the Washington Redskins gave up their name for nothing, since, instead of preparing for a name change for years in the face of stubborn opposition, they caved at the first hint of losing money without any semblance of a plan, so now they are just the Washington Football team, while they try to convince this guy to give them a domain since even he could figure this out before Daniel Snyder. Verdict: