Friday, September 26, 2008

Face Time With Sabres' Artist

Charlie from Sabres Not Slugs pointed me to a cool new video from the Buffalo-based Artvoice. Buffalo Sabres creative services director Frank Cravotta is interviewed and talks about designing the third jersey and a new line of Sabres clothing that will be available soon.

You can watch the video right here on Icethetics.



He's done some awesome work there. I look forward to seeing what else that team comes up with. Any thoughts?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm proud to be a sabres fan and live in buffalo.

Dandy said...

It nice to see a video, however adding grey outlines is not updating a logo. Besides, the inner grey circle doesn't work as it crams the classic design.

John Slabyk UPDATED their logo in the right way.

The new 3rd jersey is still overall nice but I will never be satisfied until I see Slabyk's logo on a jersey!

Doug said...

Nice to see at least that the Sabres have done it the right way by using Macs in their creative department.

Kevin Y said...

You Sabres fans flip-flop more than the New York Mets. Would you rather see this updated look of the classic logo? Or would you rather see more of the slug? Take your pick.

Drew Celestino said...

Ksy, I hear you man. I for one couldn't be happier with the updated classic logo. And those third jerseys are top notch. Here's hoping they become the ONLY dark jerseys.

And it pains me to say, as I don't want to give the man behind the slug any credit, but that clothing line is pretty damn cool. And I'm sure it will sell like hotcakes.

carpandean said...

I could be happier, but not much. I'd say the new third is about a 9, so there is that small room for improvement, but since we're coming from about a 4 (1 for the slug and 7 for the jersey they put it on averages out to a 4), I'll take a 9. I absolutely love the overall look of the classic jersey in navy with silver accents and look forward to every game that we play in them.

There were some nice elements of John's designs (bringing the sabres out so the actually crossed the borders makes them look more modern), but I never liked the buffaloes that he put on them - they always looked like they were hopping playfully through a field. Generally, though, I see John's version as a modern take on the original logo (i.e., a new design that is loosely based on the original), while this is just slightly modernized original logo. Both are good, but they are definitely different levels of change.

While I'd like to forgive Frank Cravotta for the slug, I'd have to see how much of the decision making on each was done by him. The current jersey has some really nice elements, but the slug should have been laughed off the table the first time he saw it. Depending on what came from him vs. Reebok, there may be little or much to forgive. As for the new one, if TG/LQ said "we want an updated version of the classic road jersey in the new colors (navy, gold, silver and white)", then there really isn't much to give him credit for. The silver outline on the logo looks good, but everything else (silver piping, silver striping and no shoulder patches) could have been done even better. In that case, the really cool part came from above. If, instead, he said "hey Tom, Larry, I think we should make an updated version of the classic road jersey in the new colors", then he is forgiven.

Drew Celestino said...

I'd love to get an interview with Mr. Cravotta and find out just how the whole slug fiasco went down.

I've spoken to a couple of local design/apparel firms who do work for the Sabres, and they were involved in designing a new uniform and logo when Tom Golisano first bought the team.

From what I understand, from what they've told me, once Reebok got on board, they took over the whole operation of the redesign.

asnowballschance said...

RIP Reggie Dunlap, you will be missed.

Justin Burnett said...

He wasn't the man behind the slug.

I've seen his original "pre-Slug" designs and they look similar to what you see in this video.

If anyone can be blamed for the logo people have an issue with, it's RBK. They invested a lot of money into the NHL and a lot of their interest and design went into many of the jerseys you see on the ice today.

HockeyLister said...

I guess I'm the only person in the world who actually likes the current "slug" logo that the Sabres have? As far as the new alternate logo goes, it looks great also, no matter what the designer claims to have or have not done. I also believe in the video he said no one else in the league has a clothing line like this one? WRONG. Check out the Maple Leafs store at the Air Canada Centre. We've had a similar clothing line for two years.

carpandean said...

Justin: if you are right, then there is nothing to forgive.

HockeyLister: you're not the only one, but they do seem to be few and far between. Mostly, I've found people who like the current jersey (I do, too) and have "gotten used to" the logo. As for the clothes, if I remember correctly he said that some merchants had told him that their line is the first. Guess they were wrong.

Dandy said...

The Slug logo and new jersey set came out a year before the Reebok Edge jerseys.

Wouldn't this mean the Sabers organization made the design decision and not RBK? Or was RBK brought onboard a year early in anticipation of the Edge jersey?

Drew Celestino said...

No. The "Edge uniform system" (ugh)was in development for quite some time. And the Sabres were the guinea pigs for them by many accounts.

carpandean said...

Supposedly, in the first iteration, you couldn't put a circular logo on the Edge because they were designed to be tucked in. So, the Sabres couldn't use their classic logo or an updated version. Then, the players union rejected that design, but the Slug had already been decided on. They got hosed by the transition.

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