Re-Imagining the NHL: Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars

The 305cHL Dallas Stars

Click here for a larger and more detailed version of the jerseys.

Dallas' Current Jersey Set
(est. 2011)

Dallas has one of the worst jersey sets in the NHL. The jersey is very plain and actually seems to try and mimic the jerseys of the main sport in Dallas, football. Although I understand that it is hard to get people to watch an unconventional sport in a warm city, but there are ways to grab a Texan's attention.

The Color Scheme: Dark Blue, Red, Yellow & White.

In 1991, The Minnesota North Stars anticipated a move to Dallas. They decided to re-brand and adjust the color scheme. Dallas, being very original, kept everything virtually the same from 1993 to present day, 2012.

Debut Jersey Set (est. 1993)

For me, Dallas should not be using the colors of The North Stars almost twenty years later. They should embrace their Texan roots and set themselves apart from Minnesota.

I really shouldn't be reaching out to other sports to make an NHL jersey, but for Dallas, I had to make an exception. Their color scheme is all wrong and they need to see what other Texas sports franchises are doing right.

The Dallas Cowboys are blue, white and silver, but the blue epidemic in The NHL will dismiss the Cowboys' theme as 'Just another blue team...' The Houston Texans, MLB's Texas Rangers, and the MLS's F.C. Dallas all have a similar, but striking color scheme. Utilizing the Texas state flag, these teams have a red, white and blue scheme that really stands out. Yes, a red, white and blue team might seem a bit cliche but it is something that I think a lot of Texans can get behind.



Trying not to make a political team, I adjusted the red to a bit of a more deep red and the blue to be a bit darker than that of the blue on the US flag. I added yellow to the color scheme to try and have a feeling of a star. After all, the team is called The Stars. The yellow definitely gives the whole scheme a unique feeling and sets it apart from another patriotic color palate.

The Branding: Primary 'Stars' Logo, Secondary 'Texas' Logo.

305cHL Dallas Stars Logo Set

At first glance, Dallas has some really boring branding. Just look at it. A black-green-gold star, black-green-gold state outline, and a black-green-gold word mark that is just slightly curved. The only word I can really use to accurately describe all of these is, "Blah". I really had no idea what to do with these logos because I couldn't really change them (as per the rules of this project). 

Wow

If you looked at all of their logos, you may be thinking, "Hey, there's a logo of a bull made of stars that doesn't seem boring". Well, that's true but most people pointed out that the logo from 2003 is The Dallas Stars Uterus Logo. Yeah, once you see it, you can't see anything else. So, no. I won't be using that logo.

I thought I was doomed with this team and that this would be the first mediocre jersey/logo set that would be in The 305cHL but once I added the new color scheme to the bland logos, things really started to take shape.

The black, green and gold really muddies the logo set for Dallas. Nothing really pops out at you. The bland colors just all sit in the background. I kind of think of it as the last three kids being picked for kickball out on the playground. They are all really shy and feel ashamed that they are the last chosen, and they all really want to just crawl in a hole... Weird analogy, but I think it fits. I wanted to give the boring logos some life and depth. The blue sits in the background, the yellow is in the middle ground and the white jumps out at you in the foreground.

The secondary Texas logo actually looks a whole lot better with only one color. There is too much going on with that logo if you add more than one color. There are too many lines and too many small details. I thought that if I cleaned it up and simplified the color palate, then you'll see the logo for what it is.

Home & Away Jerseys: Home Primarily Red, Away Primarily White.

2003 Was A Mess

The worst part about designing a jersey that worked for Dallas based on their history was, simply, Dallas has always had horrible jersey designs. Yeah, 1999 introduced a very unique design that looked like a giant star but it's a bit too busy for me. The angled star logo didn't fit with the symmetric star design of the jersey. The angles were off just enough to bug me.

The 2003 third jersey design had some promise but, we don't want to be reminded of the uterus logo again, do we? Didn't think so... Plus, the stars should have an angled jersey. A star, for all intents and purposes, is a five pointed shape, angles-a-plenty. So, no. No curves are allowed on the jersey.

I loosely, barely, almost didn't base the new design off of the 1978 Minnesota North Stars. I liked the striping on the sleeves and the use of their shoulder coloring. If you look at the first and last stripe on both the North Stars' sleeve and the 305cHL Stars' sleeve, you can see that they both use the primary dark color. Same goes for the main shoulder color. Other than that, this jersey is original.

I knew that the jersey needed angles so, everything is angled in the same way. I didn't want to fall into the '99 Stars trap of a different angled mess. The shoulder striping actually gives you a slight feeling of an NFL jersey. Strong broad shoulders with simple angled striping. If you follow the angled line from the sleeves, you can see that it continues, slightly, in the body of the jersey. This makes the jersey, as a whole feel more complete.

Alternate 3rd Jersey: Primarily Dark Blue.

Minnesota North Stars (est. 1978)

This jersey was, again, very loosely based off of the 1988 North Stars. I liked the thicker stripe bleeding to the end of the sleeve and a smaller white stripe immediately following. I put the thin, dark blue stripe in the white to symbolize the team's one Stanley Cup Championship.

The sleeve striping was repeated on the bottom of the fersey but not wrapped around the body because, like in the home/away jerseys, the bottom needed something but not a lot to tie the whole jersey design together. The shoulders are also not colored in this design and sport the Texas logo. The subtle logo is a nice addition to the subtle striping in this jersey.

Summary:

Seeing as The Dallas Stars are the train wreck of the NHL, design-wise, I thought that this jersey was going to be immensly challenging to come up with something that was interesting and encompassed their entire history as a franchise. I was presently surprised at how The 305cHL Dallas Stars came out and believe that it is a very, very strong jersey set. This design gives me confidence in tackling other seemingly boring franchises in the weeks to come.

Final thought: I must admit, back in '03 (I was 18), I really thought that alternate logo was awesome.

I feel your pain, buddy...

Images of jerseys from Chris Creamer's Sports Logos &  The Hockey Uniform Database.

Jersey Template from Icethetics.