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Rebranding the NWSL: Sky struggles.

It happens every once in awhile.

The final, sudden, and crushing impact of a massive concrete obstacle of an existing piece of work that eventually happens to all artists at some point in their creative process, whether out of the creative juices going dry all at once, or the topic at hand having so much ambiguity or unimaginativity that you just can't see yourself recovering from the bullshit this idea is putting you through, or that the idea is JUST on the tip of your tongue, but for whatever reason, it's not coming to you. And you sit there flummoxed.

My friends, I hit the wall.

...but can you really blame me? LOOK AT THIS DAMN THING!

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This is the badge of Sky Blue FC. Sky Blue FC is this insane anomaly in NWSL apparently sent from hell itself to give people like me (and those who actually get paid to do this for a living) mental issues. Sky Blue FC is a completely unreadable identity. It's not near ANYTHING. It's in Piscataway Township New Jersey. I know practically nothing but terrible (read: somewhat accurate stereotypes) things about New Jersey. I cannot tell you a single THING about the state as an entity within our nation. I can only tell you that they used to have a basketball team and their hockey team is practically a geriatric ward. This team isn't even that great to begin with. This generic, odd entity came out of a soccer startup program, which I guess is cool but what does that tell me about the area? What does that tell me about New Jersey as a place? I don't know ANYTHING about Sky Blue Soccer, which is the organization that runs this club. Basically this is handing me the ultimate name brand product, like...I dunno, corn flakes, but GENERIC brand corn flakes, and asking me to do something with it.

So...Here I go, I guess. Here's what I brainstormed in about a (very very slow) work day...

Badge colors should reflect the onfield colors: The first real issue I noticed is that Sky Blue FC had itself a bit of an issue here. It's colors don't even reflect it's BADGE. It's all pastels and creamy colors for this team, so what the hell is this logo doing with these bold colors?

Give Blue Sky FC a nickname: I went with "The Finches". Its the same thing as a usual soccer nickname, it'd still be considered Blue Sky FC officially, but the fans would likely go with "COME ON YOU FINCHES!" or "LETS GO FIN-CHES" as chants. Blue Sky also happens, as I've noted, in New Jersey, where the American Goldfinch happens to be the state bird. hey, it worked for the pelicans, right?...right?

Center that swoop pattern: things like a swoop pattern can be fun if you learn how to use it correctly. Having it be a giant check mark...is not correct.

Our changeup results in this:

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Is it in a similar vein to my last one? Sure. Is it kind of bland? Yes. Is it an upgrade? HELL TO THE YES.

These kind of boring logos just don't BUILD a good visual identity. And yes, the idea I came up with is kind of silly but at the absolute least....it's SOMETHING. I also took out the star from their '09 championship, as I deemed it rather useless for them to be bragging about a championship that...well...no longer exists. It'd be like Hulk Hogan coming back to the WWE in the mid 90's and bragging about how much of a great champion he was in WCW.

Next, our kit:

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via ep.yimg.com

This one is unique...in that it's the first time this template has shown up in this series. It's shared by the Seattle reign, and if I had any one sort of complaint, it's that pastel racing stripe middle with white siding is a bit...off. This works a little better for Reign because Black is a color that mixes with practically everything, White on the other hand, should be given better space to work with. The away kit is the same thing except with creamsicle orange, which arguably makes the situation worse because...well, it's creamsicle on white. You do the math.

Let's see what my Red bull and Lime Diet Coke addled mind comes up with here...

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Features include:

Even split colors: I've never understood why this concept of uniform design goes underutilized as much as it does. Hoops get super utilized, stripes get utilized, hell, more teams have sashes than teams that have this kind of color setup. I figure it'd help keep the uniform from looking stale.

Softer Colors than the Dash: The biggest issue when you have two or three teams that have feck all to do with each other with the same colors is falling into a loop in which you have players wearing similar kits, and the most amount of similarities would be their shorts, but only if the Houston Dash put their entire laundry through with about a liter of bleach.

Kept Creamsicle as either part of the home or as an accent color

Again, I admit this was a pretty weak entry, but I ask you...

When a team simply refuses to not only accept being part of it's area in ANY WAY shape or form, has no bearings on the state around it, and has an ambiguous and stupid name...

Could I have done any better with such a lack of creative energy?

Next, we see if every rose has it's thorn...or is it the other way 'round?

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