So the other day, I came across this personal project started by AJ Dimarucot that involved creating a personal brand for one of the NBA's more recent rising stars, Jeremy Lin.

I immediately thought that this was one of the better athlete brands out there (even thought it was only a personal branding exercise), because it was quite a versatile mark and it held meaning in so many layers. Not only was AJ able to marry Jeremy's initials with his number, he was able to add a final touch by adding a cross using the composition's negative space. Genius, considering Jeremy Lin has been very open about his faith.




Other well designed athlete brands:



Lebron James
I've mentioned Jame's brand in a previous post and I still think it's one of my favourite athlete brands around – especially with regard to the intelligent rebranding after dropping the 23 in honour of Michael Jordan. Click here to view my last post regarding this equally effective change.



Roger Federer
Not only is he one of the greatest to ever play the game, he's always been known as one of the classiest tennis players playing today. From the way he carries himself on and off the courts to his fashionable taste on and off the court, this mark is a well designed, simplistic and articulated mark that's highly representative of Roger.



Chris Paul
To be honest, I didn't even realize Chris Paul had his own brand but it makes total sense considering he's a key part of the Jordan brand. I'm a big fan of this mark because of its simplicity and how well it integrated CP with his number 3 with a smart use of negative space.



Vince Carter
For very similar reasons as the previous mark, I love the way VC has been incorporated with his number 15, this time to create a very abstracted and unified mark. Oh Vince, if only you had stayed in Toronto – your career could've taken a completely different turn. In any case, you put our city on the map and you will forever be remembered for your contributions.



Derek Rose
Simple and straightforward. This logo plays on Derek's nickname D.Rose by incorporating the D into the petals of well … a rose. It's always great when a designer is presented with a name that lends itself easily to a nice visual.

These ones garnered some well deserved headshakes:

I don't want to get into any detail with any of these – just look at them and you'll understand.



Carmelo Anthony



Steve Nash



Russell Westbrook



Deron Williams


Rene Tan
Graphic Designer
Mystique Creative

With the London 2012 olympics officially coming to a close today, I've come to realize that I don't feel as repulsed by the London olympics branding as I did when they first unveiled their identiy – in fact I think I'm actually starting to warm to it.

I think once I got a chance to see the brand across different platforms and mediums, be it television broadcasts graphics, printed materials and signage – it really started to fall together. Don't get me wrong, the 2012 portion of the logo is still quite hideous but now it seems more fun than anything. They custom typeface they developed has also grown on me too, it's just quirky and fun – perfectly suited for the atmosphere of olympic games.

Now I think, with a little openness, consistency and time and space to show the true breadth its communications, a brand can thrive and succeed, even if it is quite hideous at first sight.

With that regard, here are some rebrands that I was initially rather disappointed with but I'm really starting to warm up to because they are finding their way. Click on the logos to check out underconsiderations 'Brand New' blog posts to see how these brands have been applied.







Rene Tan
Graphic Designer
Mystique Creative

If you've been following the recent NBA Draft, you'll know that this year's consensus number 1 pick was none other than Kentucky's Anthony Davis. If you don't recognize his name then you might've, at the very least, have caught a glimpse of what arguably makes NBA's latest talent, an easily recognizable figure.

The Unibrow.



Now in our day in age, a unibrow is not the most favourable look one can don. But what's great is, Davis has turned this normally negatively viewed attribute into a positive. He's fully embraced the look, and not only that, he's taken full advantage of it from a personal branding perspective. He's even gone as far as trademarking some catchphrases such as "Fear the Brow" and "Raise the Brow" for all sorts of merchandising opportunities.

Gotta give Davis' business sense, he's already thinking long-term and he has yet to play his first NBA game.

---

Here's a CNN article regarding his trademarks.

Here's an interview from the Jimmy Kimmel Show of him discussing his look and his brand.



Rene Tan
Graphic Designer
Mystique Creative

With the New Jersey Nets finally making their move to Brooklyn next season, the organization recently unveiled the storied franchise's rebrand.

Voila, and there it is.



I'm really not sure how I feel about it. The minimalist in me completely appreciates the simplified design approach but at the same time I feel that in some iterations of the logo – it almost looks oversimplified to the point of feeling rather unfinished and lazy. I'm specifically referring to what looks like the primary team logo (with the crest). If it were up to me, I would've made a complete departure from the crest – which feels like a rather forced artefact from the New Jersey era. I think it only makes sense since the team is entering a new chapter in its history.

I can say however, I do love the circular logo because of its vintage quality – not to mention the shape better lends itself to the B & ball imagery. In keeping with the minimalistic approach, their colour palette seems to only comprise of black and white. This makes Brooklyn a unique team as no other team in the league currently utilizes only a black and white palette (San Antonio is close but they also use silver).

I'm pretty excited to see how the rebrand is applied to the team jerseys and court design.



Rene Tan
Graphic Designer
Mystique Creative

Relogo is a branding initiative developed by designer Matt McInerney.

rel="logo" is a proposed standard for serving and maintaining up-to-date logos for use in various media. By including a line of code on your site that links to a scalable vector logo, you make it very easy for other websites, applications, readers, clients, and stations to ensure that they are using an approved logo directly from you.
– relogo.org

This is a brilliant proposal and I really hope that it gains the recognition and support it deserves. Gone will be the days of bitmapped client logos for print. This is good for all, designers and clients alike. Let's make this happen!

Say goodbye to moments like this ...


Kudos to those progressive companies such as foursquare for showing their support.



Rene Tan
Graphic Designer
Mystique Creative