Welcome to opening day of the Shadow League! Jason and I are excited to start another collaboration with you guys. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. The Shadow League is more of a design challenge and it’s a difficult one, but we know you’re up for it.
This is how it’ll work: You guys will name your team and design your own cap logos. We will all comment on our favorite designs. We’ll then pick the concepts with the best story, team name, and design. When we get enough designs, then we’ll announce a deadline. For now, consider it a rolling deadline.
This is what you’ll get if your team is picked to be apart of the League.
• You’ll have your cap produced.
• You’ll receive 5 caps for you and your friends.
• And, for every set of 72 caps that we produce with your design on it, you’ll receive $135! When we reorder, boom another $135 bucks.
Name your team: The Shadow League is mostly a design challenge but you still need a compelling team name and story. So, what to name your team? Two ways that I’d attack this problem.
1. Pick an animal and mash it with something else. Like the Sea Devils, a mash-up of a sea horse, a devil, and an S. What about a turtle with hawk wings? What about a bear breathing fire?
2. Use one of the previous Leagues as your guide. The Taco Shop League could be the Tijuana Zebras, a silhouette of a donkey painted like a zebra wearing a sombrero. The Rejects could inspire the Rockin’ Oxen, an Ox head with long horns and a mohawk. The Night League could inspire the Glasgow Glow Worms, a glow worm in the shape of a “G” with big thick framed glasses on a black hat done in glow-in-the-dark thread.
The more clever the better. Don’t be afraid to get goofy. Don’t plagiarize. Don’t use the names of real teams, don’t copy existing designs. Keep it simple.
Tell the story: We love a good story, everyone does! So tell your team’s story. Show some research, show sketches, show inspiration, give your design context. Show us your ideas for giving the logo more life and detail once it’s embroidered on the cap.
Design: You only need to design a cap mark. Maybe a couple supporting marks would better sell the idea to other Clinkers, but it’s not necessary. Keep it simple! It should be one color with the cap color as a background. 2 colors at most. Think of all the great retro logos that use only silhouettes and shadows of creatures as logos.
Some of the logos that I think you could use as inspiration are the Walbats, the Sea Devils, the Detroit Lions, the Indianapolis Colts, the Buffalo Bills, and the Everett AquaSox. Even the Houston Texans are a good example of using silhouettes, simplicity, and shadows to create a powerful effect.
Lets not forget our very own Casper Ghosts. Look at how we hid the “G” in the embroidery. You don’t even need it to be glow-in-the-dark for you to see it either. You could use raised thread or conflicting textures! Check out how we created embroidery instructions for the MishkaXClink Room collaboration. Illustrating your ideas for embroidery is a good idea!
Here are some design tips that we recommend…
• Keep it simple, it has to be stitched small on a cap. No gradients.
• Use icons, it doesn’t have to be a full body of a bear to know it’s the bears.
• Keep it completely original. No use of existing designs.
In the Entry Form folder you’ll find a template for you to submit your team’s story and design. USE THE TEMPLATE. Adobe Illustrator is our preference, but we include Photoshop templates as well. You will also find the thread and fabric color swatches for production. The colors appear di erently on computer than they do it real life, just approximate. And remember…
• Use the templates.
• Keep your artwork in vectored format.
• Save as .AI or .PDF preferably
• Submit as many entries as you like.
• E-mail your entry to theclinkroom@planbbranding.com
• Please put “SHADOW LEAGUE” in the subject line of your email.
Legal Bits: If your design is chosen for production, you will be presented a contract granting The Clink Room the rights to the design. In order for the cap to be produced you will have to sign the contract and return it to The Clink Room. The Clink Room has the right to reject any submissions. The designer will receive a $135.00 designer fee for every 72 caps produced. The designer will receive a designer fee equal to 5% of the wholesale cost for other products created with the design, i.e. t-shirts, jerseys, etc.
Good luck Clinkers! I know you’ll make us proud. Ask any questions in the comments.
I like this much better than the alphabet league. We’re gonna really iconic hats with this one!
— Jesse V on August 15, 2011
*gonna get
— Jesse V on August 15, 2011
Casey,
Do these designs need to be strict silhouettes, or can they be a bit more detailed as long as they are 1-color? Can there be two colors (like the Texans, etc.)? Is the basic idea for these to be simple and iconic?
— Kevin Werther on August 15, 2011
Yeah, you could have 2 colors in the logo with a background color like the Texans. But the Texans logo could work as a 1 color, right? The 2 color bifurcated head is to depict the Texas flag. If you have to add another color, there should be a great reason for it.
Basically, you should avoid outlining the form and the design should communicate what it is and what it’s doing with a great silhouette. Hope that helps.
— casey on August 15, 2011
Anyone know if/how we can change the color of just the top button and vent hole thread?
— Joe on August 15, 2011
Sure, with a simple front logo I think you could go nuts with with the button and the eyelets if you want.
— casey on August 15, 2011
I tried ungrouping to isolate the button, but with no luck. I’m using an old version of Illustrator (I’m embarrassed to admit its age), so maybe that’s the problem.
— Joe on August 15, 2011
Try copying the area you want to change something on and then using the open arrow, delete all the parts you don’t want to change leaving the button for instance. Because it’s a new duplicate field you’ll be able to change the color separately from the original field. If you want to get professional you can delete the button on the original field, also with the open arrow.
Hope that helps!
— casey on August 15, 2011
Got it. Thanks.
— Joe on August 15, 2011
Looking forward to some more great entries from some of the really talented designers here. I’ve got a few front runners in mind that I think are going to turn in some really quality stuff. I can actually picture some past entries that would fit into this category as some redux entries and possibly work better than before…
— Jeff Crupper on August 16, 2011
I dont spose we could have a few more examples just to explain the idea a bit better, just a lil help ey ; )
— Adam on August 17, 2011
Two days late to the damn party, but fully torqued and ret-ta-go! *Runs off to sketch*
— TallFace on August 17, 2011
Just noticed the league. I too find the league name a little vague. Could we get a little more of a description? I kind of have a clue as to what’s going on, but a little clarification might help some of us. Thanks!!
— Matthew on August 17, 2011
Hey Matthew,
Not sure exactly what part is confusing but I agree it’s a vague challenge. I would look at the examples that we cited as direction. Detroit Lions, Sea Devils, etc. This is about creating a simple clean logo that can be reproduced in one color.
We have a few great entries already that will help everyone to see what we’re going for.
Does that help?
— casey on August 17, 2011
Yeah I think so. Thanks.
Btw, can we re-hash previous entries of ours (non-winners) if modified to fit within the specifics of the league?
— Matthew on August 17, 2011
PUMPED!!!
— Tony on August 17, 2011
I think that could work!
— casey on August 17, 2011
This will be my first time submitting something, I’m pretty excited about it. Thanks for continuing to do things like this.
— Christian on August 20, 2011
Been racking my brain and coming up short. Looking forward to seeing some entries (perhaps next week?) so that maybe I can get some inspiration for design styles…
— Jeff Crupper on August 20, 2011
[...] the next to have your idea come to life with the help of the guys from the Clink Room. Get over to theclinkroom.com to download your entry form and template. Past winning designs include the Sea Devils X Rejects [...]
— New Era Cap Talk – Online Fitted Cap Community » Blog Archive » Clink Room’s Shadow League on August 22, 2011
fairly new to your awesome site, but thinking of sending something in. could i submit a joint entry with my brother? i have a concept, but he’s the one with illustrator and some more developed skills. would it be ok to submit under both our names, or do we need to just do one?
thanks!
— david on August 23, 2011
Yeah, you can submit a joint entry!
— casey on August 23, 2011