The Stanley Cup playoffs are undergoing a transformation for the first time in 13 seasons.
The NHL revealed a brand new post-season Monday, with the most realistic version of the Stanley Cup it’s ever used in a logo.
“We felt it was time for a new, vibrant change. Some of that from COVID, and having two new broadcast partners, was a good time for us to explore what a new and reimagined Stanley Cup might look like,” Paul Conway, NHL vice president of creative services, told ESPN.
The NHL has used the same basic logo for the past 13 seasons. I’ve been reimagining this logo for over two years.
The redesign included three main components:
lines: The design team wanted to create new lines rooted in the history of the cup. Inspired by the 1925 Stanley Cup winning Victoria Cougars engraving on the trophy, the NHL created the “Victoria SC Serif”. The second line is inspired by the entrance to the Windsor Hotel in Montreal, where the NHL was founded in 1917. They named it the Windsor Sans.
Cup update: The cup illustration for the logo is more realistic than previous incarnations. Designers went through “hundreds” of embodiments, trying to imitate its reflective quality. For the first time, the inscriptions on the trophy were highlighted, which was requested by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
“We originally submitted the cup drawing to Gary during the approval process,” Conway said. “He thought it looked great but said, ‘It’s missing the engravings.'” “It really crossed the finish line. It’s the only sports trophy that every winner is engraved on. Why wouldn’t you want to tell that story?”
hold shape: Besides the scripted crest and the Stanley Cup, the emblem is framed in the shape of a championship banner one might find hanging inside an arena.
The ultimate logo can be customized for all 32 NHL teams, including applying the logo to colored backgrounds. The designers said that there is also an opportunity to create animation around the new logo.
“All players dream to engrave their names into immortality, and the mission of every NHL team is to raise the championship flag. We wanted to visually capture and evoke the greatness of Lord Stanley in a way that respects history and at the same time represents the future of this great game,” said NHL Brand President and Senior Executive Vice President Brian Jennings. .