Alternates to be Worn Tonight

Nothing too newsworthy, but I figured it was worth noting. The Wild will wear their green alternate jerseys tonight when they host the Chicago Blackhawks. The Wild look to win back-to-back games tonight, let's hope they do it!

Happy 15th Birthday to the Nickname "Wild"

On January 22, 1998, Minnesota's NHL expansion franchise announced their nickname and released their first logo!  The name "Wild" was announced, beating out Blue Ox, Freeze, Northern Lights, Voyageurs  and White Bears. The colors of Forest Green, Iron Range Red, and Harvest Gold, which are still used today. An unveiling took place at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood to show off the name and logo of Minnesota's new franchise.

Interestingly enough, the current primary logo was nowhere to be seen. The primary logo that was initially released was a script logo, featuring "Wild" in green with gold and red outlines. The logo that eventually showed up on the jerseys as a sleeve patch featured the script logo over a roundel that featured the words "Minnesota" and "NHL Hockey."

These logos were used for Minnesota until the 2000/20001 NHL season when the Wild finally took the ice. At this point the current primary logo, the bear head depicting a wilderness scene, was introduced. It donned the front of the inaugural jerseys.

The Wild are yet to make any changes to their primary logo. While several alternate logos and scripts have been developed, the bear head logo remains the primary symbol of the Minnesota Wild.


Just for fun, here are some cool shots of the old shoulder patch I took from my green jersey:

Monday News & Notes

Unfortunately I don't have a full blog post for you all today. I do, however, have a few things to share.

Graphics Collection From ColorWerx

It's exactly what it sounds like. ColorWerx posted a collection of Minnesota Wild graphics on his blog. It's his collection of color-optimized graphics (he puts a lot of time into this and does an incredible job), which is pretty cool if you're into that kind of thing. It's his work, so I'll just post the link to his blog post:

ColorWerx: Minnesota Wild Graphics

More Concepts on the Way

News relating to the logos and uniforms of the Minnesota Wild only comes so often. Now that the season is underway, news will most likely be harder to come by for awhile. This means I will be posting more concepts that are sent in. I have a handful that have already been sent in that are ready to post, I'm hoping to get a few more. Remember to email your concepts to wildaboutdesign@hotmail.com!

I will also add that with the assumed lack of news coming our way I plan to explore some other options for the blog. If I am able to gain enough interest, another Concept Contest will be put together. There are also plans for some jersey critiques and other fun things.


Remember, keep your stick on the ice!

A Snowy Night Alternate

Shane P sent in an awesome concept that give the Wild a very different look. Shane eliminated red and wheat from the color scheme and added silver and black.

"I've completely phased out the red. I know that's a polarizing approach, but I think the Wild are better off not sharing their colors with a major holiday. That's why I chose Green and White, with Silver, then Black as accent colors. No one has claimed Green outright in the NHL and I think it would be perfect for the Wild."

An interesting choice, but I think it turned out pretty cool. The home and road jerseys have a retro feel to them, but not full-on vintage.

"I incorporated the pattern from the 1980's Flyer's jerseys in some way for each design, most heavily in the home jersey. It's probably my favorite pattern, and if they don't want it, I think we use a form of it. I also added the shooting star from their logo to the breezers. This has been done before by someone, but they had the star pointing the other way, which I think looks weird, so i just flipped it."

My personal favorite part of this concept is the alternate uniform. Shane used a different set of colors to create what he calls a snowy night theme.

"My alternate is pretty different, but I think it's a cool look. I altered the logo to look like a snowfall and added a snowflake pattern for the shoulder patch. A very dark Blue and White I think works perfect with the theme. Kind of a "snowy night" theme."

Thanks to Shane for sending in these awesome designs! I love the snowy night alternate.

Alternate Jerseys to be Worn 9 Times

The Minnesota Wild will wear their green alternate jerseys for nines games this season, according to the equipment manager. Tonight's home game against Dallas will be the first of the nine games. I am currently in the process of finding out the other eight games the alternates will be worn and will post as soon as I know.

Hockey Day Minnesota & Season Opener

What a wonderful day for hockey! It's Hockey Day Minnesota 2013, and the NHL resumes play today. The Wild host the Colorado Avalanche at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul tonight. It should be a fun day for hockey fans in Minnesota. We would love it if anyone attending today's events sent in pictures!

Check out this awesome infographic from the Wild's website (click for larger):

Enjoy the return of the NHL! And please send in pictures if you attend any of today's events!

New Decals on Player Helmets

New season, new helmet decals. This year's helmets feature the new(ish) wordmark on the back. The white helmet still has the primary logo and stylized numerals from the white jersey. The home helmet is green with the 3rd jersey wordmark and wheat block numerals.

The NHL is Back, and So Are We(?)

Hopefully you know by now that the NHL is back from its lockout. Play will resume, and hopefully so will this blog. We are, however, looking to make big changes.

New Name?

That's right, we're considering a new name for the blog. Wild About Design is fine, but perhaps there is something better. New name suggestions are welcome. A voting poll will be set up on the sidebar asking your opinion on a name change. Please vote. A re-brand is coming too, but that is dependent on the name.

Assistance Needed

We are looking to expand here at Wild About Design. The hope is that we can eventually set up a little community of people interested in this topic. My ultimate goal is to get a blog/following started for multiple teams.

At this point, I am specifically looking for a number of people to help. For starters, anyone wishing to write blog posts, please let me know. This can be news, concepts, critiques, whatever. I would love to get some more contributing partners. We are also looking for solidified featured artists. In other words, a group of designers that would be willing to submit concepts on a somewhat regular basis. In the past we have had concepts sent in from all kinds of designers, but a firm group would be awesome.

If anyone is interested in helping in ANY way, please let me know.

Email Us!

There were some problems between various blogger and email accounts, but everything has been sorted out now. So email wildaboutdesign@hotmail.com with news, concepts, photos, whatever! It will get posted along with any description you wish to include, and all proper credit will be given to the contributor.

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So, is there any interest in keeping this blog going? It is a personal hobby of mine, but I would love to shape it into an interesting information center for hockey and sports branding fans. Please let us know if there is any interest.

Leave comments here, email wildaboutdesign@hotmail.com, or hit us up on Twitter, @WildAboutDesign.