(New Poll) The Washington Commanders Brand 2.0: Beer Drinkers and Hail Raisers

[Chris]

Slow day 🤣

 

[HurQlez]

Might as well throw my hat into the Uni tweak ring.

-With my campaign to expand the brand, adding a soldier dogtag to the brand can give the helmet the closest tribute to the old team.
-I replaced the current jersey numbers with the alternate numbers in proper home and away colors
-I used the dc flag on the shoulder (similar to the Broncos shoulder design)
-I still used my special black, Camo black, in small places like the collar, and the team name in the away uni.
-Added camo to the alternate helmet, and added the W in the shoulder and added the dc flag dogtag in the center of the alt jersey.
While these designs don't have pants, the stripe would certain return.

 

[Single-Bar Facemask]

I like the stars on the sleeves, but I don't like the helmet logo. It looks like someone put the W on a Band-Aid.

But those home/road uniforms with the helmet sporting the current W? That would look sharp.

 

[Chris]

I like the stars on the sleeves, but I don't like the helmet logo. It looks like someone put the W on a Band-Aid.

But those home/road uniforms with the helmet sporting the current W? That would look sharp.

x2. Though I’m a fan of using a dog tag as a swag item, I don’t like the helmet logo. The uniform design using those proper colors would be enough of a tribute to the past for me and the addition of the stars is a great look. Encircling the W on the helmet logo looks forced, unnecessary, and takes away from the overall look.

Shoutout to HurQlez for his top-notch design skills. 🔥

 

[Boone]

I think the dog tag thing could be a cool swag item, but as a logo, it doesn't work. Great graphics skills though HurQlez. I remember some of your canine graphics and how great they looked. I think that dream is dead now that there will be no name change.

Damn Chris - get out of my head, lol...

 

[Chris]

🤣 Great minds.

 

[HurQlez]

Honestly I should have kept the uniform tweak designs to myself.

All of these posts talking about how the dog tag doesn’t work just sounds like nobody wants to make the name Commanders work on its own.

My expand the brand campaign would not replace the W on the helmet, it would be an addition to the brand. It is a visual identity that fits what a Commanders is and the potential of what it could bring in the future.

If the name isn’t going anywhere, then we need to admit there will be Commanders-only logos in the future that won’t be reminiscent of Redskins beyond the colors. If you don’t want any new logos added to the Commanders brand, it is only going to weaken the Commanders name. If that is your intent, why? The name isn’t not going to change.

I know you don’t like the name but the team will not change the name so they will add things to the brand that are more commanders than Redskins. It is inevitable.
Can you think of a Commanders logo to add to the brand that has nothing to do with Redskins?

 

[Chris]

Honestly I should have kept the uniform tweak designs to myself.

All of these posts talking about how the dog tag doesn’t work just sounds like nobody wants to make the name Commanders work on its own.

My expand the brand campaign would not replace the W on the helmet, it would be an addition to the brand. It is a visual identity that fits what a Commanders is and the potential of what it could bring in the future.

If the name isn’t going anywhere, then we need to admit there will be Commanders-only logos in the future that won’t be reminiscent of Redskins beyond the colors. If you don’t want any new logos added to the Commanders brand, it is only going to weaken the Commanders name. If that is your intent, why? The name isn’t not going to change.

I know you don’t like the name but the team will not change the name so they will add things to the brand that are more commanders than Redskins. It is inevitable.
Can you think of a Commanders logo to add to the brand that has nothing to do with Redskins?

Personally I like the dog tags, I just don’t think they are necessary on the helmet to expand the brand. The brand is Washington.

Design and taste are personal. No one is going to like every creative idea. I think that so much of what you have come up with is awesome and I totally appreciate your efforts. But if you’re looking for 100% approval, your bar of expectations is too high.

 

[HurQlez]

Personally I like the dog tags, I just don’t think they are necessary on the helmet to expand the brand. The brand is Washington.

Design and taste are personal. No one is going to like every creative idea. I think that so much of what you have come up with is awesome and I totally appreciate your efforts. But if you’re looking for 100% approval, your bar of expectations is too high.

Of course I don’t expect 100%. I always say the Aesop line “Please all, and you will please none”. But this is exactly what Josh Harris is going to have to deal with when it comes to the unis. Trying to please Redskins fans as well as Commanders fans. But adding logos is a bigger need. It makes the Commanders stronger. Yet it seems like an uphill battle trying to show off Commanders logos that don’t connect to Redskins.

Even trying to connect to Washington is not easy to make uniquely ours. Anything showing off Washington is taken by other DC teams. US Capitol? Capitals. Washington Monument? Wizards.

Plus when it comes to different types of Commanders to choose for an identity, the military is the closest to a theme that opens up more possibilities.

Heck the Pentagon would work for a Washington reference, even if it is in VA, but the shape is too odd to make as its own logo.

I would like to see what Commander logo ideas fans will get behind that doesn’t connect to Redskins. Unis are easy to satisfy Redskins fans as long as it reminds them of the past, but logos are much trickier.

 

[Hailer]

Plus when it comes to different types of Commanders to choose for an identity, the military is the closest to a theme that opens up more possibilities.

Heck the Pentagon would work for a Washington reference, even if it is in VA, but

I would like to see what Commander logo ideas fans will get behind that doesn’t connect to Redskins. Unis are easy to satisfy Redskins fans as long as it reminds them of the past, but logos are much trickier.

I agree wholeheartedly the brand lacks a visual identity and military themes seem to be the most sensible place to draw from.

I have also proposed doing a lot centering around dog tags. As far as logo is concerned my rough idea is an encircled W with dog tags hanging off the back left with the intent of creating a similar shape to the Wetzel logo. There is your connection to the Redskins past with a bridge to Commanders future.

But I doubt we could take the existing W and copy/paste that into my logo idea. Fine be me - I have very little affinity for the W. Something new for the W element would be welcomed by me.

I dont have your design skills to mock up versions of what I’m suggesting. Just countering your argument that a new logo reinforcing the new identity with a tasteful connection to the past can’t be done.

 

[Commander PK]

HurQlez part of the issue brother is that people are still getting over the loss of what was, Redskins is gone for good, and for some they are just now coming to terms with that fact. I am largely with you, I think we have to find ways to make Commanders work as it’s obvious that is our forever name now. I think a lot of your ideas are really amazing as I did back when you had your Washington Wolves design. I like your dog tag logo, but I do think it reduces the size of the W down too much on the helmet. I also wonder if the organization would feel that it takes it a step too far with a very deliberate attempt to tie in the military. A dog tag is how they identify the remains of soldiers KIA. Too on the nose perhaps?

I think “trying to please Redskins fans” (fans who have not accepted the name change and new look) is not particularly high on their priority list. The organization is focused on tomorrow not yesterday. The best I think we are going to get is concessions that return us back to a more familiar style of uniform. Things that are relatively small in the grand scheme but mean a lot to the fan base.

 

[HurQlez]

I agree wholeheartedly the brand lacks a visual identity and military themes seem to be the most sensible place to draw from.

I have also proposed doing a lot centering around dog tags. As far as logo is concerned my rough idea is an encircled W with dog tags hanging off the back left with the intent of creating a similar shape to the Wetzel logo. There is your connection to the Redskins past with a bridge to Commanders future.

But I doubt we could take the existing W and copy/paste that into my logo idea. Fine be me - I have very little affinity for the W. Something new for the W element would be welcomed by me.

I dont have your design skills to mock up versions of what I’m suggesting. Just countering your argument that a new logo reinforcing the new identity with a tasteful connection to the past can’t be done.

Well I made a shirt design that uses the beads in the dog tag chain to LOOK like feathers. I am certain anything hints of the feathers or spears will not be allowed in future branding. But you can use this to bring the gap between past and future.

As for reinforcing the new identity with a tasteful connection to the past, I always said it can’t be done. But so many people would rather focus more Redskins stuff than Commanders stuff that it is almost impossible not to try. Look at Major Tuddy.

 

[burgold]

On first glance, the biggest critique I have of the "dog tag" is that it doesn't read as a dog tag. It's the right shape, but because it's white it easily could be a peel off label, too. If we want to use a dog tag I think it needs to be unambiguous. That probably means some kind of metallic color, probably silver or iron.

I do like the punch hole and chain. Didn't notice it on the helmet.

 

[HurQlez]

On first glance, the biggest critique I have of the "dog tag" is that it doesn't read as a dog tag. It's the right shape, but because it's white it easily could be a peel off label, too. If we want to use a dog tag I think it needs to be unambiguous. That probably means some kind of metallic color, probably silver or iron.

I do like the punch hole and chain. Didn't notice it on the helmet.

I didn't put the chain on the helmet design because it wouldn't make it on the helmet no matter how much we explain it is not feathers.

As for the silver/iron color, I have this color on the dog tag.
It isn't all black. It's hex code is #323232. I call it Camoflauge Black.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I just hate the W as a logo. I want something else.

I don’t know what a commander is.

But I want something other than a W.

 

[Chris]

Hence the impossibility of gaining consensus (outside of the obvious which ain’t gonna happen).

Chicago, Green Bay, NYG, and San Francisco all have just their cities letter(s) on their helmets. Each also have logos, just not on their helmets. Hell, Cleveland takes it a step further. 🤣

 

[HurQlez]

Counter point: All those teams had those letters for helmet logos since way in the beginning of their tenure. Most of those teams are older than WSH. We can't act like we had this logo the whole time like GB, CHI, NYG, and SF have. All new teams have a visual logo on their helmet. Even TEN put theirs in a star circle and set it on fire!!!

For anyone who liked my Wolves logos, this is closest we can get to that for Commanders.
Commanders in the military have K9 units. So we can use that as the Commander animal (major Tuddy is the Redskins animal)

I used a template from logowik and tweaked it more and more to get this. This German Shepherd is the top breed used in K9 units, and no team in all of US sports uses the German Shepherd as a dog breed for the mascot. So this breed can be uniquely Washington. I drew it to look like it is wearing a protective vest. The DC flag is displayed on the vest shoulder.
There are three hidden DC landmarks. The Washington monument is in the right ear, the shape of DC itself is in the base of the logo, and the five Pentagon shaped studs on the vest represent the 5 championships we won.

 

[TTViper]

It’s not that the dog tag being worked into the brand is bad, I just didn’t recognize that attempt as a dog tag.

To question what a “Commander” even is, that’s fair, and part of what makes embracing this brand very difficult. Had a more intelligent group of folks came up with the name they would’ve realized the pickle they’d be signing up for. Maybe it’s a bunch of different things? The Pentagon (which I really liked on the back of the black helmet), a Navy officer, dog tags, K9 (the Belgian Malinois is the working dog breed of choice) Master and Commander, maybe there are a bunch of themes that could work and would allow for creativity within the brand. It makes me think of the Naval Academy’s football helmets. There have been a number of totally different logos on the helmet that all fall under the umbrella of the Navy. Some of which have been really cool. To see what’s new every year is exciting in its own right. This is something I don’t think any NFL team has capitalized on.

I think they really have to open up the possibilities if the brand is going to stick.

 

[burgold]

and let's not forget Commander Cody with his ray gun space laser!

 

[Commander PK]

I think for this to work over the long haul people need to see it as an ambiguous name…not the literal Naval rank, not a direct link to the military, and not the Presidency. The look of the brand needs to reflect that ambiguity.

What is a Washington Commander? The Washington Commanders are leaders from the top to the bottom of the organization. A team in the truest sense. People who set the example in word and and deed. People to be admired and looked up to for their accomplishments both on and off the field. They command the field as they command their own lives. They got this.

Some people surely think that’s corny, but for me that’s how I choose to view the name. Nothing else makes sense.