The Problem

The National Basketball League consists of 30 individual franchises, each with its own unique attributes, history, and ownership. While they are all distinctive, they all live under the larger umbrella of the NBA but share no unifying visual language or consistency as a League. My goal was to honor the individuality of each franchise while unifying the league as a whole. 

Goals

1. Create a consistent visual system for all teams in the National Basketball Association. 

2. Update and evolve primary logos, type, and color combinations that elevate each franchise while providing flexibility

3. Present the updated branding with holistic concept direction including uniform and footwear design

Strategy

Establish macro parameters

To help establish visual consistency across the league I created a system of parameters for the lockup of the franchise icon and location. The team icon has a height parameter to ensure consistency and readability in various applications. By standardizing the placement of the location under the primary logo, I created further unity across the league.

Hierarchy

As part of establishing visual consistency, the iconography of the team name becomes the primary identifier, while the location becomes a secondary element. 

Developing the icon

My approach to developing the icons was to remove as much detail as possible and distill the visual to something iconic that represents the franchise simply but powerfully . The simpler icons allow quicker identification and are more scalable for other physical and digital applications.