GQ Illustration
The inner pages of GQ are chock-full of how to aim design towards the middle and make it work. The yellows and the blues are both so bright and vibrant, but the amount of negative space from the white makes it remarkably easy on the eyes. I mean that in a literal way, not in the weird dad-phrase way. It helps that black is only used for the edges of the illustration and text. It's pretty simple, and well spaced out. This how you make a limited palate of bright colors work.
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Colorado Avalanche '96 Champs Shirt
I do love this shirt. The Colorado Avalanche began life as the Quebec* Nordiques in 1972, as a part of the WHA , the World Hockey Association. The WHA was the '70s rival league to the NHL (think the ABA vs. the NBA, or the AFL vs. the NFL). They stayed in Quebec until about '95, when they flew south to Denver and rebranded as the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche probably don't have the best color scheme/logo in all of sports. However, in comparison to other logos birthed in the '90s (like this, this, this, or, dear god, this), it's not half bad. The wine red and the "Steel Blue" look okay together, not particularly bad but not particularly great either. What makes those colors not work as well is that there are about 3 different textures all competing in the same space. It basically torpedoes any good the design could have. There is the darker net pattern against the main text, the weirdly realistic texture of the puck, and then the motion lines of the Avalanche logo. This is how you make 2 colors and 2 neutrals somehow look really rough.
*The Nordiques were a part of the '70s class of Québécois sports teams with stone cold and surprisingly abstract logos (Nordiques, Expos, & the Olympique). Well, the Expos were formed in 1969, but you get it.
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