This one is still probably my favorite designs. It was for (and won) a contest on sportslogos.net
The gradients are a bit over the top, but I think it was necessary. I personally don't like gradients in logos, but I think the name 'Northern Lights' required it. Only a team that was actually called The Gradients could better justify the use of the dreaded effect.
While my lights-effect looks complex, it was actually quite simple to create. I made two copies of a curved shape, placing one at the bottom of the logo and the other at the top, at a slight offset. The bottom shape was filled with a 3 color gradient, and the top was a solid fill with the same midnight blue that I used in the sky background. Then I did a blend between the two shapes to create the fade effect of the lights. It was easy, but I had to think about it all weekend to figure out how to make it.
When I read the name "Minnesota Northern Lights", two things immediately flashed in my mind... it sounds like a WNBA name, and the team would probably share a home with the NHL Wild.. This set me on the track to develop this logo as a basketball concept, and to create the logo as a Wild-like outdoor scene. The best way to represent the sky was to include a horizon, which to me says 'trees'. Evergreen trees better represent the North, so I went with them - and purposely tried to make them look as different as I could to the the trees in the Wild logo.
