Working with the UCF Equipment staff, I was tasked with designing a one-time special helmet for our football team to wear on Military Appreciation day. While my final design was not chosen, I feel the design was worthy to share.

I wanted to do something that would not only garner attention to UCF's football program, but also pay respects to the men and women serving this country.

I wanted something unique. Per UCF Equipment's request, one side of the helmet would have to remain the stacked UCF logo. They requested the American flag placed inside the logo - a common design utilized by many schools during Military Appreciation games. I still created a few unique concepts in hopes of swaying a more brand-specific look:

I wanted to stay true to our black & gold colors by using our black helmets with reflective gold decals. I wanted the American flag UCF logo, the helmet stripe, and the other side's decal to all be reflective gold. However, the equipment staff wanted to break in the gold helmets more, so that nixed my gold decal idea.

Prior to the helmet color change, I decided to reach out to the Department of Defense to request full-resolution EPS files of the 5 branches of the U.S. military's seals. At UCF, we have a Veterans memorial that I walk by every day. Etched in stone are all the seals of the US Military branches. This is where I drew my inspiration.

My final mock ups had each seal on one side, the Version 2 of the UCF stack logo on the other side, and a flag helmet stripe decal - all in reflective gold:

At this point, UCF Equipment decided to switch to the gold helmet (as mentioned above), in which case, I had to redesign the stacked logo. The Equipment staff also decided to go with full-color military seals and a generic helmet stripe from the supplier.

Although my final design was not chosen, I'm still very happy with how they turned out. Our uniforms were featured all over ESPN, CBS Sports, FOX Sports, and numerous other media outlets. The exposure for UCF was staggering, and most importantly, our Veterans and Military personnel were very receptive and appreciative.

To see more photos of the helmets, and to learn more about how UCF paid respects during our Military Appreciation game, please visit ucfknights.exposure.co/ucfsalutes

Thank you for viewing!