I'm planning on recolouring 'The Fighting Llamas' pennant with university crests for each of the supplied university 'hoods - SIm State, La Fiesta Tech and Académie Le Tour. I've already downloaded some basic university logo templates to get myself started, but my key issue is choosing colours. So I'm opening it up to the forum for advice.

What should the school colours of each of the universities be?

I would go with the colors of the teen cheerleader outfits. There are only two, but to me, the black red and white one looks like fiesta tech. And the blue and white is Sim State. For academie le tour I'd go with white and green.

The school uniforms come in red, blue and green, hence picking green for academie And I say only white with the blue and green because I think that'd look the most professional.

These outfits are the ones I'm referring to. And yes, I know she has white eyebrows and it's fugly, but I just wanted to show the outfits so I just went with what CAS spawned.


And then these could be the work out clothes sold by each uni for their students. And yes, I know these are for teens, but I still think it's neat to have them match a color theme already existing in the game. And they could probably be converted for YAs too if one finds a good mesh.


EDIT: Looking at the clothes that came with UNI for YAs, I see that the graduation robe comes with three different rims. White, red and blue. I wonder if they spin into different ones depending on where they graduated? I haven't thrown a graduation party in each one, so I don't know.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

gummilutt I like your suggestion of drawing from existing outfits. I browsed the YA clothes catalogue for ideas and I definitely agree the blue and white cheerleader outfit should be Sim State's colours. There's also the sports jacket to match already. Not sure about matching them to the school uniforms though. I think I want the universities to stand apart from school. But then this also got me thinking, that as well as doing pennant recolours I could do matching clothing - sports jacket, cheerleader dress, tracksuits, swim suits, hoodies, PJs.... my mind has started to get carried away!

Anyway, I started brainstorming colour ideas after my initial post, and I've come up with some colour palettes. I've also paletted PlatinumPlumbbob's colour suggestions. I must say, I'm not keen on the brown and gold colour scheme for Sim State, but I do like the blue and green one for La Fiesta Tech, and as you'll see below, I came up with something similar for Académie Le Tour.

I can use these colour palettes to get started, and may try a few combos before I finally pick. My mind is starting to race off in all sorts of directions now, coming up with recolour ideas to create matching themes for all the universities.

They look *amazing*

Sim State University Llamas
La Fiesta Tech Fighting Piranhas
Academie Le Tour Social Bunnies

and the current 'away' school is the Mad Cows.

The thing to remember when choosing heraldic colors - which this qualifies as - is that they have to be readily distinguishable from a distance and in many different light condtions. Therefore, they should be high-contrast and distinct from other combinations used for the same purpose in the same area.

The color laws of European heraldry divided the colors into "metals" (gold and silver/yellow and white) and "colors" (red, blue, green, black - brown was seldom used because it was too easy to confuse with red and black, orange because it could be red or it could be yellow, and purple was not only easy to confuse with red and black but reserved for royalty - this is why "royal blue" and "royal purple" are such deep, bright colors) and making strict rules about how they could be used. Standardized shades were required, a metal could not be placed on a metal or a color on a color, and so on and so forth. You don't need to be governed by such rules, but when making your final decision on shades and patterns the principles make a handy reference even if you tweak or subvert them. A lot of people like to place red and black together, but in many lights they tend to blend together and it's a good idea to place a little white or yellow between them to make them stand out more. Using different shades of the same color (as in your brown and gold example) should be done carefully.

But the llama mascot and cheerleaders with llama logos on their dresses (both red and blue ones) show up in all the universities. My headcannon is the other pennant flags represent other sports teams at that uni (like the llamas is the main sport (football [soccer or american]), and the piranhas and bunnies are other sports (e.g. baseball/basketball/hockey/rugby/etc.). Or maybe they're the mascots of other universities not named, but not close enough to be a rival like the Mad Cows.

I'm making university crests though, like the official logo of the school, not the sports teams. So I won't be using mascot pictures.

ETA: now that I think about it though, can Sim State's colours be the same as the Fighting Llamas team colours? Since the mascot and cheerleaders show up in all the 'hoods, should I make Sim State's 'official' colours different?

I would create for your own game and the way you play. So if you have all of the universities installed at once then it's a good idea to separate those. If you only had one installed at a time, (or even, only ever play one university subhood at a time) it might be cool to make two (or three) versions of default replacements for the mascots and/or cheerleaders where they are swapped, even. So you could swap defaults out depending on which hood you are playing with which attached uni and it looks as though the other university's mascot is visiting.

Home and away kit?

So I've finished my crests. Well at least for La Fiesta Tech and Académie Le Tour - I've very proud of those two. I have a version for Sim State, but I'm not happy with it. Suggestions are welcomed.

Next step is making my recolours. I'm teaching myself basic object recolours at the moment, then I'll move on to the clothes.

ETA: don't know why the green in the LFT logo is so bright, it's a bit more subdued on my computer

Love those so much! Especially the saucer shape and alien head for NM Tech, er... La Fiesta Tech.

I actually think Sim Satae is the best of those crests but that's just me.

I love them!! My favourite is Academie Le Tour, but I seriously love all of them!

Not a fan of the color schemes, but the designs are great! Very creative and great idea.

Makes me think why EA didn't do this in the beginning!

Thank you for the feedback guys I've just submitted my upload for approval, so hopefully you'll see the finished product online soon.

Kankritty, I agree, it's something the game has been missing, but I have had fun designing my own.

gummilutt, I *might* do extra alternate colour schemes for the logos, I guess you'd like them to match the sports dresses you mentioned in your first post? I would also like to address the graduation robe colours you mentioned - all three robe highlight colours appear in all universities. I'm not sure whether they are random, or reflect the type of subject your sim majors in. Certainly the university I attended, the colour on your robes indicated what faculty your subject was in (arts, science, engineering etc.)

Nah, it doesn't have to match. That was just an idea It's purely personal preference, I'm not a big fan of some of the shades, that's all. But I must say the fiesta tech one is gorgeous. The designs are gorgeous on all of them. I'll use them all either way because it's a great idea.

Would you consider a version with english text though? I'm sure most people will prefer Simlish, but I've never quite grasped it and find it hard to understand Took me quite a while to figure out which one was which

As long as the bright green is more subdued in game I like all of them except the Academie La Tour one. It needs another colour to balance it; there's too much purple at the moment. Maybe some black on the shield.

There's a bit of a delay with upload. I had to take new screenshots - my goodness it's hard to control that camera! I'm a complete novice when it comes taking decent in game pictures, but I've read the help threads and am getting acquainted. Illustrator and Photoshop were a breeze in comparison. I'm working on English versions too Finished versions will be online soon

ETA: Oh, and I wanted to ask for more advice - University names. I'm making a custom college to attach to Riverblossom Hills/Desiderata Valley/Belladonna Cove and don't have a clue what to name it!

I just noticed that the middle part below Academie Le Tour crest is a plumbob. That's a great touch.

Looking forward to seeing it uploaded.

Thanks They actually all feature Plumbobs. It's obvious on the SimState one of course, and you spotted it on the Académie Le Tour, but can you find it on the La Fiesta Tech one?

The dots on the ring When I saw the Academie-one, I figured they all had one, and went and looked again. Again, great touches. You put a lot of thought into it, I can tell.

Well done Again, thank you for the praise It's like feeding my kitties cheese - can never get enough :P

Oh and I notice your signature you help folk with SimPE, I'll PM you with my question.

I actually really like the LFT green - it's alien green!