Brian Gundell, who helped with Padres and Kraken logos, developed the Firebirds' branding

Brian Gundell was one of those kids who loved creating a video game team from scratch, when that became a big thing in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

It was when video game developers began allowing users to create a team, its colors, logos and where it plays, to enhance the gaming experience. NCAA football and basketball games began doing this, as well as games featuring NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS teams.

For Gundell, a Bay Area native who eventually designed the Coachella Valley Firebirds logos, the feature was life-changing. No exaggeration. Creating teams, with logos and uniforms, sparked an interest in studying graphic design, which led to what he does now.

“It was always something I did for fun, until I got into college,” said Gundell, 36. “I was doing a fantasy football logo and was like, ‘People do this for a job, don’t they? I could do it for a job. Why not?' ”

The Firebirds' primary colors are red, orange and deep blue. The Firebirds image has ice blue in its eye, and the blues are meant to connect with the Kraken logo, which has four shades of blue in it.

The Firebirds unveiled the team name, colors, and Gundell's logos on Nov. 5, 2021 at a ceremony at Classic Club golf course in Palm Desert, adjacent to Acrisure Arena.

Gundell’s sports fandom is rooted in hockey. He grew up near San Jose at a time when the Sharks joined the NHL. His first live hockey game was a Sharks game, and he fell hard for the team and the sport.

“I was hooked,” Gundell said.

Gundell then played recreation league hockey for years, even after enrolling at the University of Oregon, and into his later 20s.

“I was the worst goalie of all-time,” Gundell said, “but I loved it.”

Gundell began his career at sports agencies, then the Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Huskies athletic department as a graphic designer. He then spent a year as a contractor at Nike, working on NFL and NCAA football uniforms, before starting his own company about seven years ago.

Since then, Gundell has worked with the San Diego Padres logos, name, and number font, with MLB and Under Armour, and with teams you’ve probably heard of, and some you probably haven’t.

“I’ve been really lucky with getting to work with the teams that I’ve worked with,” Gundell said.

Gundell’s connect to the Firebirds came from his work with the Seattle Kraken, the Firebirds’ NHL affiliate. In 2019, Gundell designed the Kraken’s secondary logo, the anchor, and he was later asked to help develop the Firebirds brand, from start to finish.

Gundell spent some time in the Coachella Valley looking for inspiration for the logos and colors. He said that he took inspiration from the midcentury modern architecture, which comes out in the type system Gundell used in the design.

Gundell’s primary Firebirds’ logo, along with the secondary palm tree logo, is now on almost every piece of team marketing and merchandizing. Gundell was in Seattle in late October, when the Firebirds played at Climate Pledge Arena, and saw as the team merchandizing kiosks had lines wrapped around the concourse to purchase items with his design.

“That’s the coolest part of my job,” said Gundell, who now lives in Orlando. “Getting to see all of those things slapped on a million different items and have people wearing it on T-shirts and hats. I still get excited seeing my stuff on ESPN and just out and about. I’ll be here in town, and I’ll see someone wearing a Padres hat or a Kraken jersey and I’m like, ‘I designed that! That’s so cool that you’re wearing it!”

Gundell said that seeing Seattle fans purchasing Firebirds hats and shirts was particular cool.

“It’s just really satisfying to see that people like the brand,” Gundell said. “They like it whether they’re in Seattle or down in Coachella Valley. That they like the logo enough to want it on stuff, it’s the most gratifying feeling as a designer.”

Gundell is hoping to make it out to the valley for a Firebirds game. If he does, he’ll have a chance to see the logos he designed on the outside of a $500 million arena and among the thousands of hats, T-shirts and jerseys that will be in the crowd.

The excitement of having his design on a team’s merchandizing, and its arena, is something that will never go away, Gundell said.

“Seeing that first picture on center ice and seeing it on the side of the building,” Gundell said, “is going to be really cool.

“It just never gets old.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella Valley Firebirds logos created by Florida-based graphic designer