Since 2022, graphic designer Luc Sauve has been collaborating with the New York Islanders. In this exclusive interview, Sauve shares how the realtionship came to be and dives into a few of his Islander designs.

Whether you applauded the New York Islanders decision to bring back a variation of the Fisherman jersey for the 2022-23 Adidas Reverse Retros or not, you couldn't walk around UBS Arena without them dominating the crowd.

The Islanders' fan base is passionate, and whether there's a new design out there or a design based on the club's history, fans flock to snatch it. 

If you are one of those fans who is always looking for new, unique Islanders items, you may see some new logos and fonts this upcoming season on certain Islanders' apparel, whether it's at Isles Lab in UBS Arena or on their website.

Graphic designer Luc Sauve, 27, has been collaborating with the Islanders since 2022 to help "expand on some brand assets," the Ontario native said in an Instagram post back in May. 

After getting a degree at St. Claire College of the Arts in Windsor, Sauve landed a job at the Tango Creative Group. One of his clients out of the gate was the OHL's Windsor Spitfires. 

That led to an opportunity doing work for The Gretzky Hockey School:

Sauve continued creating graphics, making merchandising concepts for NHL teams, and posting his unique style on his Instagram page.

That's where Islanders Creative Director Nicholas Sultana found him and made contact. 

"It was kind of spontaneous, and from there, we got talking about some secondary designs for the team," Sauve said in an exclusive interview with The Hockey News. "There was no set direction. Just kind of open-ended. 

"Nick liked what I was doing with the other teams, where everything was brand new but still felt like it belonged to those organizations. So we talked a bit, and then they came back at the end of 2022, and that's when we pushed out the project, which was to create a monogram mainly for the Islanders.

For those that do not know, a monogram is when two or more letters are intertwined to create a design. 

"The main focus was to come up with just a letter mark or a combination of letters that could be ownable for the team, which is tough," Sauve said. "A big part of the conversation there was how you make 'NY' feel like it's the Islanders and can you do 'N', 'Y', and 'I' because those three letters all together could get kind of busy, so that was the main challenge,"

Here is a picture of what Sauve sent to the Islanders:

The Islanders chose three of those designs. Let's dive in. 

Up first, Sauve separated from his monogram idea for a unique look incorporating not just the famous New York 'NY', but the 'I' as well. 

"This one, I think, was the most successful design out of everything that they picked because, like I said earlier, they wanted to have something that was ownable and had that 'NY,'" Sauve said. "It is tough to have interlocking letters that don't feel like the already existing New York sports teams.

"So that's when I decided to stop interlocking in and focus more on the 'I', make it a little more ownable, invest in the 'NY' and put the Islanders front and center.

Sauve continued: "It's not an overly complicated design. But if you really zoomed in, they're slightly rounded corners on the 'N' and 'Y', similar to the typeface used in the actual Islanders logo. "That's kind of a cool little element of the Islanders design that I wanted to tuck in there without making it look like a bubble letter."

Out of all the designs, this 'NY' style hits home to Long Island. 

"This one was one of the early concepts. And I took the 'I' out of it," Sauve said. "I decided just to focus on the 'NY,' as difficult as that task is. So thinking about The Fisherman and The Lighthouse design inspired this almost nautical theme."

As you can see, the bottom of the 'NY' look like a whale's tail, so it's safe to say Sauve nailed the Long Island-ocean connection. 

But that's not all, as Sauve pointed out that the "tails" also create a small wave-like look. 

Although script fonts aren't complex, it's a Sauve staple. 

"It's a staple when I'm doing these collections. It's just inspired by classic wordmarks that I find in this sports world," Sauve said regarding the script font. "So whenever I'm starting a project for a team, whether it's a real project or just a passion project, I just dig through the internet, and there's so many photos of old hats or retro windbreakers that have designs on them that aren't official logos.

"I find those so interesting, where it looks like the team, but then the actual logo is just on the shoulder, and you have this almost baseball script across the front."

Sauve did mention that if he was asked to present one design, the script concept isn't one he would include, as it's not ownable the way the other two logos the Islanders chose are. 

However, it has its purposes.

"A word mark is nice because if they decided to do merchandise, it says the whole bar of 'New York Islanders', and then they can put the logo smaller if they didn't want to just use the logo every time."

As of now, Sauve doesn't know exactly what his designs will be used for. There was no mention of any of these designs being used when the Islanders hit the great outdoors for a showdown with the rival New York Rangers at MetLife Stadium in mid-January. 

READ MORE: Islanders vs. Rangers Stadium Series Updates From NHL

"I guess the closest thing to that is when we were talking about the application of these, where it could be used, there was a mention of a coach's jacket," Sauve said. "I can't say anything for sure. I don't know the details of where they are going, but that would be awesome.

"It'd be great to see, even if it was a small part of something like that. That's obviously a really cool thing to be a part of."

You can find more of Luc Sauve's designs on his Instagram and on his website at www.lucsauvedesign.com. 

Join Stefen Rosner's New York Islanders page on Bunches, a new app that connects sports fans. Also, you can listen to Rosner talk Islanders hockey on Hockey Night in New York with co-host Sean Cuthbert Sunday nights at 8 PM ET during the season.