The Beijing Olympics are now long over. But I couldn’t let that stop me from sharing a beautifully-made Team Latvia concept from Aaron Burden.

Regarding the crest design, he writes:

I can’t knock a team for using its coat of arms, but I wish they at least cleaned it up. For my submission, I pulled inspiration from the coat of arms, flag and The Freedom Monument. While flags and crests can show a direct connection to a country, an emotional connection can really draw more pride. This is why I used a monument with so much historic value as the centerpiece.

On the colors, he adds:

I love the idea of double red, but double dark red with a gray that gives little contrast is like juggling fire. To make sure the team didn’t look like a swampy mess, I switched out the gray with a chrome material to use as an accent. A little trendy but why not? It’s not like the country has a significant amount of success tied to their look.

And lastly, as to the overall jersey design, he says:

Pretty self explanatory here. Both jerseys use the striping to capture the Latvian flag between that chrome material. The jersey mostly uses maroon while the collar, pants, gloves and helmet are burgundy to avoid too much of one color. The chrome treatment is carried over to the shoulders, where the lion and griffin from the logo/coat of arms are used.