Jump to content

MLB: Project 32 - New Dugout Jackets Added


SFGiants58

Recommended Posts

18 hours ago, the admiral said:

The W from the old Nats script does not read as a W at all by itself. It just looks like the tines of a fork.

 

Yeah, I had the same thoughts while looking at it. Maybe it was for the best that the Nats didn't try to match their cap logo to their wordmark. It doesn't excuse matching up the "curly W" with the bevels.

 

18 hours ago, coco1997 said:

The tweaks are all great. Thanks for including the pink socks for the Flamingos; they do really look much better that way. I think you forgot to upload the alternates for the Nationals, though. 

 

Coming down to the home stretch with the NL West! Good to see the Cubs will be getting their '50s style road jerseys back. I think the team I'm most excited to see is Houston, as well as the alternate take. 

 

Thanks! I added those alternates in an edit. Things like this happen when I try to batch upload on Imgur.

 

I think you will like Houston! I've been working on a lot of the ideas for it for some time. It was only in the past few months that I got it to the point where I thought I "nailed" it.

 

18 hours ago, KittSmith_95 said:

The Brewers teaser has me really excited to see them. The one team I'm unsure about is the Rockies.... those Mountains.... not sure if that colour works well with the purple. 

 

As for the updates:

 

Reds- Update really pops & the new road script is perfection.

 

Flamingos- Simple & the other logo sheet with the Midnight Blue really works. 

 

Voyageurs- Simple tweak, but now I see oars and not spoons. 

 

Phillies- 100 times yes to the creme being gone. That white version works a lot better. 

 

Pirates & Nats also look good, but there's not much I can say about them. 

 

Thanks! The Brewers is a tweak of an old concept I did, correcting a few errors and straightening out some sundry details. I'm sure you'll like the Rockies once you see the finished product (again, a mini-overhaul of an older piece).

 

Well, it's Cubbie time!

 

CHICAGO CUBS, PT. I - The road to better road uniforms.

 

When the Cubs won the World Series last year, many of us complained that they clinched them wearing their blue jerseys. I didn't mind at all (although I'm not a fan of Dumpster Bear). It meant that these abominable uniforms didn't get immortalized:

 

Anthony-Rizzo-Starlin-Castro-Chicago-Cubs.jpg 

 

Look at them. The stretched wordmark font, the crummy contrasting numbers and scripts, and the insistence on using white outlines post-HD are all nasty. Then again, the Cubs have only had one excellent gray uniform, the 1958-68 set:

 

CMZUffgUkAAL_Po.jpg

 

Blue outlined in red, with a wordmark that matches the home lettering and a little touch of stripes is the way to go. All of my previous Cubs concepts use that wordmark, and I saw no reason to stop now.

 

With the logo sheet, the colors and primary logo are unchanged from what the team wears now. The secondary is a red-outlined version of the 1994-96 bear, the best bear logo (which sadly left with José Martí's favorite Cubs uniforms). It doesn't look like an illustration, a Disney character, a deer in headlightsan alien bear, or a cub prowling through the cooler in your buddy's Subaru Outback. The backing shape is gone so that I can reinforce the whole "royal outlined in red" look. The tertiary is the cap logo, in this new colorway.

 

BRrrf3b.png

 

The uniforms are where I made some more drastic changes. The home uniform is unchanged, save for the deletion of the sleeve patch. When I was putting the set together, I realized that @the admiral was right about how it "imbalanced" the uniform's composition. Wrigley would still show off the secondary logo, so it's not like it'd be missing. The road uniform uses the 1958-68 set as a base, albeit without the collar stripe. It was a little too much. I added the cub patch and sock stripes. The Cubs have a strong history with hosiery trim, and I wanted to add some that matched the colorway of the cap logo. Think of it as the same trick I pulled with my Tigers concept, with the differentiation of uniform striping. While some may not like it, I think it adds a bit of "color" to the look (which I like). The NOB's on both uniforms are the Montréal Canadiens' NOB font, which goes a lot more with the Cubs' lettering. Here is a comparison.

 

Yx1zaPd.png

 

The alternates are pretty simple. The blue jersey now uses the primary logo on the chest, uses the road jersey's striping, and has a day limit ("How does it feel, when you treat me like you do?"). It brings the blue jersey back in line with its 1982-89 predecessor and highlights the best Players' Weekend look. The Retro Day alternate is a throwback to the 1945 home uniforms, with correct sock stripes (unlike the 2015 throwback). With its striping, one could see it as "bringing the road look home."

 

hMwUBWJ.png

 

While the Cubs have a fantastic identity, these alterations make their primaries a little more "classy" and improve their alternates. They also look less like the white-heavy/light shaded Expos, which is good. Also, for those who want to see how the bear patch would look on the home and road alternates, here you go:

 

Spoiler

7d34O26.png

 

EtUG15R.png

 

 

C+C is appreciated, as always!

 

For my alternate take, let's go back to the 1930's!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 568
  • Created
  • Last Reply

The updates all look great. I think the Flamingos and the Reds specifically are huge improvements. The green Flamingos set looks really nice, but it's probably best you went with black.

 

I'm looking forward to the NL West, Colorado and San Francisco look very interesting in particular.

 

Edit: Oh wow, the Cubs look nice! I really like the road uniform, and how all the striping matches up well with the cap.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Cubs are pretty much perfect. I've always said if I could change two things about the Cubs' current look, I'd bring back the Ernie Banks era road unis and introduce a new alternate based on their '80s road jersey, and you've done exactly that. In other words, no complaints. 

 

Looking forward to your take on the '30s Cubs. Hopefully we'll see the return of the wishbone C and the underlined road wordmark!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it's my favorite team, but one currently making an assload of terrible design decisions, so I'm not going to bare my teeth like it's a Blackhawks concept.

 

Thanks for heeding my advice on the Cubs' home sleeve being patchless. I've played around with putting the NL logo on there, but it predictably didn't address the imbalance issue at all. Not sure what I expected. I like your choice of secondary logo, though with the inarguable strength of the Cubs primary and the Cubs hat, I'm never quite sure the Cubs need a secondary. I think the White Sox did what the Cubs should have done: put the logo everyone on Earth knows on the sleeve of the road uniform (the Cubs half-did this for a while in the '90s, with the unconventional "patch on either sleeve" approach) so that there's no jersey without it. So I guess in my perfect world, there's no patch on the home, the primary on the road, and the NL logo on the blue. But I still like what you've done: it is, indeed, the best possible bear logo.

 

I've played around with Trade Gothic on the NOBs before and part of me thinks it's a great idea but part of me doesn't. Maybe it's that it does look closer to the vaunted '60s Chicago script, but isn't quite it, so there's an uncanny valley thing and it becomes best to stay with block. I dunno. I will say that I like it a lot better on the Cubs than I do on the Canadiens. I lean toward good change on this.

 

The grey uniforms are terrific, of course, with the best road script the Cubs ever had. Losing the red numbers for a team so associated with blue is an idea whose time, well, came at least ten years ago. The shade of grey seems a little drab for the bright sunshiney Cubbies to me; do you think a lighter grey (not sure whether you're using a standard shade of grey) might lend itself to the Cubs' colors? Also, you surely remember that the Cubs wore white pants on the road in the '80s, which I guess they could get away with because no one else was really in the habit of wearing colored shirts at home, so there was enough separation even with matching pants. I'm thinking a paler grey might approximate that look, ORRRR you could throw caution to the wind and have white pants with the alternate. The trim on the blue seems a little thin. I know it was too wide in the '80s but this goes too far in the other direction.

 

Love the sock stripes, great idea. I always sorta wished the Cubs wore striped socks.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, the admiral said:

The shade of grey seems a little drab for the bright sunshiney Cubbies to me; do you think a lighter grey (not sure whether you're using a standard shade of grey) might lend itself to the Cubs' colors?

 

I agree with this. I think a lighter shade of gray would help the blue pop a bit more. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/3/2017 at 2:17 PM, MJD7 said:

The updates all look great. I think the Flamingos and the Reds specifically are huge improvements. The green Flamingos set looks really nice, but it's probably best you went with black.

 

I'm looking forward to the NL West, Colorado and San Francisco look very interesting in particular.

 

Edit: Oh wow, the Cubs look nice! I really like the road uniform, and how all the striping matches up well with the cap.

 

Thanks! I think you'll like those concepts.

 

On 9/3/2017 at 2:33 PM, coco1997 said:

The Cubs are pretty much perfect. I've always said if I could change two things about the Cubs' current look, I'd bring back the Ernie Banks era road unis and introduce a new alternate based on their '80s road jersey, and you've done exactly that. In other words, no complaints. 

 

Looking forward to your take on the '30s Cubs. Hopefully we'll see the return of the wishbone C and the underlined road wordmark!

 

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. 

 

On 9/3/2017 at 5:42 PM, the admiral said:

Well, it's my favorite team, but one currently making an assload of terrible design decisions, so I'm not going to bare my teeth like it's a Blackhawks concept.

 

Thanks for heeding my advice on the Cubs' home sleeve being patchless. I've played around with putting the NL logo on there, but it predictably didn't address the imbalance issue at all. Not sure what I expected. I like your choice of secondary logo, though with the inarguable strength of the Cubs primary and the Cubs hat, I'm never quite sure the Cubs need a secondary. I think the White Sox did what the Cubs should have done: put the logo everyone on Earth knows on the sleeve of the road uniform (the Cubs half-did this for a while in the '90s, with the unconventional "patch on either sleeve" approach) so that there's no jersey without it. So I guess in my perfect world, there's no patch on the home, the primary on the road, and the NL logo on the blue. But I still like what you've done: it is, indeed, the best possible bear logo.

 

I've played around with Trade Gothic on the NOBs before and part of me thinks it's a great idea but part of me doesn't. Maybe it's that it does look closer to the vaunted '60s Chicago script, but isn't quite it, so there's an uncanny valley thing and it becomes best to stay with block. I dunno. I will say that I like it a lot better on the Cubs than I do on the Canadiens. I lean toward good change on this.

 

The grey uniforms are terrific, of course, with the best road script the Cubs ever had. Losing the red numbers for a team so associated with blue is an idea whose time, well, came at least ten years ago. The shade of grey seems a little drab for the bright sunshiney Cubbies to me; do you think a lighter grey (not sure whether you're using a standard shade of grey) might lend itself to the Cubs' colors? Also, you surely remember that the Cubs wore white pants on the road in the '80s, which I guess they could get away with because no one else was really in the habit of wearing colored shirts at home, so there was enough separation even with matching pants. I'm thinking a paler grey might approximate that look, ORRRR you could throw caution to the wind and have white pants with the alternate. The trim on the blue seems a little thin. I know it was too wide in the '80s but this goes too far in the other direction.

 

Love the sock stripes, great idea. I always sorta wished the Cubs wore striped socks.

 

Thanks! If you're wondering what I'd do to the Blackhawks, my changes won't go beyond "make the sleeve stripes on the red sweater match the hem and socks of that uniform."

 

I figured I should keep a bear logo around, if only so that it follows my rule of: "all sports teams named after an animal must have a logo featuring said animal." I'm not arguing the strength of the primary logo or the cap logo at all, but I did want to include a bear logo somewhere. The '94-'96 is the best option. It's hard to believe that Dumpster Bear has lasted 20 years.

 

If you're wondering about the gray road uniform, I wound up lightening the gray shade a bit. I didn't want it to infringe on my Expos concept, so I was hesitant to make it too light/blue-tinted. I also adjusted the sleeve stripes on the blue alt to have a thickness comparable to the Blue Jays' cuffs. You're right; the new gray shade does make the roadies look better than the old concept:

 

H1L8aC8.png

 

vTaumd0.png

 

nyWXTGh.png

It doesn't feel as "muted," which is a problem when using Pantone 294C. While I thought about using white pants with the road alternate (a look I associate more with a cool moment in Giants history - even though I don't like Will Clark), it just didn't fit with my tastes.

 

Well, I think it's time for an alternate take!

 

CHICAGO CUBS, PT. II - The wishbone returns to the diamond.

 

We're headed back to the alternate universe from my Reds concept on this one. If the Reds are not the team to make the Wishbone C their own, then who would? While the Indians have a history with their Wishbone C, the Cubs also spent about twenty years wearing one as a primary logo/jersey crest and wore one on their caps until 1956. I figured it would be a cool experiment to see how the team would modernize it over time. This piece also gave me an opportunity to update the Cubs' cursive scripts from the 1930's (inspired by @gswansea's work).

 

The colors are the same as my previous Cubs concept, albeit with the addition of light blue and dark navy (replacing light royal). I don't mind Cubs concepts that add light blue, but I don't like it when it comes at the expense of royal/red.

 

The new primary logo features the 1994-96 bear at the center of the Cubs' 1925-36 primary logo. This "C" features another notch in the wishbone, highlighting a light blue diamond. It was a way to get the 1931-33 script's design into the main set, and differentiate the Cubs' "C" from other Wishbone C insignias. The '94-'96 bear appears in front of a rhombus as a tertiary. I'm aware that I've just turned the Cubs into every other Bears concept, but I'm OK with that.

 

zmkqEXg.png

 

The uniforms feature some fun bits. The 1930's scripts get an update, with "C's" similar to the cap logo. The "s" is open the "Cubs" script, avoiding the "Cuba" look. The diamond also keeps the Cubs and White Sox styles different (let's assume the White Sox use a block wordmark in this universe). I brought out the primary logo on the sleeve and added double placket striping for an old-timey look. I added my main concept's sock stripes to the home uniform since the white set no longer had pinstripes. I used the Expos' old number font, because it looked classy and was "different" enough to fit with the Cubs' aesthetic. 

 

bZNhPsb.png

 

The alternates are similar to my first design. The blue alternate now bears a Tuscan (which has precedent from the 1920's-30's Cubs, even on the "Chicago" script) version of the Norman Rockwell "frown" wordmark (worn from 1937-1956, with a powder blue version). The light blue accents made it possible for me to put a fun spin on the design, with a matching NOB. The Retro Day alternate is a throwback to the red-pinstriped 1930 home uniform. It was an opportunity to incorporate a pinstriped C-ubs design into the set.

 

53eJHRm.png

 

While I would never want the Cubs to wear this set, I still think it's an effective modernization of their 1930's experimentation. C+C is appreciated!

 

Up next, the Colorado Rockies!

 

P.S. For those who want a Chicago Flag look, here's my road alt script on a white background.

 

AWKBBTW.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, SFGiants58 said:

 

Thanks! I think you'll like those concepts.

 

 

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. 

 

 

Thanks! If you're wondering what I'd do to the Blackhawks, my changes won't go beyond "make the sleeve stripes on the red sweater match the hem and socks of that uniform."

 

I figured I should keep a bear logo around, if only so that it follows my rule of: "all sports teams named after an animal must have a logo featuring said animal." I'm not arguing the strength of the primary logo or the cap logo at all, but I did want to include a bear logo somewhere. The '94-'96 is the best option. It's hard to believe that Dumpster Bear has lasted 20 years.

 

If you're wondering about the gray road uniform, I wound up lightening the gray shade a bit. I didn't want it to infringe on my Expos concept, so I was hesitant to make it too light/blue-tinted. I also adjusted the sleeve stripes on the blue alt to have a thickness comparable to the Blue Jays' cuffs. You're right; the new gray shade does make the roadies look better than the old concept:

 

H1L8aC8.png

 

vTaumd0.png

 

nyWXTGh.png

It doesn't feel as "muted," which is a problem when using Pantone 294C. While I thought about using white pants with the road alternate (a look I associate more with a cool moment in Giants history - even though I don't like Will Clark), it just didn't fit with my tastes.

This is outstanding and, for me, is a couple tweaks from perfect. For one, I'd scrap the neck piping on the alternate and also make the widths and placement of the sleeve striping the same on the road and alt. Maybe they are, but to my eye they aren't.

 

And I prefer the version with the sleeve logo on the home and alt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

giphy.gif

 

Man, I love everything about this Cubs concept! I like that the '90s bear gets to take center stage in the primary logo, the powder blue underline and Tuscan wordmark look great on the alt, and the Expos-style numbers work really well. Did you use a different shade of creme for the retro alt? Looks like it has kind of a pinkish tint, though that may be due to the red pinstripes. 

 

Excited to see the Rockies and their alternate take next. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, BJ Sands said:

This is outstanding and, for me, is a couple tweaks from perfect. For one, I'd scrap the neck piping on the alternate and also make the widths and placement of the sleeve striping the same on the road and alt. Maybe they are, but to my eye they aren't.

 

And I prefer the version with the sleeve logo on the home and alt.

I'm with you...except, I'd add the neck piping to the road (that way both jerseys would more accurately reflect their predecessors. Great work!  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Different but interesting. The script would look good on BP/ST uniforms, and the tertiary could certainly find use on a farm team.

 

Looking forward to what you do with one of my least favorite brands in pro sports.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

 

Thanks! I think you'll like those concepts.

 

 

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. 

 

 

Thanks! If you're wondering what I'd do to the Blackhawks, my changes won't go beyond "make the sleeve stripes on the red sweater match the hem and socks of that uniform."

 

I figured I should keep a bear logo around, if only so that it follows my rule of: "all sports teams named after an animal must have a logo featuring said animal." I'm not arguing the strength of the primary logo or the cap logo at all, but I did want to include a bear logo somewhere. The '94-'96 is the best option. It's hard to believe that Dumpster Bear has lasted 20 years.

 

If you're wondering about the gray road uniform, I wound up lightening the gray shade a bit. I didn't want it to infringe on my Expos concept, so I was hesitant to make it too light/blue-tinted. I also adjusted the sleeve stripes on the blue alt to have a thickness comparable to the Blue Jays' cuffs. You're right; the new gray shade does make the roadies look better than the old concept:

 

H1L8aC8.png

 

vTaumd0.png

 

nyWXTGh.png

It doesn't feel as "muted," which is a problem when using Pantone 294C. While I thought about using white pants with the road alternate (a look I associate more with a cool moment in Giants history - even though I don't like Will Clark), it just didn't fit with my tastes.

 

Well, I think it's time for an alternate take!

 

CHICAGO CUBS, PT. II - The wishbone returns to the diamond.

 

We're headed back to the alternate universe from my Reds concept on this one. If the Reds are not the team to make the Wishbone C their own, then who would? While the Indians have a history with their Wishbone C, the Cubs also spent about twenty years wearing one as a primary logo/jersey crest and wore one on their caps until 1956. I figured it would be a cool experiment to see how the team would modernize it over time. This piece also gave me an opportunity to update the Cubs' cursive scripts from the 1930's (inspired by @gswansea's work).

 

The colors are the same as my previous Cubs concept, albeit with the addition of light blue and dark navy (replacing light royal). I don't mind Cubs concepts that add light blue, but I don't like it when it comes at the expense of royal/red.

 

The new primary logo features the 1994-96 bear at the center of the Cubs' 1925-36 primary logo. This "C" features another notch in the wishbone, highlighting a light blue diamond. It was a way to get the 1931-33 script's design into the main set, and differentiate the Cubs' "C" from other Wishbone C insignias. The '94-'96 bear appears in front of a rhombus as a tertiary. I'm aware that I've just turned the Cubs into every other Bears concept, but I'm OK with that.

 

zmkqEXg.png

 

The uniforms feature some fun bits. The 1930's scripts get an update, with "C's" similar to the cap logo. The "s" is open the "Cubs" script, avoiding the "Cuba" look. The diamond also keeps the Cubs and White Sox styles different (let's assume the White Sox use a block wordmark in this universe). I brought out the primary logo on the sleeve and added double placket striping for an old-timey look. I added my main concept's sock stripes to the home uniform since the white set no longer had pinstripes. I used the Expos' old number font, because it looked classy and was "different" enough to fit with the Cubs' aesthetic. 

 

bZNhPsb.png

 

The alternates are similar to my first design. The blue alternate now bears a Tuscan (which has precedent from the 1920's-30's Cubs, even on the "Chicago" script) version of the Norman Rockwell "frown" wordmark (worn from 1937-1956, with a powder blue version). The light blue accents made it possible for me to put a fun spin on the design, with a matching NOB. The Retro Day alternate is a throwback to the red-pinstriped 1930 home uniform. It was an opportunity to incorporate a pinstriped C-ubs design into the set.

 

53eJHRm.png

 

While I would never want the Cubs to wear this set, I still think it's an effective modernization of their 1930's experimentation. C+C is appreciated!

 

Up next, the Colorado Rockies!

 

P.S. For those who want a Chicago Flag look, here's my road alt script on a white background.

 

AWKBBTW.png

This looks nice. The scripts on the regular home and roads remind me of the 1990s-2004 Expos for some reason. The alts are both sharp. Love the underlined script with a white background; feels very Chicago. Maybe mock up a white shirt with that script on it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

I really like both concepts and they make me miss living in that neighborhood. I could easily see that Secondary Logo from part I appearing on legions of decorative dog collars on Southport Avenue. 

And if their dogs aren't named Wrigley and Addison, it's only because their daughters are instead.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/6/2017 at 10:43 AM, BJ Sands said:

This is outstanding and, for me, is a couple tweaks from perfect. For one, I'd scrap the neck piping on the alternate and also make the widths and placement of the sleeve striping the same on the road and alt. Maybe they are, but to my eye they aren't.

 

And I prefer the version with the sleeve logo on the home and alt.

 

On 9/6/2017 at 11:07 AM, Paul Lucas said:

I'm with you...except, I'd add the neck piping to the road (that way both jerseys would more accurately reflect their predecessors. Great work!  

 

Thanks, guys! @BJ Sands, the sleeve striping is different on the road and alternate. I wanted the thicker striping on the alt to make it more like the 1980's road uniform. I'll do an edit where both uniforms have consistent striping (no neck and with neck, for @Paul Lucas).

 

On 9/6/2017 at 10:49 AM, coco1997 said:

giphy.gif

 

Man, I love everything about this Cubs concept! I like that the '90s bear gets to take center stage in the primary logo, the powder blue underline and Tuscan wordmark look great on the alt, and the Expos-style numbers work really well. Did you use a different shade of creme for the retro alt? Looks like it has kind of a pinkish tint, though that may be due to the red pinstripes. 

 

Excited to see the Rockies and their alternate take next. 

 

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. The shade of creme is the same, but the red pinstripes mess with it. The blending is part of the reason why I'm glad the Phillies haven't done a creme & red pinstripes uniform yet.

 

23 hours ago, the admiral said:

Different but interesting. The script would look good on BP/ST uniforms, and the tertiary could certainly find use on a farm team.

 

Looking forward to what you do with one of my least favorite brands in pro sports.

 

Thanks. I think the Iowa Cubs could make good use of my tertiary. It'd be better than their attempts to salvage Dumpster Bear. I think you'll like my take on the Rockies.

 

22 hours ago, MCM0313 said:

This looks nice. The scripts on the regular home and roads remind me of the 1990s-2004 Expos for some reason. The alts are both sharp. Love the underlined script with a white background; feels very Chicago. Maybe mock up a white shirt with that script on it?

 

Thanks! I'm going to mock it up on a white shirt/jersey in an update.

 

4 hours ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

I really like both concepts and they make me miss living in that neighborhood. I could easily see that Secondary Logo from part I appearing on legions of decorative dog collars on Southport Avenue. 

 

 

Thank you! I like the '94-'96 bear, and I wish it didn't leave with the "Cuba" scripts.

 

Well, it's the Rockies' turn!

 

COLORADO ROCKIES, PT. I - Rock the Purple(s)

 

Much like my Marlins concept, this one is a refinement of a concept from my tweaks thread from about a year ago. I'm going to repeat a lot of what I said in that thread. 

 

The issues with the Rockies' current identity (Times New Roman font, minimization of purple on the home uniform, ugly vests, etc.) have extensive documentation. I've wanted them to push purple for years. I've gone through purple/powder blue phases, but I realized that it wasn't "unique" enough. So, I looked to sources from around the boards for inspiration. Two concepts, in particular, one by @McCarthy and another by @CreamSoda showed me that the best way to handle the Rockies would be to incorporate the mountain imagery into the main logos of the team (in the primary logos and cap logos). Both of them also used cap logos inspired by the Colorado flag (with both of them doing a particularly excellent job at incorporating the mountains into the flag-style "C"). Building off of their work, I changed up the "C" to have a slab serif and a different mountain pattern. I think I've balanced the logo to evoke the Colorado flag without looking too much like the Cubs' logo. The proportions are different enough from the C in my Twins concept to work.

 

The purple is one of the most significant changes from the previous edition. I used the darker shade as the main one, while I opted for a "faded" purple for the mountains. It keeps a decent amount of contrast between the mountains and the lettering. Gray (both flat and metallic - modeled with flat) is the secondary color. I felt it worked better with the mountain theme than powder blue did, and I liked that it had some precedence with the team (being the color scheme of their first two road jerseys).

 

The primary logo features five mountains atop of a home plate design, which also features a home plate, basepaths, and stripes (to mimic both backstop/outfield wall panels and the socks stripes). While this is my second concept with a home plate-shaped logo, I think that the mountain pattern differentiates them enough from my Padres concept. The font is a modified version of Carton, originally designed by Nick McCosker. Since the original font was not nearly as tall as I originally wanted, I adjusted the letterforms to make them taller.The special event logo is a rhombus/diamond featuring a recoloring of the cap logo with a white stripe behind it, mimicking the Colorado flag in a way that's a bit more tasteful than the Calgary Flames' tactic of slapping their flags on their shoulders.

 

PmSV5aX.png

 

The home and road uniforms feature arched letters as opposed to arc-ed. I swapped the placket stripes for collar trim, which looked cleaner. The sleeve trim takes influence from McCarthy's concept, mimicking the five mountains of the logo (with the mountain's primary color reflecting the secondary color on each uniform). This mountain pattern connects to standard sleeve trim. The number font is not Carton, as Carton's numbers weren't slab-y enough for my tastes. Instead, I used a modified version of the Seattle Supersonics' old number font, with some more slab serifs added and a few numbers tweaked (namely the "2" and the "4"). The NOB's now use serif block. The sock stripes are a gray-white-gray-white-gray pattern, which adds more of the accent colors to the uniform. 

 

biyqB1k.png

 

The primary alternate is a purple jersey, bearing the "C with mountains" cap logo. The front numbers move to the left side to balance the crest and sleeve patch. Silver takes precedence as the central color of the striping, numbers, and NOB. This alternate also has a gray cap, for wear on the road. I love white- and gray-crowned caps, and this concept's color scheme allowed me to implement a gray cap beautifully. The second alternate is the standard roadie, with the aforementioned gray cap.

 

ZKivf08.png

 

The second set of alts would be worn once a season. The first special event uniform is a throwback to my favorite Rockies alternate, the 1993 black jersey.It was the only set in their history that felt like a "real" throwback (and didn't look too much like the rest of the concept), and I like it far more than the "Rocktober" vests. The nameplate and "Inaugural Season" patches are present on the jersey, and I've taken the liberty of adding the "CR" logo to the socks (to give that logo a bit more exposure, given its importance to the team's identity).

 

The second alternate was a fun little idea that came to me some time ago. In the past few years, I've noticed how popular the Colorado flag has become (hint: weed tourism). It's on loads of merchandise, is cited as one of the best flags in the United States (I'd put it in the top ten, certainly), and has inspired the color schemes of two Denver teams (the Nuggets in several iterations, and the short-lived NHL Rockies). It's strange that the MLB Rockies haven't capitalized on this market with some alternate, so I set about rectifying that. I created an alternate uniform meant to be worn on Colorado Day (August 1), using the "Vintage Hockey Franchise" sRGB shades (which matched the Pantone shades of the Colorado flag). I placed these colors on a tweaked version of the road uniform, with a blue base, gold mountains (paired up with red and white trim - tributing the Denver flag ), and one-color numbers (for clarity). The pants have a three-color stripe pattern, and the sock stripes change to reflect the new color scheme. The cap features a white stripe and yellow circle behind a slightly off-center "C with mountains," to both mimic the flag and differentiate the team from the Cubs (which can be a problem, as Monfort ineptitude, Midwest transplants, and WGN's legacy has shown).

TBkkr4m.png

 

Now, the Rockies won't be dressing in the image of the 1990-present White Sox anymore. Instead, they'll have a unique colorway with retro-esque fonts for scripts and numbers and a neo-retro uniform template. This new branding will also tie them closer to their state's iconography, through both direct (the Colorado Day alternate) and indirect (the cap logo minimizing the state flag's letter) means. Should the Rockies eschew their dated uniforms and color scheme, this is the direction they should take. C+C is greatly appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dig the mountain trim on the sleeves. Clever touch. The Sonics numbers work really well with the slab-serif lettering and it's nice to see varsity serif NOBs pop up on a baseball uniform for once considering it's all over the NBA. Most of all, it's good to see the team committed to purple. Like I alluded to a couple days ago, I really hate the entire Rockies brand. It's derivative, conservative, and stale all at once. It's nice to imagine the Rockies starting from square one and winding up with some character for once and not just deciding "we'll wear vests with weird armhole piping" and calling it an update.

 

I'm not sure about the two-tone purple. I think you need to commit to one or the other. I like the more muted purple because it reminds me of the Purple Mountains Majesty crayon from when I was a kid (though maybe it's actually closer to wisteria, also a new Crayola color in the '90s? whatever I don't know) and because it gives the Rockies, forever a team short on design elements to call their own, a near-proprietary team color.

 

The Cubs force the Rockies into a bit of a bind as far as Colorado imagery goes because the Chicago Athletic Club C predates the flag of Colorado itself, and though they're not identical, they're close enough for the Cubs to preclude using royal blue, red, and the C from the flag (in my defensive Cub fan opinion). So here the Rockies have a C to call their own distinct from the Cubs, Indians, Reds, and Twins, which is ideal, but it's not the C from the flag on what's otherwise, explicitly in the case of the alt and implicitly otherwise, a Colorado-flag themed uniform. Would this bother people? I don't know. There's really no perfect way to navigate this; again, the Cubs have more or less checkmated the Rockies out of ever going balls-out on being the Colorado Colorados (and given my dislike for the Texas Texases of the AL West, this is good), but I think your solution is the best one possible: it's a team-specific logo that can be adapted to the state imagery without reaching much. 

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too am not convinced you need the two-tone purple. It's something I was planning to mention ever since you unveiled the NL West teaser. Everything else about this Rockies redesign is a massive improvement on their current look, though--the new logo, the mountains on the sleeves, and the decision to eliminate black and the pinstripes. 

 

Can't wait to see the Zephyrs (?) for the alternate take!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree about the two-tone purple. I was iffy on it in the teaser, and this confirmed that it doesn't work. I could see two shades of grey working however for those mountains, or if you wanted to go in a unique route, maybe go with Green? Only the Athletics wear green, and they play in the AL. Purple & Green is a unique colour combo & I feel it'd work a lot better. 

new_orleans_krewe_player_sig___qb_donny_

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, KittSmith_95 said:

I agree about the two-tone purple. I was iffy on it in the teaser, and this confirmed that it doesn't work. I could see two shades of grey working however for those mountains, or if you wanted to go in a unique route, maybe go with Green? Only the Athletics wear green, and they play in the AL. Purple & Green is a unique colour combo & I feel it'd work a lot better. 

Says the Krewe fan.

 

I would agree with all of these points, though; I just don't think those two shades of purple work very well with each other, and the mountain purple ends up looking like a reddish-brown up close and is indistinguishable from the main color from far away. A dark gray, green, or maybe even a blue or red to tie into the Colorado theme might work better, or maybe even just ditch the second purple and make the mountains the same color as the rest of the logo. It worked pretty well on the Colorado Day logo.

 

Otherwise, you've done an incredible job on this series so far. There's very little I would change about anything else you've done, and the alternate takes have been especially cool. Nice work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe you've got three different purples going actually. There's the dark purple that forms the color of the "C" in the primary, the maroon-ish purple used for the mountains, and a lighter purple (similar to what the Rockies are wearing this year) as the script color on the home wordmark. I think using the lighter purple, rather than the maroon-purple solves any disjointed feeling from the double purple. I think going dark purple and lighter purple works better than shifting into a slightly different hue. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.