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Tradition Evolved: Tennessee Titans Unveil New Uniforms


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8 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:


There is one good custom number font in the NFL: the Bears' font. Looking at all the top leagues, I can think of only the Cavs, the Cubs, the Blue Jays, and the baseball Giants. (If you want to include the Red Sox, the last wearers of a formerly widely-used standard font, fine.)

 

All other custom number fonts are awful, and are far inferior to standard block fonts.

I'd have to disagree. I'm not exactly sure why, but I have a distaste for it. I've kinda thought it never belonged on the Bears uniform. In a way I guess I'm inadvertently supporting the fact of block font being better.

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45 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:


There is one good custom number font in the NFL: the Bears' font. Looking at all the top leagues, I can think of only the Cavs, the Cubs, the Blue Jays, and the baseball Giants. (If you want to include the Red Sox, the last wearers of a formerly widely-used standard font, fine.)

 

All other custom number fonts are awful, and are far inferior to standard block fonts.

I generally agree.  I don't even like the Bears font but they've had it forever and I would not dream of suggesting it should be changed.  Actually, I don't like the fat baseball Giants font, either.

 

What I'd ideally like to see is probably 3 to 5 teams per league with non-block fonts.  I still like block fonts best, but I do like the idea of a bit of variety.  What I don't like is the idea that every time a team re-designs it uniform they have to come up with a brand new font.

 

I feel that there is a "boldness" to block fonts that is particularly conducive to football jerseys. That's why I hold the wildly unpopular opinion that UCLA is much better with a block font than with that weird one with that very popular font they used to use.

Disclaimer: If this comment is about an NBA uniform from 2017-2018 or later, do not constitute a lack of acknowledgement of the corporate logo to mean anything other than "the corporate logo is terrible and makes the uniform significantly worse."

 

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5 hours ago, gosioux76 said:

Let's not overstate things here. "The people" likely don't give a damn about fonts.

 

These custom fonts are just another aspect of the overwrought Nike narratives behind these redesign. No element of the uniform can be spared in telling a brand story and these clubs fall hard for this nonsense. I can't wait until they toss out custom stitching or crotch zippers.  

I’ve been shocked at how often I see people mention fonts over on the NFL reddit. I’m not sure if that counts as The People or if they’re a step above in terms of paying attention. Regardless, modern fonts are surely a part of what make some of these social media beasts look at these and say that they’re clean/fresh/fire/etc.

 

4 hours ago, DeFrank said:

 

Completely disagree. Falcons are primed for a “classic” revamp. Could totally see them going with a classic font. Cowboys too. Or the Saints! Or the Giants! Redskins!

I wouldn’t say that they’re “primed” for that except for the fact that we would kinda like to see them go that route soon, and I really can’t see them ditching their solid current font now for the old-hat athletic block. For the other teams you mentioned, their looks are so traditional that they’re either never going to change or would do a “modernization” if they did, which invariably involves tweaking the font. Like I said, new looks with the block font don’t happen anymore in the NFL or college even, Nike or otherwise, so I really can’t see it happening again soon, if ever. It’s current use in the league is basically grandfathered in.

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I had a nightmare last night that the Titans uniform reveal came out this week so I ran over to the Chris Creamer website and now Ill need a sleeping pill to go back to sleep. I kept seeing backwords "3s" flying around. I'm surprised they didn't have 4 different color shades on the helmet. Well, at least they have the Bucs in the league.

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22 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

 

No. 

 

Reddit should never be confused for being representative of anything other than Reddit.  

Ah, I suppose that being unusually obsessed with football number fonts is just classic Reddit, then. Shoulda known.

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12 hours ago, Ice_Cap said:

Yeah, you're always going to have people who just don't like the Eagles, Ravens, Steelers, Broncos, or Jags' custom fonts from the 1990s, but at least they were/are legible. I hated the Eagles' font for aesthetic reasons for the longest time. Now though? It's risen to the top of the NFL's collection of custom fonts. Aesthetics aside? It's just competently designed. 

 

I'll argue the bolded part for the Egales, although overall I don't mind it.

 

1) the 6s, 8s, and 9s are indistinguishable at times because where they bend over the chest part of the shoulder pads it makes the top-right of the 6 and bottom left of the 9 sometimes touch the middle bar (which is right at the bend), so they all look like 0s.

 

2) the 1s don't go with the rest of the set.  The top part looks stupid.  I'm not sure how I'd do it better - maybe a flat bar on the top?  Either way it looks strange.

 

3) THe 2 is the only number with a serif or notch in it.  I think that was an homage to the number set from a previous era, but it's still inconsistent with the rest of the numbers and I dislike it.

 

  • I'll agree with the rest, though I really hate the Broncos font.  Can't really argue that it's well designed from an objective perspective.
  • I"ve never heard anyone criticize the Jaguars 97-08 font - are you referring to the post-"Fred Taylor" era 09-11 set?

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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I'm completely over the Eagles font, and would just as soon see it gone altogether, however I will say it was much more aesthetically pleasing before the addition of the useless and cluttered gray stroke.  Back in the 90's it just had a single same-weight black stroke, and the overlap issues BBTV is talking about didn't seem a problem, at least to me.

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1 hour ago, oldschoolvikings said:

I'm completely over the Eagles font, and would just as soon see it gone altogether, however I will say it was much more aesthetically pleasing before the addition of the useless and cluttered gray stroke.  Back in the 90's it just had a single same-weight black stroke, and the overlap issues BBTV is talking about didn't seem a problem, at least to me.

 

I actually think they were worse back then (on the green jerseys, not white), because (I cannot prove this, I'm just going by memory) to accommodate the added charcoal stroke, they reduced the thickness of the actual number as opposed to just adding another stroke.  So on the green jerseys, the white number is thinner and less susceptible to the overlap, however, on the white jersey, it's about the same.

 

That being said, the Nike template may have fixed this, because I can't find a recent image of this where it's a problem.  I looked up Zach Ertz: #86, looking for instances where the 6 looked like an 8 or 0, and couldn't find one.  The number may have moved slightly so the bend doesn't mess with it.

 

The Cowboys were actually the worst.  Tony Romo looked like he was wearing #8 all the time.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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On 4/7/2018 at 9:21 AM, schultzcore said:

I was hoping for this, especially with Mariota as the franchise face. Hate the new helmet.

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/04/05/titans-considered-a-metallic-silver-helmet/

 

I wonder if there was actually a prototype of a silver helmet produced, or was this just presented as a drawing? If there was one I'd love to see it.

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On 4/5/2018 at 7:39 PM, LogoFan said:

After having a day to let it sink in, I rate this a lateral move or maybe even slight step backwards.

 

Pros: love the blue helmet, silver facemask is okay.

 

Cons: kept the thumbtack and those numbers.  Yikes, those numbers.  Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.  And the highly gratuitous red swoosh.  Just...stop.  Please.

 

Was also hoping a return to a more conservative Columbia Blue that's less bright, but...

 

After additional reflection, I have to correct myself.  These are not a lateral move or small step backward.  They are definitely a big step backwards.

Keeping the thumbtack is inexcusable it's so bad.  I don't have a problem with the sword imagery on the jersey and the helmet, but the whatever-it-is on the pants is a massive "fail" when you consider what the team said it was going for.  The sword blade should run down the pants.  And even as is, there is so freaking much going on (fire, shield, thumbtack, sword, state flag stars) that it was a hot mess that needed some streamlining.

 

I would've been disappointed if they had ditched the flame as no other team has it and it's unique.  But since they didn't, it should have been an element incorporated elsewhere (jersey and/or pants), not a sword that does NOT appear anywhere in the official logo used on the uniform.  And, no, thumbtack doesn't count as a sword.  There's nothing really to tie the sword usage to the rest of the look, IMHO.  This is a sizable fail.

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18 hours ago, DNAsports said:

I'd have to disagree. I'm not exactly sure why, but I have a distaste for it. I've kinda thought it never belonged on the Bears uniform. In a way I guess I'm inadvertently supporting the fact of block font being better.

I totally get where you're coming from, but what the Bears numbers lack in blocky boldness, they make up for in utilitarianism and simplicity. There's nothing contrived about them -- the 1 is just a straight line the way most people write a 1. 

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

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Does anyone know the financial arrangement regarding Nike redesigns? Does Nike throw that in as part of its contract with the league or does the team or NFL pay for it? I'm just curious about the designer/client dynamic.

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3 minutes ago, Broken Record said:

Does anyone know the financial arrangement regarding Nike redesigns? Does Nike throw that in as part of its contract with the league or does the team or NFL pay for it? I'm just curious about the designer/client dynamic.

 

I don't believe we've been made parties to that level of contractual detail.  I would suspect that Nike covers it, at least their part. 

 

Nike's whole purpose with the NFL contract is twofold:

  1. Sell jerseys; and
  2. Promote itself.

That second objective is wrapped into every single re-design.  As for the second, teams that aren't selling well are often candidates for re-designs.  So Nike has a financial stake in many of them.

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My guess is that Nike does cover it, and it probably doesn't make any difference, but curiosity is a funny thing.

 

Anyway, I just saw a bunch of Titans jerseys together for the first time. The font is even worse in bunches. Straight fire... or whatever.

 

2lv1uo1.jpg

 

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1 minute ago, Broken Record said:

My guess is that Nike does cover it, and it probably doesn't make any difference, but curiosity is a funny thing.

 

Anyway, I just saw a bunch of Titans jerseys together for the first time. The font is even worse in bunches. Straight fire... or whatever.

 

2lv1uo1.jpg

 

 

The problem with the jerseys on the players is that we’ve seen the 3 on Byard appear stretched, as well as the 82 on Walker. 

iGLssSH.png

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3 minutes ago, Broken Record said:

My guess is that Nike does cover it, and it probably doesn't make any difference, but curiosity is a funny thing.

 

Anyway, I just saw a bunch of Titans jerseys together for the first time. The font is even worse in bunches. Straight fire... or whatever.

 

2lv1uo1.jpg

 

 

What does it say that a font can be this bad, but still head and shoulders above the Buccaneers?

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13 hours ago, the admiral said:

I totally get where you're coming from, but what the Bears numbers lack in blocky boldness, they make up for in utilitarianism and simplicity. There's nothing contrived about them -- the 1 is just a straight line the way most people write a 1. 

 

The thing I like about the Bears' number font is that it was designed with legibility in mind first and foremost.  Looking a lot of custom fonts introduced in the last twenty years, you can see such mundane considerations have long been pushed down on the priority chart.

 

On an aesthetic level, the Bears' font succeeds because of its consistent and even line weights.  The numbers don't have lots of extra-thin serifs and notches to spoil the visual flow.  But again, we're back to legibility.

 

Look at the Rams.  They have relatively consistent line weights.  Numbers are clear and bold.  Where they appear, serifs anchor and define each number, they don't distract or pull focus.

 

LA-Rams-1.jpg

 

This is a number font that is designed first and foremost to be read.

 

845414746.0.jpg

 

If every custom number font had those design principles behind it, I wouldn't dislike custom number fonts nearly so much as I do.

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