Rebranding the MLB....

[Buster]

I still think it looks better than the Red Lion Hotels logo.

Red Lion has a great design.

[elliott]

I like Elliot's work, but I disagree. That's a great lion.

I agree with you bruschi, that's a beautifully rendered design.

Yet another update is in the works, thanks guys.

[Wasatch]

I still think it looks better than the Red Lion Hotels logo.

Red Lion has a great design.

It might work for the Red Lion Hotel company, but for the Royals, NO! The face of the Red Lion doesn?t look like a baseball logo, and it?s just a few steps above the Kan County Cougars.

[dgnmrwrw]

I think it's worth looking at that Red Lion logo posted above to get an idea of the basic features of a lion head. To me, the most distinguishing elements that scream "lion" are the ears, the smallish eyes, the nose bridge, the triangular nose, and the slit-like mouth. Especially look at the position of the eyes and their relevance to the rest of the face. Work with these (and some of them you've already nailed), and tweak the whiskers and mane, and I think you'll have a great logo.

[jaha32]

i like the idea of a lion for the royals. there is something about its nose that doesnt seem right or very lion-like. i also think the eyes could be meaner but thats just me. as far as the KC cap logo, to me there current KC is as good as it gets and your blocky version just doesnt do it for me. I personally hope they never get rid of that. i like the jerseys with the lion head and the numbers are nice (although they do remind me of the brewers numbers) but I dont think they match the font choice on the home jersey and blue top. did you consider a cursive script. i do love the cap with the white part above the brim just like teams used to do back in the day.

[Wasatch]

I think it's worth looking at that Red Lion logo posted above to get an idea of the basic features of a lion head. To me, the most distinguishing elements that scream "lion" are the ears, the smallish eyes, the nose bridge, the triangular nose, and the slit-like mouth. Especially look at the position of the eyes and their relevance to the rest of the face. Work with these (and some of them you've already nailed), and tweak the whiskers and mane, and I think you'll have a great logo.

You?re right, the Red Lion is a good template to go off of, but I think a Royals version needs to be more detailed, just like Elliott?s original has been; I guess it just needs to take on more distinguished lion characteristics.

[elliott]

Continuing to update....

[dgnmrwrw]

Now THAT looks good. Fantastic update. Looks like a tough ole lion, while still being regal. Very good job capturing the lion's facial features, and the mane and ears look great as well. At first I wasn't feeling the strokes under the eyes, but now I'm seeing them as eyeblack, which works for a baseball team. I kinda like that small addition.

[rentz]

I like it but the face looks a bit too geometric while the rest is all smooth curves. I also think the snout is too far up.

[elliott]

(Final tweaks on the next page)

Ok I'm gonna go right ahead here. This concept has just been sitting around forever and has been through countless re-dos, it never looked quite right in my eyes. However right now I think it's looking "releasable" and I'd love to get some feedback. First of all let me give a big thank-you to chickenfish because he approached me about doing a collaborative concept and he put forth some really good ideas that I took and expanded. So thank you c fish.

So, the Cubs. The primary and secondary are as follows...

The first thing you will notice is the new colors. The lighter blue is the same shade the cubs use now. I dropped red and added a darker blue. It kind of reminds me of some of those retro cubs hats you see people wearing. But overall the colors are inspired by the club's early years and by the two tone blue they sometimes use. See the old bps. The primary is a revamp of one of the front view logos that I think is now defunct. The features are sharper and the bear is a little less "fluffy" I think. I changed the offsetting of the circle and formed it into a "C" instead of just a circle. Both script marks are custom. The "CUBS" mark does not appear on the uniforms but is used in the primary, and the same reworked cub is put in the familiar position on the secondary.

The home and road uniforms are fairly simple. Just some sleeve piping, with the simplified primary on the home. You'll notice that the home is brighter with the lighter blue, and the road is more drab with the darker shade of blue. We have contrasting front numbers. Here is the bigger version of the road mark. The hats are simple solid colors with the lighter blue at home and the darker blue for the road. The logo stays the same on the two caps, the logo being a variation of the cap logo you are used to, only including a baseball in the middle that seemed to fit well (c-fish's idea).

On to the two colored uniforms, the alternate is a basic navy uniform focusing on white accents on the numbers and piping. The chest logo stays consistent with the cap, as the road cap will be worn as the alternate. I didn't fill in any of the templated panels on the bp, to keep things simpler. The "chicago" mark returns on this uniform, and the patch logo is on the solid royal bp cap. I'm normally not a fan of such small details on a baseball hat, but for bp, I don't really care.

Edit: (forgot to add my obligatory little afterthought) Lol so yeah, there you have the Cubs, I certainly hope you like it because this concept has gone through about 6 different "phases" until I finally decided this was the one I wanted to show. Of course I'd love to hear your comments on how I can improve this. Expect the Rangers next in this series (I'm trying to alternate NL and AL teams). Thanks guys.

[bohob]

I like this. You did a good job re-working the bears. The colors are a nice shift as well. My only issue with this is the Cubs script. It's kind of choppy and doesn't really flow with the rest of the package. Good stuff.

[chickenfish13]

Thanks for giving me some credit, but I think you did much more than me

I've seen the logos so you know I like them, but I really like the jerseys too, there nice clean and simple. Good job, looking forward to the rangers.

[chestnutz]

Really nice Cubs design. A few thoughts:

-Love the full body cubby logo, it looks awesome. I'd buy a hat with that on it in an instant. And I don't even wear hats. I te Chink the ends of the white outline on him (his front paw and top of his head) shouldn't overlap onto the blue C though.

-Head logo looks good, but the Cubs wordmark is off the mark for me. I actually quite like the wordmark, just not for this set you have here.

-The Chicago wordmark: I'm not sold on it. I think it's a bit too thick and bubbly now. I think if you thinned the letters a bit and really toned down the white outline it'd look a lot better and more professional-Cubs fitting.

-The C/ball logo looks too much like most Colorado concepts.

-Home uniform has too much royal I think. It looks way too much like your previous team, the Royals I think.

-I actually think a little bit of red could make this stand out so much, I'd encourage it in an update.

[JayJaxon]

Maybe I will like the 'Chicago' wordmark better without the thick white outline around it. I just think it's too much thickness on that. Everything else looks very nice though.

[Ted Cunningham]

1) The Royals update looks great. The lion looks like a lion now. And it's not smiling anymore, which is definite plus.

2) I like how the Cubs are very you. If I saw that concept without knowing who did it, I'd say it had an Elliot-look to it. I'm not a fan of dropping the red because I think the Cubs do red well, but I do like how your scripts/numbers both look like something you'd do and also retain a certain 'Cubbiness.'

Good job on both.

[CJworks]

I agree with Ted about droppping red. It's a defect in this concept and I definately think it's missing something now (being a loyal Cubs fan I'm bound to think that the red is just as historical as blue). I'm also not feeling that Cubs script, IMO, it ruins the primary. It sticks out like a sore thumb, and the way that the two scripts 'clash' in one big logo is overwhelming. To me, this isn't what I'd like to see for the Cubbies.

But that's my opinion, and this is a rebrand that was executed fairly well.

[dgnmrwrw]

I'm torn on the Cubs concept. I really admire you for trying something new here, and the two blues look very nice together. However, as others mentioned, the loss of red causes this not to feel right for the Cubbies. I'd be interested to see if it was possible to work some red back in there while keeping two blues. Color choices aside, I like most of what I'm seeing. The unis are clean and simple, and work well. Both bear logos look very good and they work well as a package. I really like the addition of the baseball to the C logo. There's something sublime in its simplicity and elegance. Looks great on a cap.

Others have also mentioned the thick outline around the "Chicago" wordmark, which I agree is a bit too heavy. However, I also feel that typeface is a bit generic and clunky. I think you could breathe a bit more life into this package if you had a more interesting typeface, maybe one that's Futura-esque (but bolder) to match the geo-circular style of the C-logo that is so identifiable with the Cubs.

Very good start here. I'm interested in seeing this progress.

[elliott]

Ok, I've updated the primary, the Cubs mark is dropped, and I tried to update the Chicago mark into a less blocky style that matches the C logo font. Uniforms are updated accordingly below. Tell me what you think.

home/away

alt/bp

Now, I'm struggling with ways to add red. I added some red outline options to the primary, but they didn't look good and when I offset it, it looked like my lion from the Royals. Honestly I don't think red will work with the two tone blue. So in my opinion, it will either be two tone blue or the old scheme of just blue and red. Thoughts on that?

[CJworks]

The primary for one looks alot better the script matches the 'c' alot better. I'm thinking along the lines of using red as an accent color rather than a secondary.

[dgnmrwrw]

The primary for one looks alot better the script matches the 'c' alot better. I'm thinking along the lines of using red as an accent color rather than a secondary.

This is what I had in mind also. Very minor touches of red, with the order of color dominance being 1) light blue; 2) dark blue; 3) red. I think you could make the C on all of the cap logos red, and that would go a long way. In addition, either add a thin red stripe to go with the blue stripes on the sleeves? Or maybe give just the jersey numbers a thin red outline? Not sure if any of these suggestions would work, but I'd be very interested to see some sketches.

By the way, the Chicago wordmark is a big improvement.