Continental Independent Baseball League: the Expansion

[Ron]

Love the Buffalo Freeze concept. I would so buy that jersey.

[dgnmrwrw]

Thanks to all for the replies. Regarding the template: I know it's not ideal, but since all the uniforms for the entire league have been finished, I don't think there's any way I'll be changing it now.

@Whittier: I like your idea of using the paw grasping something (an F, a B, a baseball, or the snowflake could all work). It would be a good way to integrate the two disparate themes (especially if it were grasping the snowflake).

@eriqjaffe: You're right about the name/theme being odd for a baseball team. I hadn't even thought of the summer connection.... And this one definitely has more of a lighter, minor-league feel, but that was intentional. Like I said in the initial post, I wanted to create a lot of different styles and looks throughout the league.

But how do people feel about the cap logos? Should I just go with the snowflake by itself? I'm kinda leaning that way.

[mike1990]

Great designs! Looking forward to the rest of the designs.

[gatek99]

woah that is one sweet logo, great job on the freeze

[Whittier S]

I prefer the snowflake by itself.

[henburg]

These are all great, but I absolutely love the logos for the Colonels and Freeze.

[tadasimha]

Great stuff! Really like the work so far. Very much like the Wranglers colors and the logo is very nice.

Think you missed an opportunity to go with a sleeveless alternate jersey to evoke the vest of the wrangler in the logo.

This is an interesting idea. Were you thinking brown vest with white sleeves, to match the logo? Or a more traditional white vest with brown sleeves?

The first one is what I was thinking about and your design #2 hit it on the nose and I think it looks great. You wanted something different, so the dark vest with the white sleeves stands out. personally, I don't find it jarring and a refreshing compared to the traditional look of light vest with dark sleeves.

BTW, sorry I didn't reply before now, havn't been online in a while.

[tadasimha]

Thanks to all for the replies. Regarding the template: I know it's not ideal, but since all the uniforms for the entire league have been finished, I don't think there's any way I'll be changing it now.

@Whittier: I like your idea of using the paw grasping something (an F, a B, a baseball, or the snowflake could all work). It would be a good way to integrate the two disparate themes (especially if it were grasping the snowflake).

@eriqjaffe: You're right about the name/theme being odd for a baseball team. I hadn't even thought of the summer connection.... And this one definitely has more of a lighter, minor-league feel, but that was intentional. Like I said in the initial post, I wanted to create a lot of different styles and looks throughout the league.

But how do people feel about the cap logos? Should I just go with the snowflake by itself? I'm kinda leaning that way.

First off, the color scheme is fantastic - the winter colors are very striking for a summer league team! I think you should go with just the B on the hat and leave off the snowflake. The yeti is very cool and much more manly than the snowflake logo. I think, though, that you could just go with the yeti's face above an F or B as an option for a sleeve logo.

[dgnmrwrw]

Ok, there's a handful of updates.

First, I switched the Buffalo cap logo to the snowflake by itself. It's simpler than trying to force the B over top of it and a more iconic image, I feel. Also, I tried numerous different combinations of the yeti and snowflake imagery for a new alt logo/sleeve patch. The claw by itself was a little abstract (especially when paired with the complex, obvious snowflake). So in the end I used a bit more of the yeti logo and created a circular logo featuring the club name and the snowflake at the bottom. It's not perfect, but it's the best solution I was able to come up with, and it certainly helps bring together the two themes.

In addition, changing the cap logo to the snowflake made me feel more comfortable removing the C from the Colonels' cap, leaving just the B over the crossed swords. So that's also been updated accordingly.

Next team up in a bit.

[dgnmrwrw]

Charlotte Monarchs

Charlotte, NC

The Monarchs' colors are blue (with a decent amount of red pushing it toward the purple end) and gold. The name comes from Charlotte's nickname--The Queen City--taken from George III's queen consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The primary logo features a stylized typography (based very loosely on German blackletter styles) with a crown, all set above a baseball, home plate, and crossed bats. The cap logo is a simple white C with a gold drop shadow. The alternate logo is the crown by itself.

The Monarchs' uniforms are pretty simple and traditional. White at home, with simple piping and socks stripes. The home alternate is blue, with the crown logo on the chest and the primary logo as a sleeve patch. The road unis are gray, with a simple purple alternate. A more detailed look at the home and road wordmarks.

Like I said a while back, a major goal throughout this project is to create a lot of different and varied typography, which is why I felt comfortably going so heavily blackletter-inspired here. But it may need to be reeled back in slightly in a few particular places (notably, I've been playing around with the R and T). But I wanted to get some opinions first.

[cohenj21]

Once again, fantastic work, and I think the primary logo is the best yet. One thing I would suggest is to use the C on the home alternate jersey rather than the crown, or something simpler than the crown. The crown makes it look a little busy IMO. But other than that, great work as always!

[Philsphan]

Love the crown logo on the home alt especially. It would be great if you could teach the LA Kings how to make a crown. I know you are trying different typography, but this one doesn't work for me. The c is especially weird I think. Idk why though

[cohenj21]

To clarify what I said earlier, I like the crown a lot, I just don't love it on the jersey there. Maybe try it as the cap logo?

[TornadoGTS]

Ive never been a fan of 2 alts of the same color, how about a gold home alt?

[henburg]

The update for Buffalo's logo is nice, although I loved it before, but it looks more like a baseball logo now.

As for Charlotte, they look great. I think that it's really fitting for the city. The only thing that I would change would be to make the home alt gold like TornadoGTS said.

[dboi]

I agree with the statement of the crown jersey. trya gold alt with a purple C and use the crown on a alt cap.

[Philsphan]

No, I really like the home alt crown jersey! Don't take it away

[jaha32]

I like the Freeze's new alternative logo. I think it would work great as the primary since the primary doesn't look much like a baseball logo, and this alternative one at least uses the typical circle with the letters arching around it that many baseball logos use.

I love the Monarchs! It is my favorite one yet. It's so majestic, and it incorporates baseball images like the ball, bat, and homeplate all at the same time. The crown is perfect with enough detail, but not too much detail. Also, good name choice for Charlotte.

[dgnmrwrw]

Thanks for all the feedback! I've got a couple of new looks to consider.

First, lots of people mentioned trying a gold home alternate jersey. While I have no philosophical problem with both alternates being the same color, this did seem like something worth trying. So here's a look at a potential gold alternate.

I think it looks okay, but not great. But I do want to know how you guys feel, so let me know your preference. And @cohenj21: The C logo on the chest didn't work for me; it was a little too simplistic looking. But the crown did look nice as a cap logo, so I might look at using it for a road alternate cap.

Second, I tweaked the letterforms for the typography a little bit. I tried to make certain sections a bit curvier/organic. Here's a comparison of the original (left) and new (right) primary logos. Note especially the tops of the T, C, and M, and the downward stroke on the R.

I think it helps a lot.

@jaha32: The more I look at the new Buffalo alternate logo, the more I agree with you that it would make a stronger, more traditional primary. When the whole project is done, I'm going to go back and reevaluate things like that. I just don't want to end up with 80% of the league logos using circles. (And since all of the logos are finished, I know there are a lot more of them coming up.)

[cohenj21]

Gold alt looks fantastic. Try the crown as the cap logo and see how it turns out. Good fix on the R in monarchs on the primary, and rethinking it the C on the chest might be a little too simple. Great updates overall! If Charlotte ever gets a deserved MLB team they should take a look at this concept!