Colorado Rockies...the Great Undertaking

[tBBP]

Welcome back to Concept Adventures with Buc.

Those of you who've followed what I do on here know I normally only stick to football concepts, as football pretty much the only sport I care about, although I do know about others and, occasionally, will watch them. I also think it's about time, HIGH TIME, that I break myself out of my norm and attack other frontiers of concept design (although this isn't exactly the first time I've done a concept outside of football; this one here was). And so, as I'm thinking to myself, what better place to start than with a team whose look, as far as I can tell, is pretty much universally looked down upon up in here, myself included. (To be sure, I've had this concept idea cooking in my head for about 2 weeks now, and finally decided to plant myself in front of my old Mac back at my former school and bang this thing out!)

The first place I started, before I even worried about anything uniform related, was the logo. Now, I mean, the current one ain't terrible; it just ain't too terribly awe-inspiring, either. But, then again, I guess it works for what it works for, with the team being named after purple mountain majessties and all (key word: PURPLE, which I think we all agree is sorely lacking from the Rocks' current identity package). For starters, I am NO FAN of that font they use; nothing about that says "Rockies" to me, so I set out to track down a font that conveys a "rockie" feeling to it and, well, what better font to fill that void than one that has the word "rock" in it? (That'd be Rockwell, for the font-identification-challenged up in here .) So I used that, made a few modifications to it (never knew playing with typography could be so fun!), and once I got the look of the letters down, I set out to freshen up that mountain logo. Take a good look at the current one here. The bottom of the mountain actually descends below the black underneath it, which makes no sense to me, so thats the first thing I fixed. I also added some silver accents to the snowcaps, took the word "Colorado" out of that curved band above the mountains, and shrunk that band down a little bit. After playing with colors for a little while, I'm quite pleased at how my freshened up Rockies logo turned out. (Be patient and keep reading...you'll see it in a lil' bit!)

So once I fixed that, I also extracted that mountain ridge to make a stand-alone secondary logo, much like the one they have now (which also ended up being used as the sleeve patch in this concept--I have no idea if the Rocks currently use that or not, because the photos I dug up didn't show it very well). Also, just for the hell of doing it, I concocted a new tertiary logo combining the mountain and my new cap logo. (Look--the interlocking "CR" thing never made sense to me and STILL bugs me...I mean, if you're going to use initials as a cap logo, shouldn't it/they be indicative of, oh, I don't know, the team LOCALE? I mean, the team is the Colorado Rockies, not the Colorado Rapids Rockies...so what's with the "R"? That's why the cap logo is just a "C" now.)

Okay, now that THAT's all out the way...on to the threads.

Stay with me...I'm presenting this in two parts (for the sake of size). The home spread is up first. Of course, the home set is plain white, WITHOUT PINSTRIPES. (Pinstripes have NO PLACE in this concept!) Across the front is my new "Rockies" wordmark and player number (as you'll see, I also concocted a new number sheet for this concept, as well--I done went all-out!). You can't really tell too well, but the pinstriping going aroung the sleeves as well as the collar and button-up area is comprised of one black line and one purple line. The cap logo is silver offset by black on a PURPLE cap. For the hell of it (and since this team loves vests, even though it hasn't gotten a SINGLE ONE THEY'VE TRIED RIGHT YET, at least to my memory), I also added a secondary home vest, with PURPLE undershirt. The cap for this set is purple with a black cap logo and bill (wanted to keep black in this set some kind of way, you know, since it IS one of their colors). On that alternate vest, you'll find the alternate "C" logo, which I think makes for a nice change-of-pace look that lends some class to the overall set, as well. The roads are damn near exactly the same, except, of course, the jersey and pants are road grey. You'll also notice, with both of these sets, I've included two alrernate jerseys: one is purple with silver lettering; the other (since the team has already tried this and I know they'd be apt to try it again at some point) is black with purple lettering, with black cap with a purple logo and bill.

Overall, I think this is one decent-looking overhaul. And again, I'm not a close follower of baseball, so I don't know if I've excluded any essential uniform elements short of the MLB logos on the backs of the caps (which is really splitting hairs at this point), so if I am, someone let me know.

In any event, here I present to you now...Buc's refreshed, revamped, Colorado Rockies!

Let the C&C commence!

[averyj]

I love the fact that your font for the wordmarks and logos was Rockwell.

[Fred T. Jane]

I love the fact that your font for the wordmarks and logos was Rockwell.

Looks like a form of Serifa to me.

[LEWJ]

Other than the "C" looking kinda similar to the cubs cap logo, I like it, a lot. Good job.

[HarperK]

Seems a little generic and effortless. Not saying you didnt put thought into it, just seems too plain.

[tajmccall]

Love the third, and the clever nature of using ROCKwell, but the font to me seems passive. i didn't like the old Cubbies roadies from the early 90s that used it either, but thats personal preference.

I think you'd be best fit going with a completely original font.

or Impact.

(no...never that.)

[tBBP]

Heh well...can't win 'em all, I suppose.

Like I said, this ain't my cup of tea, but that don't mean this will be the last one I do, either. The thing about baseball uniforms, at least as best as I can tell, is that, really, ain't much to them besides a name on the front and a name and number on the back. So, at least to me, it's a little difficult to do with a baseball uniform what I can normally do with a football uniform...but then, like all things, it just takes time and a little more effort, I suppose.

I guess I should have also mentioned that I wasn't really tryna go too over-the-top with this set...just trying to come up with something a little more cohesive than the existing look...with more purple.

So tell me, folks, just for my own good, because I'd really like to know...in what ways can I improve this thing, well not just this, but any future baseball concepts, to where they may not seem so "generic" (not that I disagree with that assessment, nyy3351) down the line?

Of course, any more C&C on this will also be greatly appreciated...holla at me!

[Zefram Cochrane]

Well, I'll be honest and say that I'm not particularly crazy about the uniform vest (ie: Reds, Pirates) but the vests here look more classy than how they're currently implemented in the MLB. Plus, I love the font and the block C logo with the Rocky Mountain within it. Is this also used on the cap, or is it just a block C? I can't quite make it out entirely to see.

[averyj]

Well, I'll be honest and say that I'm not particularly crazy about the uniform vest (ie: Reds, Pirates) but the vests here look more classy than how they're currently implemented in the MLB. Plus, I love the font and the block C logo with the Rocky Mountain within it. Is this also used on the cap, or is it just a block C? I can't quite make it out entirely to see.

It's just the block C.

[Billy B]

I really like that you used purple as the primary color. The Rockies are a team that should be using purple, but is backing away from it and sing black instead. There are four alternates, so I would consider removing the vests and just have the purple and black alternates. I like that the caps have just a C instead of the interlocking CR. This is a good concept and would be an upgrade for the rockies.

[BallWonk]

Seems a little generic and effortless. Not saying you didnt put thought into it, just seems too plain.

I hate to say it, but I agree, to a point. I mean, I like the color balance you've achieved in general. Much better overall look than the current Rockies spread. However, the scripts really look to me like I've just opened a graphics file for which I don't have the fonts installed. The C on the cap and the "Rockies" and "Colorado" scripts need something more to look like a big-league script. Right now, the scripts look generic, like some kind of computer default.

But nice job on the colors and the big-picture look of the team!

[StoneRaizer]

You kept the purple, which automatically is a major plus. Losing the pinstripes is a minus since I happen to love pinstripes, but I'm not sure if they'd work on this set.

My biggest gripe - too many uniforms! Four homes AND four roads? Way too many. I love the vests, but dislike the C mountain logo. So for improvements...

1. Take the wordmark and number from the home, slap it on the white vest, make this the primary. Remove the sleeved home jersey altogether.

2. Do the same as above on the roads.

3. Try pinstripes on the home to see how that would look, but make them black with the purple wordmarks. Leave the roads without the stripes.

4. Ditch the black alt. After the Mets and "Blue" Jays", I dislike seeing any baseball team in a black alt with the exception of the Orioles and White Sox because those two teams actually make them look good and fits their colour schemes. This would bring you down to two home unis (vests and purple) and two road unis (vests and purple)

[tBBP]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Trust me...you ain't seen the last of this project. I've been getting some good pointers from an outside source, and working at it to see what I can come up with.

Oh...one other thing I should have pointed out from the start: concerning those alt shirts (the purple and the black), they are, for those who may not have realized it, the SAME SHIRTS ON BOTH SETS. I I just matched them to both the home and road pants just to satifsy any potential curiosities over how those combos might look.

In any event...stay tuned for an update on this thing here...and any more C&C I'll gladly take.

[mania]

Parts of this I reallly like, but other parts just don't too much for me.

I'm not sold on the font as many aren't, to me it does look like something you'd see on a a generic baseball T.

The CR on the hat is almost necessary, because with them both being in the same league, to use just a C, it has to not look too similar to EITHER the Cubs or the Reds, and that's fairly difficult, especially when you have to have it on something as small as a hat.

Also, related to the hats: purple on black and black on purple do not work. They don't stand out enough for you to be able to read the jerseys.

I like the emphasis on purple and the C Mountain logo, but otherwise, I'm not head over heels about this.

[RoughRiders9]

Those uniforms look awesome.

I'm sorry to go off-topic, but i'm a new user. How do i post topics? Everytime i try to click on "post topic", an error window always pop on me.

[winghaz]

This is just an awesome concept. One of the best I've seen.

I especially like the mountain within the C. It says Rockies so much more than the interlocking CR. I think it should be the cap logo, although I am concerned that it may be a little too busy. Maybe getting rid of the ball would do the trick and then you'd have a totally new logo for the Rockies.

I love the font, I love the coloring. Absolutely great. This would be a fantastic look for the Rockies.

[63Bulldogs63]

Not a bad concept. I liek some of the ideas, but the CR logo they currently have is nice. Its hard for me being a ginats fan but on the rockies payroll...

[ravenmaster]

Those look pretty good, and 'Special edition Black' made me chuckle, but perhaps you should add some stirrups to those pants. No baseball uniform should lack stirrups.