Rebranding the MLB: Part 8

[elliott]

SEA | TB | BAL | MIA | ATL

ANA | COL

Statement on Rockies: I have updated the logos slightly, just changing the width of the inline, and I don't feel it is necessary to bump the topic, so I will be replacing the last update with the slight update, and I will be posting it on my portfolio photobucket.

When I look at Chief Wahoo, I see a classic logo that probably won't be changed any time soon (hopefully), but an update wouldn't be terrible. So I decided to do just that, and kinda put my personal touches on it, to bring it into this century I guess.

The wordmarks are based on the arced one they introduced last year on the cream jersey, but I applied it to both the nickname and the city name, and arched it instead of arced. (If you don't know the difference my last concept had arced wordmarks) The uniform piping is based on the double stripe that they used to have. When silver was still a color. But they have now brought it down to a single strip of piping, I brought back the double and used the same on the socks, for the sake of doing something different. I think the Rays used to have a double stripe in their last identity but I can't think of any team that uses it now. The hats are simple blue with red brim for the game, and then on the bp hat I used an altered version of the C that they wear with the cream jersey. I think that's about it, basically the only other thing I can think to say is that I darkened the red because I'm not too fond of the blinding bright shade they use now.

It will be interesting to see the response on this one. On one hand, it's a classic logo that is hard to mess with, and I understand that. On the other hand, I am striving for rebrands here, I don't want it to get boring.

Next will be one of 4: Pirates, Jays, Mets, or Royals. Which would you like to see the most?

[crashcarson15]

Is it a good concept? Yes. But IMO it's a downgrade. The scripts on the jersey aren't as good as the current ones. Also, I would like to see an emphasis of navy not of red on the jerseys themselves. Also, Wahoo looks better as he is now IMO. I just don't know what it is but this just looks funky. I would love to see someone do a good Indians concept without Wahoo. All that said it still is a solid concept, but I just think the current set is better IMO.

[chestnutz]

I like it. Wahoo is an improvement, way better than my attempt. I like the uniforms for the most part, pretty stylish and I'm down for any baseball uni that isn't just "one stripe here - done." I think the number stroke could be thinned a little bit, and I think I'd rather have the red and navy reversed on the road.

[chickenfish13]

I really like this one. The logo to me is a huge improvement. By the way, I think you should do the Pirates next. They need to be updated IMO.

[joshhockey]

I think this set is very good, but with one little flaw. I know you are going for a rebrand, but I think that you should just leave Chief Wahoo. You made him look even cartoon-ier than he already is. If you leave Wahoo I think this is a great set. Also, I would like to see the BLUE Jays next, with an emphasis on the blue.

[crkraider22]

Really nice here once again. A few things that I saw that could help though. One, I think that red should be the more dominant color to separate the Indians from the Twins more, especially since they are in the same division. The updated chief looks cartoonier, I think this is because of the left side of the cheek/mouth area. If this were configured to look like more of a side profile, this would be one of your better rebrands so far. Great work elliott and I'm looking forward to seeing more, I would like to see the Royals and see what you can create to identify their young and upcoming team.

[BBTV]

The update to Wahoo is pretty good, except that there's something weird going on with the viewer's left side of his mouth. Can't put my finger on exactly what it is.

Not a criticism of your concept per se, but I'd love for someone to have the guts to drop Wahoo and go in a totally different direction. I don't want to start up the inevitable debate, but IMO it's time to move forward. Someone did a concept using a wishbone C that was pretty nice... but I'm sure there's other ways to do it too.

[CAB]

Chief Wahoo looks better, but like BBTV said, something about the left side of his mouth is jutting out a little too far. I like unis, they have a somewhat classic feel to them. The double stripe is a good addition, it should be used more in the majors, IMO. Another solid concept, really good job. As for the next installment here, I would personally like to see if you could make for an updated look for the Pirates.

[elliott]

Thanks for all the responses. Replying to a few of you...

@chesnutz-your attempt is actually very good as well, it's just a different artists take on Wahoo I guess. TBH I'm not too keen on making the road blue dominant. It seems like teams like the Nationals do that with the dark on the away, but personally I like it when there is one fluid identity.

@crk-Yeah it is quite cartoony and I see what you are saying about the cheek detail. The fact is about the cartoon element is the current Chief is pretty cartoony himself, so I'm not too worried about changing that aspect, I just wanted to clean him up a little, really (I love how I call a logo "him" )

@BBTV-yeah a really good Indians concept without wahoo might be a nice change (actually raysox has a pretty good one in his thread) but I have trouble envisioning the Indians without wahoo in some fashion.

Also it was entertaining to see 3 posts in a row suggesting 3 different teams to do next lol. I think I will go with the Pirates since I have 5 AL teams and only 3 NL teams unveiled as of now.

I'll make some logo tweaks and just post that next.

[elliott]

Bump. I put some effort into these and I don't think it's too much to ask for a few more comments.

[BJ Sands]

OK, elliott.

Honestly, Chief Wahoo looks like he's trying to hold in a fart, about to fart and looking to see if anybody's close enough to notice, or looking around hoping nobody knows he just farted.

The jerseys are an upgrade, however. Especially the road.

[Linus]

This is actually the first concept of your Redesign of the MLB that I could see a team adopting. The rest of your concepts seem a bit to cartoony and minor-leaguish to me. No offence.

The jerseys are solid, I love them all. Im not a big fan of Wahoo on the hat though. I never have been. I prefer the I hat they wear with their blue alt.

[logocruncher]

I like the jerseys a lot. Nice balance between red and navy, no complaints there. Upgrade, definitely, as I've never really liked the script wordmarks for the Indians. The logo is nice enough, much more clean than the previous. Upgrade there as well IMO. Really good work overall. Nice and simple, and this seems like it really could be a legit team identity.

[The Imperfect]

The Chief Wahoo update is great, best I've probably ever seen, but I don't like getting rid of the old script replacing it with a boring block letter script.

[elliott]

Very slight update. I removed the "dimple" detail on the face, which changes the perspective a little. I then made a barely noticable tweak to the "hat" and changed the feather detail up a little.

Another point to the update is to ask this question: Should I continue the series in the coming weeks or should I take a break? I feel like there are so many mlb threads right now that they all, like, cancel each other out and no one gets the comments they deserve, know what I mean? Although I'm excited about the next few concepts, I'm not going to post them if they don't get any attention and if they clog up the forum with nothing but baseball. Tell me what you think about that and about the series itself, also comment on the concept if you wish.

[CAB]

Yes, there are way too many MLB threads out there. I don't know how many but my guess would be well over 10 and they all blend together after a while. But, Elliott, I beg you to continue this series. I enjoy seeing the new stuff you can come up with. Honestly, this is probably my favorite MLB redesigns, so I would love to see more.

[chickenfish13]

Yeah no offense to the others, but your MLB redesigns are waaaaaaayyyyy better. You redesign everything, not just one logo, or one jersey.

[gingerbreadmann]

Your Wahoo is cleaner Elliott, but that's about it for me. No matter how much I look at it, I can't shake the thought "Chief Wahoo, Jr." That's just it. It looks like a toddler. I don't like the extreme left side of the face at all, and the lines are too random, it makes it awkward, especially the mouth.

It's a valiant attempt, but I think people who want to improve Wahoo should just clean up the current one and simplify it a bit maybe (particularly the feather), but please don't mess with the shapes, curves, or positions of what's already there. I think you will find that doing so will make it extremely difficult to improve upon what is currently there, because you are changing so little it is hard to succeed. If that makes sense.

I think that the demise of the Concepts section was brought up a long time ago, but now is when it is really happening IMO. I don't mean any offense to designers, but I click on less than half of the concepts nowadays. There are some quality sig series, but it seems like MLB recolor city around here in terms of actual concepts, and I have never heard of many of the designers. And to be honest I don't think there is anyone to blame - there are many small adjustments that could be made to improve today's uniform world, and complete design from scratch is a daunting task. (I will never stop saying I want to see more hand-drawn concepts though) But, too many people just do small, already-done things in Paint or similar, and it's not exciting at all. Actually, it's partially my fault, I really should put out more Inkscape videocasts so there could be a higher standard in here.

But anyway, there are very few people whose concepts I will always click on unconditionally. You are one of them. I don't understand your question, what are you expecting? You get more responses to your concepts than pretty much anyone else does, and receive a lot of (deserved) praise and recognition overall. But I think you should know that even if the forum is filled with baseball at the time you post, no one will think you are doing the clogging, since your work is obviously top-notch. I get that it is frustrating to put in a lot of effort and not get as many responses as you want, but you still get comparatively more than most anyone else. You probably average around at least 1 full page per concept, while Raysox has what, 3 pages for 30 teams? So I get where you are coming from, but I think it is a little... unjustified (I won't say selfish) to consider holding back concepts because they won't get as much response as you would like. However, the part of your position where you consider it so others will get more responses, that I respect a lot (and I really came across as a little harsh, I don't mean that). I just don't think there is any good reason to hold back - what would you be waiting for? - and the quality of this board would only decrease even further.

[elliott]

Allright GBM, I agree with you on most of your points, thanks for your honest comments, and of course, as always, well said.

I guess maybe I was being a little too, well, dramatic in saying that I wasn't getting enough comments. You are right, I get plenty. I think maybe I was comparing to the wrong things, for example patsox's flyers alt got like 20 comments, while at the same time this thread had not gotten many responses.

But I have gotten a very good amount of comments in the last few rebrands, more than this one, but now I see that the reason is probably that this concept isn't as "groundbreaking" as the others. What I mean is, the others were bigger departures from the norm, i.e. Rockies, Marlins.

So, to answer you question, I don't really know what I was expecting. Maybe my expectations for getting a lot of comments are set a little too high. I think one thing that I (naively) expect is for everyone to comment. You know, the lurkers, and the people who only post in the Sports Logos section. That doesn't happen, though, and it seems as if not as many people post in Concepts as they used to, and that is a little sad.

I agree with you on the quality, if people would take more time on their concepts we would have more rebrands like at the quality of GFB and AAO concepts. Also, paint does have something to do with it, inkscape is superior on so many levels and provides an easy way to improve. I don't want to get a big ego or whatever about posting higher quality stuff, but I do want to set a good example. Although I disagree that the Concepts section is heading to it's demise, it is probably heading the wrong direction, and hopefully I can do my part to stop it. (But without getting cocky or thinking I'm better than anyone else.)

I will continue the series. Next concept will be the Blue Jays, originally I said Pirates, but there has been so many Pirates concepts lately I want to wait on that one. The Blue Jays will be all new: new bird, wordmarks, etc.

But, honestly, I do feel bad when I see threads with like 3 comments per concept, the reason possibly being that there are so many MLB threads.

[gingerbreadmann]

Allright GBM, I agree with you on most of your points, thanks for your honest comments, and of course, as always, well said.

I guess maybe I was being a little too, well, dramatic in saying that I wasn't getting enough comments. You are right, I get plenty. I think maybe I was comparing to the wrong things, for example patsox's flyers alt got like 20 comments, while at the same time this thread had not gotten many responses.

But I have gotten a very good amount of comments in the last few rebrands, more than this one, but now I see that the reason is probably that this concept isn't as "groundbreaking" as the others. What I mean is, the others were bigger departures from the norm, i.e. Rockies, Marlins.

So, to answer you question, I don't really know what I was expecting. Maybe my expectations for getting a lot of comments are set a little too high. I think one thing that I (naively) expect is for everyone to comment. You know, the lurkers, and the people who only post in the Sports Logos section. That doesn't happen, though, and it seems as if not as many people post in Concepts as they used to, and that is a little sad.

I agree with you on the quality, if people would take more time on their concepts we would have more rebrands like at the quality of GFB and AAO concepts. Also, paint does have something to do with it, inkscape is superior on so many levels and provides an easy way to improve. I don't want to get a big ego or whatever about posting higher quality stuff, but I do want to set a good example. Although I disagree that the Concepts section is heading to it's demise, it is probably heading the wrong direction, and hopefully I can do my part to stop it. (But without getting cocky or thinking I'm better than anyone else.)

I will continue the series. Next concept will be the Blue Jays, originally I said Pirates, but there has been so many Pirates concepts lately I want to wait on that one. The Blue Jays will be all new: new bird, wordmarks, etc.

But, honestly, I do feel bad when I see threads with like 3 comments per concept, the reason possibly being that there are so many MLB threads.

Well put my friend, I don't disagree with anything you say. And the underlined part I especially agree with, when I was writing that I felt like a complete ass because I probably sounded condescending towards other designers (which I don't mean to be, many of them are much better than me; I just know how to use Inkscape effectively). It's awkward even talking about it because I know there are lots of people reading this who might take offense to what I/we are saying, trying to "save" the board, when in reality it isn't nearly that extreme in any aspect.

But really, you nailed it. I didn't mean that the concepts board is heading to its true demise, seeing as there are still a lot of concepts being put out regardless of quality. And a thought regarding the Patsox thread, most of the replies on threads like those are not about the concept, they are off-topic and probably insulting to some aspect of the designer. So while it may be unfair that all those threads get a lot of replies, it really is, for the most part, bad publicity.

Looking forward to the Jays (and Red Sox!)