Expos Relocation Concept II

[strykethr33]

Next Relocation Concept for the Montreal Expos...

[Stampman]

That's kind of a punk looking eagle--late 70's punk that is...

That may good or bad--but that's what I thought of...

[NJTank]

Not too bad if you work on this name and fix the logo you may have something

[JamesCraven]

It would be better if the home uniform was, say, all-white.

[Phil]

This is a very creative concept that I happen to like!

A few suggestions...

- Adjust the shooting star in the 'Freedom' wordmark so that on the home jersey (which should be white, no?) it allows the wordmark to be centred on the chest.

- Either take the shoulder shooting stars and put them on the sleeves, or drop them altogether from the Away Uniform. They're very distracting and would seem out-of-place just on the front of the shoulders.

- Adjust the Red, White, and Blue colouring of the eagle to more naturally fit the curves of the eagle. It's also a bit busy around the base of the neck (ie. to many feather points), but most critical in my eyes is to subject the colouring to the natural laws of light and shade. Also, the features of the beak are lost because there isn't enough contrast between the golds you've used. I'd suggest using black for the beak features... it may be a little heavy-handed (the other extreme), but at least it'd be noticeable. I really like the design of this eagle. Looks very cool.

- Lastly I'd figure out a different logo for the hat. The shooting star isn't IMO the best representative logo from this identity. I'm not sure the eagle head would be all that great on a hat either, so perhaps try developing a more letter-based logo, based on the WF combination. That's one option, but you may have other ideas.

Like I said at the start, I really like this concept, and although IMO it needs a fair bit of tweaking, some terrific thinking went into this concept. Keep it up, strykethr33.

[Saintsfan]

I am gonna jump in with my opinion here! This is one of those at first glance it looks great but then when you think about it there are one or two small problems.

I don't know what the MLBs rules are but I kind of like the blue home jersey, however the home and alternate are to similar IMO. For an alternate to be worth it, I think it needs to be a lot more different from the home. (Maybe red?)

I agree with syphi on the hat logo I think. The shooting star looks a good symbol, bit doesn't for a start tie in with the 'Freedom' name at all. I personally would drop the shooting star all together. (Maybe a capitol dome or washington monument related replacement??) As for a hat logo, a W or F I think would be best.

I actually like the Eagle logo and would leave that alone personally.

Why is the leg striping missing from the road uni?

Having said all of that, this is a visually appealing look. And a few minor tweaks and you would have a fantastic concept IMO.

[nitroseed]

While I do think this concept is kind of cool, conversely, I don't think it would ever fly (pardon the pun) in the MLB. One big reason would be the name, since dubbing them the "Freedom" would make them the only team in the league with a "collective nonplural" name. Baseball seems to be very traditional in this aspect.

Now, as for the rest of it. I will give you creative props for salvaging the Expos' blue-white-red pattern within the logo. That's very clever, especially since it gives a nod to the team's history. However, I don't think the particular execution of that idea is all that successful. I think if this logo were more iconographic (layman's terms: simplified illustratively), then you'd have a good start. But, I think the eagle head is far too realistic to pull off this idea. Perhaps try something a little more simple... totally your call.

I also have issues with the form of the head in particular, more specifically its jagged base. I think larger, maybe slightly more rounded feather points would prove to be a little more successful perhaps, though I'd have to see it to validate that.

Another suggestion I'd make is this (and this can apply to anyone who's reading this): When you choose your font for your wordmark (or alternately, if you create your own font), try to choose a font that has letterforms that mimick the overall feeling of the symbol it's complimenting. For instance, in this case, the eagle's head is very pointy, jagged, not very curvy. But the "Freedom" wordmark is very dependent on curves and rounded shapes to form letters. This alone drives a wedge between the two and hurts uniformity. They don't seem to belong together. I'd go back to your fonts and find a more suitable one.

And lastly (I promise this is it!), the cap logo. Most baseball teams rely on a ligature (an interlocking or compound of two letterforms, like the NY or SF or KC cap logos) for their caps, though some don't (like the Orioles). Others even use a stylized lettermark with one letter, like the Braves, Mariners, A's, Diamondbacks... etc. I would experiment with some lettermarks for this... maybe try to form a W within the star, maybe a W with the star shooting through the space above the apex of the W's center point, or something else. I wouldn't advise trying the WF combo, since it might be misconstrued as Wake Forest or some other W-F locale. Usually a two letter combination is reserved for a two word city, like Kansas City, New York, etc. I suppose you could try it just for kicks, and if it works, then hey, it works.

And please, don't construe this as completely tearing down this design for the sake of being negative. This is a critique from my vantage point, and it's meant in the most constructive way possible. I think you're off to a good start here, but you could really push this design to be something spectacular. You just have to know what to tweak, and that's why we're all here: to help you improve your designs!

[strykethr33]

Thank for the suggestions guys. I made the home unis white and changed the hat logo.