MLB Changes 2015

[hawk36]

I agree with the sentiment that the logo on the royal blue cap doesn't look right. It's like a bad NBA color-swap, like the Wizards' current primary. It has a photo negative quality to it.

Great point. A simple two toned treatment like the Astros could have cleaned the look up a bit.

[TheOldRoman]

I agree with everything you said, but I think in this case it's the lesser of two evils. Since there's a double outline on the numbers (3 layers), it would look more obvious single layer NOB was intentionally different and not being cheap.

With a single outline, I totally agree. With a double, I mostly agree.

I think when you have this problem with the names, it shows that you probably shouldn't be using a double outline to begin with. However, if we're thinking outside the box, maybe they should have done the names teal with a navy outline. I don't generally like reversing colors between names/wordmarks and numbers, but I think it looks interesting in some cases. That would help with accentuating teal, anyway.

[hawk36]

Those would be a

Quick "less is more" mock up for the cap...

Looks like a hat from Eastbound & Down.

In fact, here is Kenny Powers wearing a Seattle hat that tries to prove "Less is more."

Right there is so much better than what they did. I'd take that look in a heartbeat.

The whole minimalist movement is crazy to me.

In general designers should strive to create the best design with the minimal amount of elements. The more elements (outlines, double outlines, drop shadows, etc.) the more cluttered the look and ultimately the less successful the design. More often than not, feeling the need to double out line or add a drop shadow is a sign that the original solution isn't well done in the first place. There, of course, are always exceptions to the rule and too simple can be bad/boring, etc. but in general to me the cleaner the design solution, the better the design, and the more timeless the design.

[IceCap]

Agreed. You should strive to accomplish whatever you want to accomplish with as little clutter as possible. I rather a team look a bit too plain then over-designed.

That being said? I'm actually liking most of what the Mariners unveiled. I've been carrying the flag for baggy baseball pants acceptance for years so the stirrups do nothing for me. Aside from that though? Consider me a fan.

The silver between the teal and navy lets each breath, which makes for a crisper looking uniform. I understand concerns that it makes things cluttered (see above) but I honestly don't see that. I think it'll look great in action.

As for the alternates? Holy cow. I love them. Yes, the Mariners have very little from the blue and gold era to celebrate but these just look sharp. It's a gorgeous colour scheme, yet it's not reliant on that old, dated M/trident logo. The Brewers better get their act together, or they risk the Mariners swooping in and stealing royal blue and athletic gold right from under them.

[GriffinM6]

I am a fan of the wordmark updates. They make the teal pop as said before. As others said though, the double outline on the NOB looks bad. Even if it just had a silver outline it would look better.

The alternate is nice. It looks really nice with the current wordmark, but I think something from the pullover era would look even better.

But got damn.... Those socks are to die for! What a great decision to go with stripes.

[SFGiants58]

I for one like what they've done on the home/road uniforms. I like that there is far more emphasis on the teal, (I've always thought that the silver and white outlines muddled the teal up). The 3-color NOB is a bit too much, but the multiple outlines on the numbers are OK by me, as they finally make the outlines of the wordmarks and numbers consistent. The striped socks are beautiful, and really add to the whole look. All in all, I think they've upgraded (make the teal-billed hat the primary hat at home, and they'd have one of the best home looks in the league).

While I do think the alternate is pretty sharp (which would be sharper w/o creme, as creme only really works with warm colors/neutrals, no cool colors), it would be better if it was less similar to what they normally wear. I wouldn't like it if they alluded to the trident-era, as that look deserves every iota of hate that it gets. I get with the four-stripe pattern on the socks that they're primary goal was to emulate the unfortunate Pilots (who are a great anomaly in the history of baseball with an interesting look), but they should have gone all the way with that. Make something Pilots-inspired that still fits in with the brand, and then they'd have a winner. Even if it didn't look all that great, I'd admire the effort.

All in all, I think the Mariners now have a better set with the wordmark tweaks, sock stripes, and a pretty decent alt.

[TheOldRoman]

We'll see how they look in games, but I really believe these will make the teal less apparent, not more. I think a thin teal outline surrounded by white/silver is going to be overexposed, for lack of a better word. I think the brightness on either side of the teal will make it appear darker from a distance, so it will look like a floating navy outline. I never had any problem seeing the teal outlines on an HDTV. I thought the teal next to the navy seemed to glow, if anything.

[seattlesonicsofsacramento]

Those would be a

Quick "less is more" mock up for the cap...

Looks like a hat from Eastbound & Down.

In fact, here is Kenny Powers wearing a Seattle hat that tries to prove "Less is more."

Right there is so much better than what they did. I'd take that look in a heartbeat.

The whole minimalist movement is crazy to me.

In general designers should strive to create the best design with the minimal amount of elements. The more elements (outlines, double outlines, drop shadows, etc.) the more cluttered the look and ultimately the less successful the design. More often than not, feeling the need to double out line or add a drop shadow is a sign that the original solution isn't well done in the first place. There, of course, are always exceptions to the rule and too simple can be bad/boring, etc. but in general to me the cleaner the design solution, the better the design, and the more timeless the design.

Reminds me of their TBtC 1909 faux-back, which I love:

(not the most flattering model, but what can ya do)

I'm obvs a Seattle sports fan, but I've stopped caring about the Mariners after a childhood that saw them let go of and Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr., and A-Rod, and then as a young adult seeing them give the Yankees Ichiro and Michael Pineda too (seriously, why do we have to give all our legends to the team that kept us out of the World Series the only two seasons we had a shot at it?). It's cool that Félix Hernández is one of the best pitchers in the world, and hey we almost made the playoffs this past season, but I can only deal with so much futility.

I've always thought the Mariners had blah uniforms. Blue and green is a unique Seattle thing, but I never felt like they did enough with them. Maybe I just don't like how restrained baseball uniforms are (Seattle's TAtC might be my favorites). I'm not a fan of the cream color, but other than that I like the Sunday Home alt. The main reason I wanted to post here, though, is because of the changes to their regular home & aways:

We finally realized that dark should be outside of light in an outline! It only took us 22 years!

[BigBubba]

Brutal. The double-outlines are bad enough, but we also have to deal with some crappy, mismatched fauxback that combines two completely different eras along with some new elements. They went from a top-five look to the 15-20 range.

Just brutal.

[Sport]

I think it's better to match your numbers if you can than to have a mismatch so I like the M's choosing to do so with their NOBs in this case. Looks more professional, like they were able to spring for that extra layer of twill because they're a major league baseball team and money isn't an obstacle in the way of adorning their uniform.

Now Gothamite will come in and say an extra outline is unprofessional because professionals don't add extra elements when they don't need to. But to pre-counter that, I think they need to in this case. Teal always got lost on the navy numbers before. This new step will separate the two and make it more visible and I like when numbers and NOBs match so match away I say.

[sportstar1212]

I like the change to the outlines. It makes both the teal and silver stand out more.

The mashup alternate looks alright, but it's not terribly necessary.

[BigBubba]

I think it's better to match your numbers if you can than to have a mismatch so I like the M's choosing to do so with their NOBs in this case. Looks more professional, like they were able to spring for that extra layer of twill because they're a major league baseball team and money isn't an obstacle in the way of adorning their uniform.

Now Gothamite will come in and say an extra outline is unprofessional because professionals don't add extra elements when they don't need to. But to pre-counter that, I think they need to in this case. Teal always got lost on the navy numbers before. This new step will separate the two and make it more visible and I like when numbers and NOBs match so match away I say.

I agree that teal outlines sometimes got lost in the navy, but the simple solution would have been to beef up their thickness. Regarding NOBs, legibility should absolutely, absolutely come before aesthetics (though they're by no means mutually exclusive, even in this place).

[phutmasterflex]

After looking at the uniform history of the team, I realize now that the main reason why I can't seem to love the new alts is because of the cream white. It just doesn't work when the team has no history of wearing it. If it was just regular white, then these new alts would work really well for me. The cream white kills it because it has no reason to be there.

[Sport]

I think it's better to match your numbers if you can than to have a mismatch so I like the M's choosing to do so with their NOBs in this case. Looks more professional, like they were able to spring for that extra layer of twill because they're a major league baseball team and money isn't an obstacle in the way of adorning their uniform.

Now Gothamite will come in and say an extra outline is unprofessional because professionals don't add extra elements when they don't need to. But to pre-counter that, I think they need to in this case. Teal always got lost on the navy numbers before. This new step will separate the two and make it more visible and I like when numbers and NOBs match so match away I say.

I agree that teal outlines sometimes got lost in the navy, but the simple solution would have been to beef up their thickness. Regarding NOBs, legibility should absolutely, absolutely come before aesthetics (though they're by no means mutually exclusive, even in this place).

Beef up the thickness of the outline and you sacrifice elegance. Outlines that are too think look doofy and cheap. I really think reversing the outline colors is the best solution. Or you make the body of the letter/number teal and use a navy outline.

To your second point, I think they're plenty legible. These are still better than the Rangers who used three outlines and a drop shadow.

[TheOldRoman]

I agree that teal outlines sometimes got lost in the navy, but the simple solution would have been to beef up their thickness. Regarding NOBs, legibility should absolutely, absolutely come before aesthetics (though they're by no means mutually exclusive, even in this place).

I'll reiterate that the teal never really bled into the navy on HDTVs, but I agree with your other points. At least watching old video, the teal outline appeared to be thicker in the '90s. They could have solved this supposed issue by making it thicker, or even lightening the teal a hair. It's funny to see so many people talk about the teal being indistinguishable from the navy when there were more than a few people who thought the teal was too light and should be closer to forest green. Anyway, I stand by my comment that the teal may possibly stand out more on the road set (with the awful silver complementing gray), but I think the teal surrounded by silver and white will actually be washed out and appear darker. We'll see in April.

[TheOldRoman]

Beef up the thickness of the outline and you sacrifice elegance. Outlines that are too think look doofy and cheap. I really think reversing the outline colors is the best solution. Or you make the body of the letter/number teal and use a navy outline.

Well, there's a difference between too thick and thick enough. The teal wouldn't have to be the width of a double outline, but making it a slight bit thicker would help it a great deal without making it look cheap.

[Sport]

When they're next to each other you can really see the difference. I know which one I prefer.

[BigBubba]

Good heavens, the bottom-right portion of the "N" is awful.

[LEWJ]

The compass logo is getting a tad dated, IMO. I always thought it was busy with the ball included like it is.

Never really was a fan of their cap logo.

I think a simple fix for the Home/Road wordmarks would be to get rid of the serif on the middle of the M (it looks real crappy with the double outline now), and I'd also just bring up the lower-right part of the "N" so that it's not extending past the other letters (& make it flat or pointed, not rounded).

I also never liked how the two "Ts" are conjoined on the "Seattle" wordmark.

For the alternate, I'm not sure. I want to like it, but the logos destroy it for me. The wordmark looks great, but the compass/beveling is awful in those colors.

Just a thought, but I think it would've been cool if they used the plain "S" on the cap and added a drop shadow, to mimic the early Mariners set (but in the current font), and then done the same with the wordmark (with no compass!)

[RyanMcD29]

Not really liking the new alt. Either go full retro or do something with the current look. The mashup doesn't work well.

I like the new wordmark, but the NOB and numbers, as many have noted, are gonna look way too busy.