MLB: Tampa Bay Rays Redesign // Solar Powered

[SplashBoogie]

In 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays dropped the Devil for a logo concept that could at best be considered conservative. Combined with the dull soup can that is Tropicana Field, this lead to uniforms and branding that is all together entirely too dark for a team invoking the sun.  With a new stadium on the way and a new era of success (hopefully) on the horizon, now is the time to shift to a look that displays the bright future of the franchise in more ways than just the name.

 

 

 

Sky Blue takes the stage as the new primary color of the team with Sunshine Gold as the main accent. This 1) brightens the team's look at 2) gives them a unique color combination not used by any current team as their primary look. The updated navy Ocean Blue, while absent from the primary logo, does appear in the The new logo proudly displays the TB backed by the golden sun of the Sunshine State. The Sun has a more traditional burst to it compared to the sparkle and carries on it nine points, one for each player on the field. Some rebrands of the Rays have them dropping the Bay in favor of just being the Tampa Rays and I've never thought that flowed well for starters and it alienates the team from the other area franchises. The Buccaneers, Lightning and Rowdies have all embraced the Bay and have been shown that love back. No matter where the new stadium is put, a team in this position needs to doing everything it can to rally the entire area under its banner.

The cap takes inspiration from the old Expos but it meant to evoke the Sun breaking from behind clouds on a sunny day. (Or if you don't like rebrand speak, Powder Blue sidepanels with a gold bill just looks solid to me). The decision for a single cap was to keep the brand as simple as possible on the jump and of course BP options and the like would be added later.

 

Taking a cue from one of my favorite uniforms, the home whites have the primary logo over the chest alone. The associated wordmark, while not appearing on the uniform, would be the main wordmark stripings for tickets, stadium branding etc.  The road grays show the first use of Ocean Blue but you still get a sense of this being a Sky and Sun team and not another Navy and White squad. For the alternate uniform a lighter shade of the Sky Blue is used as the base which complemented the gold on top rather than a pure Sky base in which the gold was lost a little bit. Too much of a good thing.


 

 

 

[vtgco]

That powder blue jersey is quite nice.

 

Speaking of, I think the maybe a lighter powder blue would look good thoughout rather than the royal you're using.

 

I'd either go with one yellow ring around the sun in the logo, or go with multiple blue rings of different shades to represent the sea. It seems a bit off with both the royal blue and yellow.

 

I also feel the home white is a bit too reserved for such a fun team brand.

 

It's close, though. For the Rays, perhaps lighter is better!

[_DietDrPepper_]

That sun logo isn’t much to complicated to be on the hat and wordmark. As a primary it may still be too. @vtgco has some great ideas. I like the font. Also ditch the grey on the road and swap it with blue. All that aside it’s a much needed upgrade. It’s not the perfect fit for them right now that’s unique enough to let them stand out from the rest of the league but with some edits you could be there.

[tigers]

Where's the stitching on the Ball in the logo, how can I tell it's a baseball logo?

 

[coco1997]

I really like this design for the Rays. A few suggestions, though:

 

- I think the powder blue set could replace the road gray entirely and you can use that medium blue color for the alternate. 

 

- For presentation's sake, try shrinking the jersey numbers.

[WavePunter]

I think you could use your same identity, but with the team's current colors.. Lightening the navy, while darkening the powder blue and yellow gives the colors much less contrast by bringing them all closer together.. 

[SplashBoogie]

 

Updates v2
-Piping Added on all uniforms
-Powder Blue is promoted to the main road
-Addition of a 4th uniform with a Ocean Blue base.
-Numbers shrunk slightly
-Pant stripes slightly thicker.

 

[coco1997]

Great updates! My last suggestion would be to add a second cap to the set. Maybe a non-white front paneled version to go with the navy jersey?

[stumpygremlin]

Going off of update v2, here are my thoughts:

 

You've got a bangin' idea here. I like it better than what they actually use.

 

That said, I'd change a couple of things:

1) I'd match the number font to the wordmark font. Personal preference, but I like to have some congruency between the two.

2) Instead of the medium blue alternate, why not a yellow one? No need for three blues.

[raz]

Hyphen in "solar-powered baseball"

 

This screams for a yellow jersey! 

[SplashBoogie]

I'm back with Version 3 of the Rebrand! Let's start with the biggest change first


The TB is now in Ocean Blue as is the outline of the sunburst. I think the starker contrast helps the sun and halo pop more. With the new primary logo we have some updates to the main set.








 

 

On 6/14/2018 at 6:47 PM, rjrrzube said:

Hyphen in "solar-powered baseball"

 

This screams for a yellow jersey! 

 

On 6/14/2018 at 6:22 PM, stumpygremlin said:

Going off of update v2, here are my thoughts:

 

You've got a bangin' idea here. I like it better than what they actually use.

 

That said, I'd change a couple of things:

1) I'd match the number font to the wordmark font. Personal preference, but I like to have some congruency between the two.

2) Instead of the medium blue alternate, why not a yellow one? No need for three blues.

 

Ask and ye shall receive, gold is now the Home Alternate Uniform, retiring the Ocean Blue Alt. 

 

 

 

[MilSox]

Those powder blues remind me too much of the Brewers.

I say if your theme for these unis is "solar power" then go all in and make that yellow uniform the primary and the basis for this entire identity.

[raz]

3 hours ago, SplashBoogie said:

 

Ask and ye shall receive, gold is now the Home Alternate Uniform, retiring the Ocean Blue Alt. 

Excellent!