Chicago Cubs

[NDFreek]

For the past three weeks, I've been playing around with Inkscape. Thanks to LogosByNick on YouTube and @raysox helpful thread from a few years back, I got the basics of the program down I believe. It was frustrating a first, but after a few days I became more and more amazed with what a user can create on Inkscape. To get myself accustomed to everything, I downloaded a .svg file of a standard baseball uniform and just kept recreating the Cubs home uniform until I reached perfection. 

 

After this, I decided it was time to try my shot at designing a Cubs uniform. I found this easy for 2 reasons: 1.) I love the Chicago Cubs. 2.) Their uniform sets are almost perfection. 

With that being said, there are some tweaks I think can be made to the Cubs look. Namely their logo. Now the Cubs logo is easily one of the most recognizable in baseball, however it can easily be cleaned up. For starters, I think the Cubs might be the only team to enforce their trademark by putting a ® on all team issued apparel with the primary logo on it - including in game jerseys. The Cubs also use a different font on the -UBS part of their primary mark. By unifying their primary mark and wordmark with the same font, I think the logo looks much cleaner. Lastly, the walking cub logo is gone. I've always hated this logo compared to the (far superior IMO) Cub head update used from '94-'98, it continues the tradition of cub head logos and doesn't look as awkward.

For the home set, not much has changed. Pretty much status quo.

The away set takes heavy inspiration from the 1950s road set and the late 80's early 90's set. The Cubs wore these multiple times in 2014 honoring Ernie Banks, and I love the inclusion of red in the roads which is very much lacking on the current bland sets.

For the alternate set, I looked to the 1984 road jerseys for inspiration. Since the walking Cub is gone, I moved the primary to the front of the jersey. I love the Cubs primary logo, and think it looks great on a blue jersey. My '84 road pullover is my favorite jersey I own, so I couldn't resist. I also brought back the red brim hats the Cubs wore on the road for a point in the mid 2000's.

Lastly, I wanted to make a home sunday fauxback. Many teams around baseball do it, and a team with such a rich history like the Cubs should be no exception. I wanted the jersey to be different from the home jersey however, which meant now 'CUBS' logo on the chest or red C hats. I used the Cubs home scripts from the 30's and recolored them to a darker shade of blue on a cream jersey to go along with the Cubs and bat logo on the lids. Again, one of my favorite hats I own features that logo, so it may be a personal bias.

 

[vtgco]

Love that cream uni! I'd go with a cream button on the hat, but perfect otherwise!

[The_Admiral]

As an avowed hater of Dumpster Bear, I like the cub head logo you're using, and I like that you're carrying the blue/red color distribution over to the greys. But I'm not a fan of that road script, and the quirks of the Cubs logo are so ingrained now that even a well-intended improvement to harmonize the brand looks like a counterfeit. I think that's Franklin Gothic the Cubs use for their script and I have no use for it whatsoever, it's a boring font and the Cubs employ it terribly.

 

 

Lubalin Graph should be the "Cubs font," if anything, though I'm not sure how well it would translate to the primary logo if at all.

 

Can't sign off on the Sunday alternate. If I'm spending a lovely Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field, I only want the Cubs to look like the Cubs. I do dig that script and cap. BP fodder?

[NDFreek]

On 5/17/2019 at 12:37 AM, the admiral said:

 

Lubalin Graph should be the "Cubs font," if anything, though I'm not sure how well it would translate to the primary logo if at all.

 

Man, RIP Vine Line. 

 

Anyways I took your suggestion on Lubalin Graph and arched it a bit to match the modern wordmark since I am not a fan of straight wordmarks on jerseys. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it though. Would this be a case where a straight wordmark would look better?

[MilSox]

Apart from the alt, it's hard seeing any of this as an upgrade over what they wear now.  And I honestly don't understand why so many people want the Cubs to be strictly blue scripts and numbers outlined in red on the roads.  What they have now is eye catching and manages to stand out even in the sea of RWB teams in baseball.

I also have to agree with @the admiral on your fauxback.  Those are for teams with no history or those whose history is tied to the sensibilities of the pullover era and are in need of a refresh.  Neither is the case with the Cubs.  They have way too many actual throwback looks to choose from.

[coco1997]

I actually like the Sunday alt, but I think the cap needs some red. 

 

The ‘80s inspired alt is great, but maybe think about applying the sleeve trim to the collar as well.

 

For the road set, why not just bring back the Ernie Banks-era script? It’s the best away look they ever had. 

 

 

Heck, maybe even make the outlines on the letters white.

[The_Admiral]

1 hour ago, NicDB said:

 And I honestly don't understand why so many people want the Cubs to be strictly blue scripts and numbers outlined in red on the roads. 

 

Because of the script directly above my post and below yours.

[MilSox]

7 hours ago, the admiral said:

 

Because of the script directly above my post and below yours.

But... I love the color balance on the current uniforms.  I would argue that the Cubs, not the Dodgers, have the most aesthetically pleasing RWB road uniforms... at least as far as royal blue is concerned.

[NDFreek]

So, I made two mock ups of the away. One with the Lubalin and one with the Banks era script. The Lubalin is starting to grow on me