Miami Marlins - The Three Flavors

[SFGiants58]

Miami Marlins - The Three Flavors

 

Flavor One - Make the most of bad ingredients 

It’s no secret that I’m not keen on the Marlins’ current identity package. The team poorly utilizes a distinctive color scheme, while also employing some of the most “uncanny valley” cursive scripts (which include flare serifs!) out there. The striping is also too limited to properly convey the colors (especially apparent on that black jersey). While they can't overcome the terrible cursive, the package can still improve dramatically. 

 

Several big changes had to happen. Drops shadows become double outlines, while light blue becomes the central color. A rounder with the marlin (which no longer uses dark grey) and both bright colors is the new primary. The font is Belgrad, my ideal “Miami” display typeface (or is it a block? Please correct me if I'm wrong). The tweaked “M” is the secondary, while the sole Marlin is the tertiary.

 

 

Uniforms now feature a lot more color. Contrast-colored front numbers appear while stripes thicken out to an early-’90s standard. They do a much better job at pushing the colors forward than the current trim. This pattern also appears on the pants and socks. I also added the marlin to each script, to hide the top flare serif on the “M.” The “Marlins” script now appears on the home jersey.

 

 

The alternates include both a blue and orangey-red top, with appropriately-crowned caps.

 

 

The blue-crowned cap pairs with the home uniform as an alternate, alongside a legible black jersey.

 

 

The jacket includes asymmetrical sleeves, for a bit of fun.

 

 

You can do a lot to improve the current Miami design, but it’s ultimately held back by the scripts. But what if that wasn’t an issue?

 

Up next, something more "unusual."

[SFGiants58]

Flavor Two - Vaporwave Vice
 

It’s pretty evident that the “colores” of the current design, along with the scripts and shadowing, that the Marlins might have had some vaporwave influence. Rather, said influence probably came from the Miami Heat’s “Vice” designs. However, they failed to fully understand what made those designs work for the Heat, which was color and “vaporwave” fonts. What if they took said influence all the way?

 

I inserted the shades used by the Vice uniforms. Thunderstorm becomes the cursive font of choice, while Belgrad is now the number font. Both receive double shadows, as per the Heat’s design. The primary logo features a marlin (a modified version of my 2017 design) against a vaporwave sunset, while the secondary is a new “M” logo. The solo marlin is the tertiary.

 

 

The uniforms feature the shadowed scripts and numbers, with the thicker striping of the first set. Fuchsia bills accompany a Miami blue insignia on the caps. The primary is on the sleeve, while the socks feature the vaporwave pattern. 

 

 

Alternates include color-matching caps for the blue and fuchsia tops.

 

 

The second set of alternates include a black jersey and a tribute to the ‘97 sleeveless jersey.

 

 

The jacket has the sunset pattern and tertiary on the sleeves.

 

 

While this whole experiment is a bit “out there,” I wanted to bring out the best in the aesthetic for the team. C+C is appreciated, as always!

 

Up next, a few classic ideas merge into one.

[Chromatic]

I'm enjoying this so far. Miami's identity crisis can largely be blamed on ditching the Florida identity, which aside from the geographic indicator, I didn't think there was anything wrong with. I'm not sure what you have planned next, I love the theme of the vaporwave concept, but I think the script and logos are a little on the nose to actually work for an MLB team. In my ideal world they'd be wearing some kind of synthesis between the two concepts you've posted. Looking forward to what comes next.

[coco1997]

I’m scared by how much I love that vaporwave set. Yep, send the other candidates home, that’s the winner.

 

By the way, in your presentation sheet at the top of the post, the heritage alt appears to be cream, but the full design is plain white. 

[BigRed75]

I think (hope!) that "a few classic ideas merge into one" might mean a return to the teal with Miami branding...

[scottyeagle]

I think the first set is almost perfect. I would personally keep the bottom half of the roundel blue, as the red/pink is a little jarring. Additionally, the squareness of the numerals contrasts with the cursive and the Belgrad in the roundel for my liking. I wouldn't say you need to go full Belgrad on the number font, but something a little rounder would be more effective.

 

For the second one, while I would never want it to see the light of day, it's a fun experiment. How would the blue look if it was a little lighter? It just looks far too pale right now for a Miami team.

[BigRed75]

I agree with you on the roundel. I can see why the red is in there, given it is a primary team color, but it is jarring and I think there's enough red on the stitching of the baseball and the marlin to still be represented.

 

I like the uniform numbers as they are. I like the blockiness and think it also contributes to the art deco feel. I think the Belgrad numbers work fine on the Vaporfish set, except for the nine. I would prefer an upside-down 6 instead, the nine just looks too wonky.

[coco1997]

I actually don’t mind the red on the bottom half of the roundel, but how would it look if the lettering on the roundel was white instead of black?

[jbird669]

The Vice one is perfection, IMO. But this whole set is great and a big improvement on what they have. 

[heavybass]

I was expecting Creamsicle flavor...

[Megildur]

Vaporwave Vice gets my vote as the better option here, but both are great. The colors, fonts, roundel, and that awesome vest jersey are the highlights for the Vaporwave set, while I particularly like the emphasis of blue and the striping in "flavor one". 

 

Something seems off to me about the cursive r though in the Vaporwave script tho. It looks distinctly more like the pi symbol than most cursive lowercase r's I've seen and doesn't match the s in the script, which also isn't a classically cursive lowercase s. I think a small fix to the r would make the Vaporwave script perfect.

 

As for the roundel debate with flavor one, I think expanding the text part of the roundel and adding a black outline to the ball itself could help. The area within which the letters lie seems too tight currently. I think the front numbers for the alternating Sunday alts could also benefit from being in black rather than white.

 

Either are definitely an improvement on what they currently have though. Will Flavor 3 be styled after their original look?

[BigRed75]

1 hour ago, Megildur said:

Something seems off to me about the cursive r though in the Vaporwave script tho. It looks distinctly more like the pi symbol than most cursive lowercase r's I've seen and doesn't match the s in the script, which also isn't a classically cursive lowercase s. I think a small fix to the r would make the Vaporwave script perfect.

 

Now that I see that, I can't unsee it! Maybe have the r and the l disconnected, as  they are in the Flavor concept? That way the connector goes away, making it look more like an r again and less like pi

[Lana_del_Bae]

I like option 1 a lot.  It fits the theme that they were trying to go with for their current set but fixes a lot of the issues and lets the colors show off.  My only complaint is that the primary has a very awkward amount of empty space in it and that the marlin does not interact well with the rest of the elements.

 

Option 2 is cool, though maybe too "time capsule-y" to be a full-time identity and is better suited as alts.  The dugout jacket is approaching "shut up and take my money" status

 

Interested to see what option 3 ends up being

[SFGiants58]

Thanks, guys! I'm glad you guys received the concepts so well. I'll be doing some tweaks and recolorings later in this thread, but for now, he's flavor three.

 

Flavor Three - MiMo Classic

 

This one is a bit of a hodgepodge from a few designs. I loved the MiMo/Art Deco influence of the 2012-18 set (which had a godawful execution in a bunch of annoying ways), but I also wanted to pay tribute to the ‘93-’02 set’s color scheme. Those are the colors of the ‘97 champs and technically the ‘03 champs (beset by overdone black and outline fetish). The fans seem to love them, almost as much as the BiG for the Brewers or the split-lettering for the Blue Jays. It makes too much sense to bring them back. In the words of a ‘97 piece of media: 

 

 

So, I set about mixing the MiMo and ‘97 designs in a blender, seeing what would come out. It has its origins in my 2017 concept, with appropriate tweaks. The shades are the same ones from 1993, with Belgrad carrying the MiMo/Art Deco influence. My old primary design carries over, but rendered in the new colors. The “M” logo no longer features the leaping fish, but rather the fins of the fish on each side. I wanted to incorporate the fish elements subtly, akin to what the Diamonbacks did with snake imagery on the “A.” It produces a less complex insignia, one that calls to mind its IRL art influences and one that a child could draw well. A solo fish forms the tertiary. 

 

 

The uniforms use a lot of historical influences. The “Marlins” script combines a design similar to the International League Marlins with the tail of the ‘93-’02 home wordmark. Uniform numbers are double-outlined in Belgrad, which is such a fantastic MiMo/Art Deco font that I kinda want to do Heat and Dolphins concepts with it. Thicker stripes all around carry across the color scheme. With regards to the caps, I co-opted the teal-billed caps from the Portland Sea Dogs when they were a Marlins affiliate. It’s the perfect balance between the all-black and all-teal caps. The road uniform uses the “MIAMI” wordmark from my Gators concept, albeit rendered in the double-outline style.

 

 

With the alternates, I opted for the most colorful routes. The teal jersey features an all-teal cap with teal undershirts, for a full blast of ‘93 (emulating their BP jersey). My black jersey features teal inner layers with silver on the furthest outline.

 

 

The second set of alts include an all-teal accessory version of the home uniform, while I also employed a ‘97-styled alternate. 

 

 

The jacket is a pretty simple design, with a recolored “M” on the front and the cursive script on the back. 

 

 

This is a big stew of the two previous eras of Marlins baseball, with a few additional influences thrown in. C+C is appreciated, as always!

 

Up next, some tweaking (e.g., the roundel, font things, etc.) and recolors. Big thanks to @MJD7 and @Marlins93 for their input on the design last year.

 

 

[Megildur]

Flavor Three is a home run to me. That home script with the tail is *chef's kiss*

[The_Admiral]

Love love love the vaporwave Marlins. The only flaw is that the script reads a little like "Manlins." 

[Bomba Tomba]

I prefer 2 > 1 > 3

 

Also, the Flavor 1 jacket being mostly black with blue and red on opposite sides reminds me of cop car lights in the dark.

[jaytavo305]

3 > 1 > 2 in my opinion

[coco1997]

Great work! Love the small fins coming off the sides of the secondary logo. Awesome touch.

 

Not a fan of the silver script on the teal alt. It feels very ‘90s, but not in a good way. A white script seems like it would be a very easy fix.
 

Special request: I’d love to see this third set with orange as a secondary color, likely replacing silver. I’ve always thought the Marlins in teal would would work best with a warm color in that colorway, they used to wear it, and there’s also the connection to the Dolphins. I’m pretty sure you’ve done the Marlins in teal and orange before, but I’m curious if you can successfully balance teal, orange AND black.

[Marlins93]

Very nice work! A few observations:

 

Phase 1

I like that you made an effort to inject some color into what is currently a black-heavy, almost monochromatic identity. I have some concerns with the first set and it's likely for reasons that are not your fault. I'm not convinced that these shades of blue and red complement each other very well, especially when done so in more prominent fashion than in the existing set. I find there to be something visually jarring about the stark juxtapositions between the read and the blue in the cap insignias. Similarly, I find there to be something "noisy" with using the red outlines on the blue wordmarks. It appeared much better on my monitor than on my phone, though. Having said that, I don't think that the way to fix the current set is to emphasize red almost as equally as the blue. In fact, I'd even consider using red even less and place more emphasis on blue while using black, silver, and white as accent and secondary/tertiary colors. Maybe it's just my eyes, but I can't stand the red and blue together.

 

Phase 2

The Vaporwave look is well-executed, but as a fan of the Marlins, I really wouldn't want their identity to basically play second fiddle to the celebrity Heat city jerseys. So perhaps I just object to a Vaporwave Marlins on principle and don't want them to draw such close inspiration from another team. Having said that, the sunset is really cool and the blue/pink work much better together than the blue/red in Phase 1 do. My only real design critique in this set is that I don't think that the Marlin you've used seems very Vaporwave. At least it doesn't pair well with the M in the cap insignias. If you figure that you, this set could look really amazing aside from my own reservations about them becoming the "Miami Heat Marlins."

 

Phase 3

This perhaps comes as no surprise but this is easily my favorite of the three sets. How could I not like something that's so teal heavy and tries to pay homage to the original, still cherished Florida Marlins look? I love the fusion of the old International League wordmark and a MiMo/Art Deco typeface. It's a nice contrast for the home and road uniforms. The gray and the black alt are especially gorgeous. You balance the teal, black, and silver very nicely in all of the examples. The secondary logo is the best alternative to the "fish wrapped around the letter" concept I've seen. It kind of plays into that Diamondbacks "hint not show" aesthetic. My only critiques pertain to the Marlin and the primary logo. I'm not sure I'm sold on the fish being so predominantly white. It seems less integrated into the set that way. It need not be as detailed as the Florida Marlins version, but I think it needs to be filled more with teal, silver, and black. The general contours and shape of the fish are nice, though. As for the primary, the Art Deco look is a nice idea, but I think that it needs to look "tighter." The Miami Marlins text seems underemphasized and there's a bit too much "empty" space surrounding the fish.

 

As a whole, this is an incredible effort. All three of them are better conceptualized than the team's current identity. I would have been ecstatic if they unveiled your Phase 3 in November 2018.