Cleveland Guardians - A few simple fixes (Updated 8/12)

[SFGiants58]

When Cleveland AL released their new name, I was very happy to hear that it was Guardians. I've long-enjoyed the statues the name references. Heck, I even used that as a new name for the club in 2017!

 

I even tweaked it a year later to use the classic navy/red:

 

 

I was very happy with the name and identity idea. However, when the set came out, I had issues. Namely:

 

1. The weird bend in the "C," to emulate the '70s "C" for some reason.

2. The color balance looks to be keeping the navy-heavy road uniforms.

3. The flying "G" is a bad attempt at a 2.5 D logo (I do kind of like it, but I'm not that keen on it).

4. The lack of any logo of the statue.

5. The lack of any accent colors to help the team stand out among the navy/red hegemony (without dumping navy red).

 

I solved these four problems through tweaking!

 

1. This fix was done through manipulating numbers in the released graphics.

 

 

2. I eliminated the all-navy cap in favor of an all-red one (for color variety) and only used red lettering with navy outlines on the home/road set.

 

3. I opted to create a new primary logo that took the winged letter concept into the 2D space and used the city initial. I also reshaped the wings to look more like the statue head wings and added a baseball in the wing bottom.

 

 

4. I updated my 2017 statue logo to better resemble the statues's wings and reflect techniques I've learned since then (building off of a Ottawa Senators 2D logo).

 

 

5. If you couldn't gather from the images above, a dark tan has arrived for statue.

 

 

I have also replaced white with off-white (a la the SF Giants). These little steps will help add some variety into their navy/red color scheme.

 

With all of that in mind, here are the sets! The logo sheet has been thoroughly explained above.

 

 

The home and road set draws upon club history, while using the modern Guardians elements. The rigid cursive script and new wordmark/numeral font (I recreated/predicted the numerals from trailer images here) are here. Cream is now the base color of the home uniform, while each cap now rocks the red bill (which was the way the team did things from 1945-50 and 1975-1993). The overall template resembles that of the 1947 club, with contrast-colored trim on the plackets and sleeves (as well as three sock stripes with cream outlines). I opted for navy pants trim, because I liked it a bit more. I went with the wing-C on the home jersey (for referencing the city) and the guardian head on the road top (to allude to the team's new namesake directly).

 

 

The alternates are a red and a navy top, with "Guardians" on red and "Cleveland" on navy. The red jersey has red socks, belts, undershirts, and hats (referencing the vest years).

 

 

The second set of alternates include a red-heavy version of the home uniform and a fauxback to the uniforms from Major League II (worn from 1989-93). It has a guardian hat, albeit with white instead of cream.

 

 

The jacket is a simple design, one which pays tribute to the '89-'93 racing stripes.

 

 

The Cleveland Guardians have a pretty good base design, but they just needed some tweaking and more IRL references to really unlock some potential in the package. I'm going to show off a few more variations, along with a few additional name suggestions. C+C is appreciated, as always!

[coco1997]

Great work! Better than the actual thing, as usual. Crazy idea: I'm curious how the gold from the wing of the primary logo would look as the base color of the road uni. 

 

Also, a selfish request: I'd love to see a "Caveman" era fauxback that says "Guardians" in that '70s style script. 

[Coiler]

Great work as always. I love cream colored uniforms, and these look good.

[mahnkej]

Looks clean, definitely a big improvement on the real ones. 

[-Akronite-]

Love this update! Draws from the franchise's best, gives the brand life, but feels an appropriate age for the team.

 

PROS:

• Straightening the C monogram works really well. The wonky inward bend is my least favorite design element in the new branding, especially the way it doesn't match the road script.
• Utilizing the Feller/Doby era uniforms is a great choice, probably the peak look for the previous identity.
• LOVE bringing back the racing stripes look. I think it would be awesome if the team used them on the road set, maybe even full time, to jazz it up.
• While I don't hate the 3D logo they released, I think the 2D works better especially with these old school uniforms. It just makes sense to have a logo that more directly pays homage to the statues. That said, you could probably live with just one between profile and winged monogram.

CONS:

• Not sure you need the cream as the primary. I'd probably prefer a white home w/ a cream alt.
• Might make more sense to keep the wings a consistent color.
• The wings seem a bit truncated. I feel that they could be attached toward the middle of the monogram and extend back further.

[lgbaseball8]

This is ultimately really good. I would use red undershirt/belts/socks at home always. I also don’t like the white piping on the red jersey and the red piping in the blue jersey. I would switch those two. Again, this looks great, overall.

[Tavarez]

I like a lot of this look. One thing that occurred to me though—shouldn't the statue logo have a sharper/less rounded nose? I could see if it was more prominent it could be a distraction, but it looks slightly off to me.

[mvk]

The wings just feel like they were thrown on at the end to spruce it up, doesn’t look natural at all.  I think the C logo is more than fine by itself, perhaps a winged design could be incorporated as a secondary somehow.  Otherwise everything looks very good.

[vtgco]

Not sure I'd go as far as saying the wing is tacked on, like @mvk says, but I agree that it could be better integrated with the C, perhaps by shifting it to the right and tweaking it so that the ball is centered on the left vertical stroke of the C and/or the top right point of the wing meets the top point of the C.

I know it's currently fairly accurate to the inspiration, but I'd also be curious how it would look if the bottom feathers of the wing weren't so rounded and met each other in straight lines.

 

I'd like to see a cap with the full winged C, and I think the red jersey would be better with blue piping and the main cap, but otherwise the set looks great.

 

Great work as always; thanks for reading my nitpicks!

[Coiler]

I'm imagining a "stylistic suck" version of the Guardians.  Like if they changed the name earlier, so you end up with Guardians but...

 

-With a general "XTREME 90s!" theme and  blocky and/or "EDGY!" fonts

-Instead of the sculptures, there's a semi-knight, to have some vague synergy with the Cavaliers.

-Likewise, incorporating the same light blue, orange, and black of the mid-90s Cavs.

 

(This isn't an actual request, I know how much work it is, but I'm just brainstorming how a cheesy 90s version would be like)

[SFGiants58]

Thanks for all the C+C, folks! I've opted to implement a lot of them into the concept.

 

I replaced the wings with more accurate ones, redid the coloration and edges on the head, added red pants stripes, and adjusted the "C" logo to flow better (per @vtgco's suggestion). 

 

 

The wing now sits better on the "C," with the ball roughly centered on left outline of the "C." The Guardian also receives new wings, along with a tweaked face to reduce the roundness. Fewer round parts means it works better with the set (thanks @Tavarez). The wings are now in the statue color (thanks @-Akronite-). 

 

 

I thought about using the statue's color on the road uniform, but I figured that it looked too dark/made the Padres non-unique (original logo sheet here).

 

 

EDIT: I've replaced the original vintage logo with a new one, using @vtgco's help.

 

Home and Road - the red pants stripe results in a better color distribution.

 

 

Alternate tops - the blue striping on the red jersey really helps it. Thanks for the suggestion, @lgbaseball8!

 

 

I've opted to go for a new logo in the '70s-early '90s aesthetic for the "Wild Thing" jersey, since the modern guardian didn't really fit on it. Using inspiration and stitching from the Indianapolis Indians, I made the new logo (original uniform set here).

 

 

The jacket is largely unchanged (original image here).

 

 

On 8/2/2021 at 6:42 AM, lgbaseball8 said:

This is ultimately really good. I would use red undershirt/belts/socks at home always. 

 

I get that sentiment, but I've always felt the look was "imbalanced."

 

 

The navy crown looks out-of-place (yes, I have this same criticism for St. Louis).

 

On 8/1/2021 at 11:30 AM, coco1997 said:

Also, a selfish request: I'd love to see a "Caveman" era fauxback that says "Guardians" in that '70s style script. 

 

That can be done and oh boy, does that font not go with the name (original uniform image here

 

 

 

I've got something different cooked up for a little miniseries that's just as '70s, but also more fitting for the name. Here's a small preview (original is here).

 

 

[Coiler]

Nice work. I love the deliberately out of place 1970s font and the ANGRY MEAN SCOWL of the 2000s guardian mascot.

[coco1997]

The Caveman style "Guardians" script looks fabulous! 

[vtgco]

I think the updates to the C/wing logo are an improvement, but not quite what I expected and they make me realize that my suggestions were kinda poorly worded. Since I'm struggling to explain it, here's a really sloppy edit of what I was trying to say... (Idk why I said "stroke;" TIL the term is "stem").

 

That said, the new feather design you came up with looks cool and sorta tech-y, but I think it wants the rest of the wing and the head design to be more angular to match... So maybe the pendulum's swung a bit too far.

 

Also, I really love that alternate-history logo timeline! That '40s/'60s guy is so great, and if I didn't know better, you could trick me into thinking it was a real logo from that era (though I'm not feeling the red hairdye mullet, even if it's good for color-balancing :P) 

The '70s one is also a really nice concept that captures that timeframe well... But I think the helmet feels undefined and doesn't read as anything, and could use some more detail even at the cost of some accuracy.

The '90s is a good Ottawa Senators callback, but the latest one is by far the best of the modern three.

 

Anyways, thanks for working with the suggestions; I appreciate it!

[GoCubsGo]

Like the Dugout jerseys alot… I’d buy one if sold.( And I’m a white sox fan… you’ve done good son.)

[coco1997]

11 hours ago, GoCubsGo said:

Like the Dugout jerseys alot… I’d buy one if sold.( And I’m a white sox fan… you’ve done good son.)

 

A White Sox fan with the username "GoCubsGo." 

 

[GoCubsGo]

Bud, it’s called the “GREATER CHICAGO BIAS”!

[SFGiants58]

Thanks to C+C from @vtgco, I've revised the retro logo to better resemble the guardian helms/read more as a helm.

 

 

I updated the original post to reflect this revised edit.

[Frylock]

Am I the only one here who sees a music note in the ‘80s helm?

[scottyeagle]

On 8/20/2021 at 6:58 AM, SFGiants58 said:

Thanks to C+C from @vtgco, I've revised the retro logo to better resemble the guardian helms/read more as a helm.

 

 

I updated the original post to reflect this revised edit.

This is definitely an upgrade, and it conveys a sense of charging/motion that I also like. I'm not a fan of that small part of the baseball floating between the bottom portions of the helm, however. I think it would look neater without it.