Astros' City Connect as a Complete Set

[MJD7]

Hello there,

 

It's been a while since I've posted a concept on here, but I tried creating a complete set for the Astros inspired by their newly-released City Connect uniform. I’m not sure how I feel about the alternates yet, particularly the orange one. I do like how this set feels more "space-y" & futuristic than their current one does. I’d be curious to hear what you all think.

 

 

 

[sky1324]

Loving this, especially those orange caps and socks. The Astros desperately need more space in their brand and this kills it. Excellent adaptation of the City Connect set.

[GrayJ12]

Any team named the Astros needs to have a space themed look, I mean the name is ASTRO!

 

But seriously, I love the character that this set gives. I love the whole star branding, and I am just hoping that some day they will pull the trigger to go full NASA.

[Megildur]

I love these, excellent job. I think having the navy cap and accessories really allows the gradients to pop.

 

Would arching the text on the front reduce the futuristic aspect of the script? I find myself disliking the non-traditional straight line of text, but I can also see it's value to the futuristic look. Excellent work regardless, I just have a general dislike for the straight text across the front.

[MilSox]

I thought of doing something like this myself, but I'm not sure how I would improve on anything you've already done here. I love the star numbers.

[MilSox]

14 hours ago, Megildur said:

I love these, excellent job. I think having the navy cap and accessories really allows the gradients to pop.

 

Would arching the text on the front reduce the futuristic aspect of the script? I find myself disliking the non-traditional straight line of text, but I can also see it's value to the futuristic look. Excellent work regardless, I just have a general dislike for the straight text across the front.

 

I understand the impulse to want to see it arched, but straight scripts are pretty traditional for the Astros. Think of a classic Astros player, and you're probably picturing him in a jersey with a straight script.

[MJD7]

On 4/14/2022 at 7:21 PM, QCS said:

Loving this, especially those orange caps and socks. The Astros desperately need more space in their brand and this kills it. Excellent adaptation of the City Connect set.

 

23 hours ago, GrayJ12 said:

Any team named the Astros needs to have a space themed look, I mean the name is ASTRO!

 

But seriously, I love the character that this set gives. I love the whole star branding, and I am just hoping that some day they will pull the trigger to go full NASA.

 

21 hours ago, Megildur said:

I love these, excellent job. I think having the navy cap and accessories really allows the gradients to pop.

6 hours ago, NicDB said:

I thought of doing something like this myself, but I'm not sure how I would improve on anything you've already done here. I love the star numbers.

Thank you all! I was afraid going in that this might be too on-the-nose, but now that I see it, I think I'd much prefer it to the somewhat bland set they currently have.

 

21 hours ago, Megildur said:

Would arching the text on the front reduce the futuristic aspect of the script? I find myself disliking the non-traditional straight line of text, but I can also see it's value to the futuristic look. Excellent work regardless, I just have a general dislike for the straight text across the front.

6 hours ago, NicDB said:

I understand the impulse to want to see it arched, but straight scripts are pretty traditional for the Astros. Think of a classic Astros player, and you're probably picturing him in a jersey with a straight script.

Yeah, the straight text was a little off-putting for me at first, too. Although the arch does look better than I expected, I think you predicted it @Megildur that it seems to take away from the "futuristic" aspect:

[coco1997]

Great work, man! Always nice to see some baseball concepts from you. Dare I say it, I may actually prefer this to the Astros' actual set. The use of gradients and the "space-y" font give the uniforms some much needed personality.

 

I do think I would like the navy alt more if the script and numbers were full gradient with a white outline. Also, what's the name of the script/number font you used?

[MJD7]

19 hours ago, coco1997 said:

Great work, man! Always nice to see some baseball concepts from you. Dare I say it, I may actually prefer this to the Astros' actual set. The use of gradients and the "space-y" font give the uniforms some much needed personality.

 

I do think I would like the navy alt more if the script and numbers were full gradient with a white outline. Also, what's the name of the script/number font you used?

Thank you!

 

I've always been partial to the solid white letters paired with the tequila sunrise on a navy background, as that's always felt the most "space" to me. I think the white outline muddies up the text a bit, so I added a version with just the gradient:

 

The font is called "Nasalization."

[Megildur]

22 hours ago, NicDB said:

 

I understand the impulse to want to see it arched, but straight scripts are pretty traditional for the Astros. Think of a classic Astros player, and you're probably picturing him in a jersey with a straight script.

22 hours ago, MJD7 said:

 

 

Thank you all! I was afraid going in that this might be too on-the-nose, but now that I see it, I think I'd much prefer it to the somewhat bland set they currently have.

 

Yeah, the straight text was a little off-putting for me at first, too. Although the arch does look better than I expected, I think you predicted it @Megildur that it seems to take away from the "futuristic" aspect:

 

 

I agree that the straight text is definitely a better choice here, for the futuristic look and particularly as an Astros concept too. Thanks for satisfying my curiosity though with the arched text!

 

The gradient word mark on the navy jersey is amazing. I think the white outline does kind of muddy up the text a bit, but I prefer it because it matches the style of your City logo well.

[jaytavo305]

This is beautiful, great work. Miles better than their current set, but still tasteful and really sharp. I could see them doing this in the future if the city unis are very popular, maybe they'll lean into this kind of look in the future. one can dream, haha 

[vtgco]

I totally agree with @NicDB; the star numbers are so awesomely clever! The Astros should totally do that, even if they don't leave the current font and/or add the orbiting planet (I can't decide how I feel about the latter, but that's not your fault...)

 

I think your latest, outline-less update to the navy jersey is really gorgeous, though I'd suggest keeping the white front numbers since it matches the cap logo better, and balances with the white player name.

 

Definitely I would love to see this with orange brims on the navy caps, and maybe white front-paneled on the orange caps!

 

On 4/15/2022 at 11:00 AM, MJD7 said:

Yeah, the straight text was a little off-putting for me at first, too. Although the arch does look better than I expected, I think you predicted it @Megildur that it seems to take away from the "futuristic" aspect:

I wonder if doing the text as a "skew/arch" (as Illustrator/Photoshop call it) would look better than the "rainbow/arc" style you've gone with?

 

Anyways, excellent work here to adapt the City Connect to a full set, and some new ideas that should totally stick around!

[johne9109]

On 4/14/2022 at 6:34 PM, MJD7 said:

Hello there,

 

It's been a while since I've posted a concept on here, but I tried creating a complete set for the Astros inspired by their newly-released City Connect uniform. I’m not sure how I feel about the alternates yet, particularly the orange one. I do like how this set feels more "space-y" & futuristic than their current one does. I’d be curious to hear what you all think.

 

 

 

The MLB just needs to make this the Astros set now. This is so much better than their current set. Add a throwback and it'd be the perfect set

[MJD7]

19 hours ago, vtgco said:

I totally agree with @NicDB; the star numbers are so awesomely clever! The Astros should totally do that, even if they don't leave the current font and/or add the orbiting planet (I can't decide how I feel about the latter, but that's not your fault...)

Thank you! That idea came about pretty organically: The straight wordmark left a lot of empty space in the front-number area, and I wanted to do something inspired by the Astros' past, while also fitting in with the rest of the brand.

 

19 hours ago, vtgco said:

I think your latest, outline-less update to the navy jersey is really gorgeous, though I'd suggest keeping the white front numbers since it matches the cap logo better, and balances with the white player name.

Good call with the white front number, I do think it's an improvement:

I added a navy pants option just to see what it would look like.

 

19 hours ago, vtgco said:

Definitely I would love to see this with orange brims on the navy caps, and maybe white front-paneled on the orange caps!

Both of these options you suggested seemed to work best with the orange jersey:

I like them both, especially the white front panel.

 

6 hours ago, johne9109 said:

The MLB just needs to make this the Astros set now. This is so much better than their current set. Add a throwback and it'd be the perfect set

Thank you very much! I'd love to see them try something like this out, for sure.

[Megildur]

The white numbers with the outline-less "Astros" is the perfect look!

[mahnkej]

Damn dude, this is honestly one of the best concepts I've seen on here. Awesome work! This is miles ahead of the generic-ish look the Astros currently wear.

[MJD7]

21 hours ago, mahnkej said:

Damn dude, this is honestly one of the best concepts I've seen on here. Awesome work! This is miles ahead of the generic-ish look the Astros currently wear.

Thank you very much! I really appreciate it.

On 4/17/2022 at 3:56 PM, johne9109 said:

The MLB just needs to make this the Astros set now. This is so much better than their current set. Add a throwback and it'd be the perfect set

This inspired me to add a "throwback" in the style of this set, to bring it in line with my MLB x NIKE series, as well as a Spring Training uniform with the white front panel cap.

 

I might try to make the tequila sunrise more of an actual "gradient" if that makes sense, let me know if you'd like to see it.

[johne9109]

2 hours ago, MJD7 said:

Thank you very much! I really appreciate it.

This inspired me to add a "throwback" in the style of this set, to bring it in line with my MLB x NIKE series, as well as a Spring Training uniform with the white front panel cap.

 

I might try to make the tequila sunrise more of an actual "gradient" if that makes sense, let me know if you'd like to see it.

[MCM0313]

On 4/14/2022 at 8:19 PM, GrayJ12 said:

Any team named the Astros needs to have a space themed look, I mean the name is ASTRO!

 

But seriously, I love the character

that this set gives. I love the whole star branding, and I am just hoping that some day they will pull the trigger to go full NASA.

Closest they’ve come to that was probably the navy and metallic gold from the 1990s. That set was solid and could’ve been better yet. But for this one, the bright orange and yellow and the font and gradients give a NASA feel for sure - it would be the most deep-spacey look they’ve had by a long shot!

[MJD7]

I'm back again with a try at a more true gradient for the tequila sunrise throwback. I'm not sure if it really adds much to the look beyond consistency with the rest of the set, but I'd be curious to hear what you think:

The original is on the right for comparison.