Southern Maryland Blue Crabs

[axl007]

I was cleaning up my computer files tonight and came across this concept I did last summer(?). I was never really happy with it so I quit working on it and forgot about it. Kind of a suprise when I found it again. I think I was happy with the hats and helmets but nothing else (nothing ground breaking here) plus I never did draw a crab that I liked. Anyway, I remeber some people posting some concepts on the boards that were pretty cool so I thought I'd share. Did anybody send anything in?

Axl

[Grish]

nice looks good...

love the hats... I am a fan of the #3

[axl007]

[Grish]

wow... like number 3 batting helmet very nice

[Hemi711]

Those uniforms are awesome. I like the white cutoff the best. The hats and helmets are pretty sweet too.

Are those baseball uniforms or hats on this site anywhere to download in .psd form? Or did you create all of that?

[axl007]

Thanks. I think the uniforms and hats are in the template section on this site. I couldn't download them so I had to recreate them.

Those uniforms are awesome. I like the white cutoff the best. The hats and helmets are pretty sweet too.

Are those baseball uniforms or hats on this site anywhere to download in .psd form? Or did you create all of that?

[slapshot]

I like your helmets, but your white panel is off on the right one. I think the top point would be more towards the left, closer to the crown (and visual top of the curve).

Unless you're going for an offset look, like the Fresno Grizzlies. Iniwhich case, I'd say "thumbs down"

[winghaz]

I absolutely love the wordmark, but I have one problem: If you're going to be called Bluecrabs, please keep the black to a minimal. Don't turn them into the Toronto Black Jays.

[BallWonk]

First off, let me say that you've made one of the best wordmarks I've seen in a long time. And your cap logo is no scratch effort, either! Nicely done. I love the subtle shading, which I assume would have to be chainstitched on top of tackle-twill, making these the most expensive uniforms in the world, but well worth it. And good gosh but you've chosen an excellent palette of blues. Three different shades of blue, but they all work together without clashing, and just the right amount of black and buff on the shading. Sweet.

And then on to the critiques. Starting with the big picture, the black uniform is a mistake. It's like you took the ugliest uniform the Mets have ever worn, then mated it with the ugliest uniform the Blue Jays have ever worn, and then asked the Rockies to choose the ugliest runt in the resulting litter. I like the idea of using black and royal blue, but that alternate road uniform is the textbook example of how not to use black and royal blue. It's about balance, and using little bits of black as contrast to make the blue appear brighter and more intense. Plus, there are only a few parts of the country where a sane person would choose to wear a black polyester jersey for a three-hour athletic contest anytime between May and September, and southern Maryland is not one of those places.

Back to the praise for a moment: The blue home alt jersey rocks. Just absolutely rocks. And I say that as someone who basically hates the very idea of alt jerseys that are simply a solid color version of the regular uniform. If I was the owner of the team and you were the designer and you brought this proposal to me, I would probably throw out your road uniform and make the blue shirt the standard road jersey. It would look great with gray pants. Or even Padres-style tan pants, to match the gold/buff piping.

I also think your alternate solid-blue cap needs to be a regular cap, either home or road. The white cap with blue bill is fun, and I see where you're going with the contrasting white and black caps, both with blue bills, but the black and blue cap just makes a mess of the road uniform. A gray cap with a blue bill would be within the bounds of reason, given what you're doing with the home and away caps, but the black is making my brain wince. The solid blue would be much stronger (especially if you made the blue shirt the standard road uniform). And while I'm on the subject, the buff button on the black cap is a misstep. If you put a gold button on top of the whole line of your caps, the gold button on the black cap would be fine. But it's confusing and out of place when it just appears on the black. It looks clownish, and has the aspect of something done just because it could be done, not because there is any good reason to do it. Were it my call to make, I would either put the gold button on every cap, or on none of them.

Oh, another thing I like: Good job making the script break nicely at the placket, so that "BLUE" appears fully on the right side of the shirt and "CRABS" appears fully on the left side, with no glaring break, and little need for complex overlapping of letters and stitching. It's little things like that that make a concept look like the real deal.

[axl007]

Thanks. I remember someone mentioning the white panel batting helmet was off when I posted my major league helmets last summer, but I forgot to fix it and moved on to other things. If anybody wanted to see what great C&C looked like, you nailed it BallWonk, not because it is favorable, but because it is specific. I only did a black jersey because it seemed like alot of the other minor league teams had one- if only for sales. I really appreciate the feedback. Does anybody know if the team did anything? I figured the boards here at CC would be the first to know.

[Don]

as someone who does call Southern Maryland home, i would be proud if my team wore those jerseys! i love the font, maybe incorporate a little blue crab onto the top of the B on the jersey. anyways i love those. send it to brooks robinson!

also there has been no update on the teams website www.somdprobaseball.com and there has been almost no progress on the new stadium

[mustangdmg]

Probably a dumb question. What's the font you used?

[StefOn]

I love the wordmark! The shade is just great. As usual - Great job Axl!

[Tribein05]

That wordmark is fricken SHARP.

That 3rd helmet in the set is superb as well

[charliec107]

as someone who does call Southern Maryland home, i would be proud if my team wore those jerseys! i love the font, maybe incorporate a little blue crab onto the top of the B on the jersey. anyways i love those. send it to brooks robinson!

also there has been no update on the teams website www.somdprobaseball.com and there has been almost no progress on the new stadium

Something happened with the funding so the project was delayed a year.

[KCScout76]

axl007

Those are fantastic - what a wonderful logo and uniforms. I love the batting helmets!!! Your sir, are very talented!!! Great work.

by the way - I love the team name.

KCScout76

[andrewharrington]

I never sent my work in for this. Oh well. I think your letters are too thick. You need more negative space in the letters. Only when the wordmark is white is it really legible on the jerseys. Also, I think there are too many outlines and colors on the wordmark. It wouldn't be financially effcient to produce. That's also not the best use of Copperplate I've seen, either. Maybe in a banner or something, but not just plain next to an extravagant wordmark.