Washington Nationals Concept

[speedy]

Alot of problems with the current Nats package is the lack of a primary color. Sometimes it's red, sometimes it's blue, sometimes it gives me headaches. So to correct all that, I chose red as their primary color. Yes, it's true the Washington franchises only started using red as a primary in 1968, but I really like the way it looks with the script W.

Now moving on to the hat, the script W was kept, I personally think it's great. I did get rid of the interlocking DC from their current package and replaced it with a script interlocking DC, which you can see on the spring training/batting practice cap.

Now the jerseys, I originaly had "Nats" on the home uniform, but I didn't think it looked professional. I did try to stay true to past Washington teams with these scripts, I also tried to match it up to the script W, something the Nationals clearly could care less about.

Finally, recarding the shoulder patch it's sort of a cross polination of this and this. As you can tell, I tried to connect to the past while remaning true to the future, unlike the Nationals are trying to do right now.

C&C as always...

[IceCap]

It looks fantastic, don't get me wrong. If the Nationals had went with something like this from the beginning they would have an amazing uniform/logo set.

That said, IMO, the current Nationals' set is among MLB's best. It's very cool that a team in the capital of the United States uses red and blue in almost equal amounts.

So while I think what you have is very well designed, I still prefer the current look.

That doesn't detract from the amazing job you did here though.

[18807]

These are outstanding.....I would like to see a navy blue road alternate with the script Washington on it and a vest combo with the interlocking DC on it

[AlexHorky]

The home and away jerseys are very similar to the old Washington Senators before they moved out to Arlington....

[BallWonk]

I sympathize with the critiques you have of the current Nats uniforms and with what you tried to do to address them. In the abstract, I think you're on to something with these uniforms. So take the following as the requests for relatively minor tweaking I would give back if I was the team owner:

1. Overall: The all-red uniform set is beautiful. Too bad it's a dead ringer for the Phillies, who just happen to be both the geographically closest NL East team and the most intense division rival for Washington fans. No matter how great this concept is in the abstract, for a Washington team in the NL East it will be a fatally flawed bit of design work until you do something to differentiate it more significantly from the Phillies.

2. Just an idle question: Why did you stick with (and base the entire uniform set around) the curly W? A lot of people who were never actually Senators fans will tell you that the curly W is a Washington tradition, but in fact it's not. It was in use only from 1963-1971. Nine basically terrible seasons with rapidly dwindling fan interest culminating in the second departure of a Senators club from Washington in a decade. This is just a philosophical question, but I think it's an important one to answer before setting out to design a uniform set based on the johnny-come-lately logo of an unloved, crappy expansion team that betrayed its few fans in the worst possible way. You say you're trying to connect to the past, but actually your whole concept contains no meaningful link to anything prior to 1968, when the expansion Senators switched from blue to red.

3. Your N, D, and C characters don't really look like they really come from the same set of letters as the curly W. Shapes, thicknesses, straight versus curved elements, are all wrong. Plus, the W is slanted up and slightly to the right; your N, D, and C letters need to match that orientation. Needs more work. Look at the Harrisburg Senators for an example of how to make a new letter look like it belongs to the curly W family. Great idea, and I haven't actually seen anyone do it better than you've done, but your execution isn't up to what the quality of your concept would lead me to expect.

4. I like your first instincts to have a Nats jersey. That would make a good alt, as opposed to simply making the normal jersey red. Alt uniforms are inherently unprofessional-looking, so go back to the Nats script idea you rejected as unprofessional and run with it.

5. Braves-style arc lettering: No, no, no, and no. That style of lettering is objectively inferior to standard arched lettering. The arc distorts the letter shapes, and since letters are nothing more than a set of subtly different shapes, arc lettering is harder to read than arched lettering. Everyone can read letters sideways or on a curve, most can even read upside down. But distort a letter's shape by even a few degrees on one axis and it quickly ceases to be a letter at all. Even if you think making the letters of a player's name unnecessarily hard to read is a good idea, the fact that this is such a signature "Braves" element ought to put the kibosh on it for the Nats.

6. That shoulder patch looks like it belongs to some other team.

7. Finally, the script. The single best element of the Nats current uniforms is the chest lettering; it looks like something you'd see in Washington. There is a style of monumental architecture and federal construction in Washington, dating particularly from the period 1933-1948, that the current Nats script very much calls to mind. But your script would work just as well for a team from Boise. I'm not saying it's a bad idea to change the script, but I wish your replacement script in some way spoke to the team's location or identity. Even making the letters look like they come from the same type family as the curly W would be a step in the right direction.

Geez, that all sounds much bitchier than I mean it to be. Just trying to be specific about the areas in which I would look for improvement; while I would not trade what the Nats have now for what you have on offer, I do think you've got an attractive concept with many strong elements and great potential for improvement with only minor tweaks.

[speedy]

1. Overall: The all-red uniform set is beautiful. Too bad it's a dead ringer for the Phillies, who just happen to be both the geographically closest NL East team and the most intense division rival for Washington fans. No matter how great this concept is in the abstract, for a Washington team in the NL East it will be a fatally flawed bit of design work until you do something to differentiate it more significantly from the Phillies.

I agree with you, since blue was their primary until 1968 I did consider switching the colors. What's your take on that?

2. Just an idle question: Why did you stick with (and base the entire uniform set around) the curly W? A lot of people who were never actually Senators fans will tell you that the curly W is a Washington tradition, but in fact it's not. It was in use only from 1963-1971. Nine basically terrible seasons with rapidly dwindling fan interest culminating in the second departure of a Senators club from Washington in a decade. This is just a philosophical question, but I think it's an important one to answer before setting out to design a uniform set based on the johnny-come-lately logo of an unloved, crappy expansion team that betrayed its few fans in the worst possible way. You say you're trying to connect to the past, but actually your whole concept contains no meaningful link to anything prior to 1968, when the expansion Senators switched from blue to red.

I understand what you're saying, but looking at uniform sets for Washington teams, I found the script W to be the most distinctive, regardless of its dates of usage. A tuscan W would be out of the question if you ask me, as it being too similar to the Red Sox, I also think a UofWashington type W is a bit plain. As for the connection to the past, I wanted subtle connections, such as the throwing Senator, the W, the script, but I didn't want to go overboard and act like baseball never left D.C.

3. Your N, D, and C characters don't really look like they really come from the same set of letters as the curly W. Shapes, thicknesses, straight versus curved elements, are all wrong. Plus, the W is slanted up and slightly to the right; your N, D, and C letters need to match that orientation. Needs more work. Look at the Harrisburg Senators for an example of how to make a new letter look like it belongs to the curly W family. Great idea, and I haven't actually seen anyone do it better than you've done, but your execution isn't up to what the quality of your concept would lead me to expect.

Good eye, they aren't as you mentioned the same type face. They were the closest I could find, with a few modifications. The N is what I dislike the most, and when I revamp this, it'll be the first thing changed.

4. I like your first instincts to have a Nats jersey. That would make a good alt, as opposed to simply making the normal jersey red. Alt uniforms are inherently unprofessional-looking, so go back to the Nats script idea you rejected as unprofessional and run with it.

Funny you mention that, I was actually going to stick the Nats on the alternate, but removed it at the last minute. It will be back on version 2.

5. Braves-style arc lettering: No, no, no, and no. That style of lettering is objectively inferior to standard arched lettering. The arc distorts the letter shapes, and since letters are nothing more than a set of subtly different shapes, arc lettering is harder to read than arched lettering. Everyone can read letters sideways or on a curve, most can even read upside down. But distort a letter's shape by even a few degrees on one axis and it quickly ceases to be a letter at all. Even if you think making the letters of a player's name unnecessarily hard to read is a good idea, the fact that this is such a signature "Braves" element ought to put the kibosh on it for the Nats.

Just a personal preferance for me, I've always liked that style of lettering, but I do agree with you to a certain extent. Are the Braves the only team that does this style in MLB? If it is, I was unaware, and that would change my thinking on future concepts.

6. That shoulder patch looks like it belongs to some other team.

Elaborate, I'd like to make every change possible to make this a complete package.

7. Finally, the script. The single best element of the Nats current uniforms is the chest lettering; it looks like something you'd see in Washington. There is a style of monumental architecture and federal construction in Washington, dating particularly from the period 1933-1948, that the current Nats script very much calls to mind. But your script would work just as well for a team from Boise. I'm not saying it's a bad idea to change the script, but I wish your replacement script in some way spoke to the team's location or identity. Even making the letters look like they come from the same type family as the curly W would be a step in the right direction.

This, I must say I disagree with you on. I personally hate the current Nats lettering. I don't think it belongs on a baseball uniform. To me it looks a bit rushed, that may just be me, and I understand people to like it, but for me it just isnt cutting it.

Geez, that all sounds much bitchier than I mean it to be. Just trying to be specific about the areas in which I would look for improvement; while I would not trade what the Nats have now for what you have on offer, I do think you've got an attractive concept with many strong elements and great potential for improvement with only minor tweaks.

Bitchy or not I am extremely grateful for the time you took to make this better, I look forward to your critiques when I roll out version 2.

EDIT: Should I re-add the gold? Mostly inbetween the Red and Blue, or maybe just as an accent.. what are your thoughts?

[Don]

i love these unis, when they announced the Expos were mving to DC, i immediately thought script unis. i love how you kept w/ the curly W but i love their current DC alt logo and urs just doesnt look right for some reason. i realize their DC logo wouldnt fit with ur set, but i love it all the same. i love red as the primary color, as thats what theyre pitching and promoting right now. last year they had the slogan "Paint the town Red". i do think gold should be added as an accent color, i dont think there is a classier set than red and gold. im glad the blue was minimized, altho i bought the Nats blue batting practice hat and like it for some reason, i think red is the color they should be.

[speedy]

Redid the D, C, and N. Not sure if I'm satisfied with the N yet, further C&C would be much appreciated.

Also, did I over do it with the gold? I don't know, I think the whole set looks too busy now.

[Don]

the DC looks alot better now, i see a difference in the hat, what is it? i dont like it lol. i dont think you overdid it with the gold. i can actually barely notice it in the set itself. the new W on the hat bothers me really, did u add gold to that? if so, lose it, thats what makes it look busy in my opinion.

[leggman01]

the script is a bit "pointy" for my taste...

[espo]

Great work. I love both sets you did. Also where do i get the template you used for these?

[elliott]

This is a big improvement. The current set is a little too boring. The script looks good, but I liked the idea better before the gold addition.

[winghaz]

Absolutely fantastic job. That's the way the Nationals should look like.

[averyj]

I think the gold in the away script should be placed like the home is.

Also, for the alt, put the DC on the chest instead of "Nats"

[CS85]

I don't like the stylized font over what the have now. I like the DC logo currently, as well. I like the logo with the ball, however.

[speedy]

I think the gold in the away script should be placed like the home is.

Also, for the alt, put the DC on the chest instead of "Nats"

I tried the gold as a trim color on the roads, but it didn't read well at all.

[BallWonk]

Wow -- I see a lot of improvement in version 2 with very minor changes. I wish my second drafts were ever that good!

Anyway, on to the quibbles, intensely minor though they will be:

1. Still too Phillies-ish. I don't have an answer for this, short of switching to blue as the primary. And to be fair, this is a problem with the current Nats home uniform, though in part only because the Phillies wear such a very light "gray" on the road that a Phillies-Nats game at RFK can be hard to watch. Ultimately, you can tell the Phillies because their red lettering is so thin that it makes them look slightly pink instead of bright red. Suggestions? Blue caps, perhaps, with a red W and your double-outline of blue and gold. If the rest of the uniform remains as red as it is now, the blue caps might not become the scheme-confusing element I think you are trying to avoid. Or not. Also, perhaps something different with the piping. I'm not a fan of the tiny three-stripe piping you've got and that the Nats currently use. What about something more like what the Grays or Cardinals used to wear, with thick stripes down the shoulders and around the sleeves? Might be enough to break up the Phillies look, unless it's too clownish. Could be thick red stripes with, say, thin gold edging. Or no edging at all, which would give them more of the look of a single stripe from the American flag. Just brainstorming; but I suspect that once you find the element that strongly differentiates from the Phillies, you might also have the element that finally locks this down as a unique, unmistakably "Washington" uniform set.

2. Great work with the D and C. Better than I imagined. Making them look like siblings of the W very nearly sells me on this whole concept -- and I come to this as someone who doesn't like the curly W at all. (Though in my own best Nats concept I did exactly what you've done here regarding building a script around the curly W, for the exact same reason that it's the most distinctive, if not most traditional, Senators insignia.) The N needs work. Faced with the same problem, I ultimately opted for a tall "lower-case" looking n, as you often see in cursive letters. Not sure that's the best way to go, but I think with the N you need to start from scratch and work on shapes until you find something that feels more like an organic continuation of your excellent D and C and the curly W.

3. As someone else said, the "ashington" and "ationals" script lettering is too angular; you need a gentler script with fewer acute angles to match the curviness of the curly W and your D and C. This is just a matter of the rest of your concept being in such good shape that very minor points like this stand out. Also, the bottom loop on the "g" in "Washington" should be bigger so that you can pass the underline through it for better visibility.

4. And on the script, I'm not sure you've succeeded in incorporating the gold. Again, I don't have any particularly good ideas for improving it, except to suggest that you should avoid putting the red and the gold immediately next to one another, since they're two bright colors and it's a pretty basic principle that you separate such low-contrast pairings with a high-contrast element like the blue. Maybe a Gianst-style gold drop-shadow? Gold detailing inside the red lettering like the yellow on the new Myrtle Beach Pelicans script? I dunno, but I think you have room for improvement on how you treat the gold. Have you thought of ditching the blue entirely and using gold as the only secondary color on the scripts and numbers? Might have to use an Astros-style separated outline, but it might also help reinforce your red identity. Just a thought.

5. Finally, and this is just a pet project of mine, why not put the DC on the road cap? I mean, the shirt already says "Washington." No other city is known, like Washington is, by a name-initial combination, and the DC cap would give you a road uniform that says "Washington DC". Which would be cool, in an inside-joke kind of way.

But again, kudos for the really interesting evolution of this concept.

[MVP]

The best thing I like about this concept is no more bevel on the numbers! I hate that on the current set, just doesn't look right.

[speedy]

Couple modifications..

Re-did the script, I believe this looks a million times better than what I originally had.

Played around with BallWonk's DC cap idea, and liked it, so kept it.

Tried a new number font, I think it flows with the script, I could be wrong. And no, to answer your question it's not the Red's font, it's a heavily modified Jacksonville Jaguars font. C&C on that for sure.

Put the DC back on the alternate, not sure if I'll keep it, just trying to get some feedback.

Finally, switched the gold and blue on the roads.

[Armadillo19]

Very nice work man. The one thing to me that seems a little weird, and maybe it's just me, is that the "Washington" script and the "Nationals" script seems to be on a bit of a different angle. The "Nationals" script seems to be steeper than the "Washington" script if you see what I mean. Aside from that, I'm loving it, great job.