Northwest Arkansas Naturals

[Gothamite]

Don't you wish, for some of these, we could see the other proposed designs?

By default, they would almost have to be better.

[slapshot]

Not enough details in the rocks. Or the water.

Needs more colors.

I give them credit for putting the lightning bolt in the N, but it could have been done better.

[Royals Insider]

Here is a bigger version.

[Gothamite]

Oh, great.

Now it just sucks bigger.

[Ez Street]

Here is a bigger version.

Thanks, Majestic. I figured someone would have the larger version.

Now, gotta get me a vector. Oops, I said that out loud.

Ok, so I like having the vectors of all the Royals Minor League Affiliates....shoot me.

[Survival79]

Oh, great.

Now it just sucks bigger.

The baseball... I can almost hear the WHOOOOOOSH!

[Royals Insider]

I'm a big fan of the caps which you can view at the following link.

http://www.springdalevotes.com/wp-content/...m_standards.pdf

[Blackjack76]

Can you imagine embroidering this?

[Ez Street]

I'm a big fan of the caps which you can view at the following link.

http://www.springdalevotes.com/wp-content/...m_standards.pdf

Once again, you are the Man. Thanks.

[TruColor]

I'm a big fan of the caps which you can view at the following link.

http://www.springdalevotes.com/wp-content/...m_standards.pdf

Wow. Someone's gonna have some splainin' to do in regards to that file being on a public website.

[Ez Street]

That's why I snatched it up fast.....

[TruColor]

One thing I kind of like is the "N" monogram. If you look at the lightning bolt - it makes an "A" as well...

"NA".

[Burkell007]

i like it all, the n, the logo, and colors!!!!

[powersurge]

Waaaay too much going on here. Some logos do actually work with a lot of stuff in it. The Minnesota Wild logo contains just as many elements as this one, but it seems to work quite nicely. This logo is a prime example of when too many elements in a logo doesn't work.

[nwtrailtrekker]

how can anything "natural" ever fit in with a logo like this.

you'd expect cream colors, lighter hues and such. but no. just awful

[BallWonk]

It's like a parody of this decade's trends in sports design. Pointless extra outlines? Check, check, and check. Light 3-D bevel effect? Check. Dark red? Check. Woodcut-looking graphic element? Check. Completely incongruous motion streaks? Check. Low-contrast dark-and-light shade of primary team color? Check.

I'd bet money that the uniforms wind up with Nationals/Angels/Giants/everyotherrecentlyredesignedteam narrow triple-stripe piping at the neck and sleeve.

Details to hate:

- What the bleedin' 'ell is up with that double-lobed motion streak for the baseball? It makes no sense whatsoever. It would be the perfect motion streak for two tennis balls right next to each other.

- Oh, right: the baseball's strange double-lobed motion streak is identical to the lefthand two lobes of the three lobes of the waterfall, just mirror-image and rotated 90 degrees. So it's not stupid, it's just lazy.

- Even with the motion streaks, that is one static-looking ball. It's as though instead of telling Roy to knock the cover off the ball, Pop said to Roy, "Roy, take the ball and set it gently on a pedestal so that I can admire it a while."

- Anyone else notice that the way the yellow beveling on the lefthand leg of the letter N completely disaggregates the lightning bolt from the rest of the letter?

- I'm not sure it's possible for the word "Naturals" to appear more man-made and less natural. Was Helvetica not sufficiently industrial-looking, so they had to make a new font? I'm not sure I've ever seen a worse mismatch between the meaning of a word and the aesthetics of the word's typography. This is like spelling "Free Range" with barbed wire or "Oncology" with comic sans. These are nice letter shapes, actually, but 100 percent wrong for the job at hand.

I have to say, though, that on the whole I don't find the elements of this logo to be unattractive. It's not ugly, it's just bad design. I could see the mountain and waterfall being the basis of a beautiful logo for a team called the Naturals. I could see that Naturals script being the basis for a good logo for a team named after Roy Hobbs. I could see the baseball being ... OK, the baseball and its motion streaks is crap. But the rest of the logo elements could look good, given competent design.*

*And to be fair, there's no way to know whether the basic incompetence of this design is a result of poor work by the designers or the demands of the team management. Badly designed logos with attractive elements are often the result of clients who don't understand the difference between integration and juxtaposition. "Take this part of logo A, and that part of logo B, and put a baseball on it, maybe with some motion streaks."

[Gothamite]

True, that's why I want to see the proposed designs. Maybe this is an example of too many cooks, maybe not.

I cannot find any fault your excellent summary, though.

[Patrick L. Kennedy]

I don't think this logo looks too bad. The name "Naturals" doesn't really do it for me, but whatever.

But the thing about this move is that it furthers an interesting trend that has been especially prevalent in the Texas League. Teams in large markets, well, relatively large markets, have been moving to smaller areas with larger fan bases. This is happening here with the move to Northwest Arkansas (city?) from Wichita, and it happened three years ago with the move of the Diablos from El Paso to Springfield. Now, this isn't nearly as bad as the Diablos' move, because El Paso had a long history with that franchise, however it does go to show that the size of the market is rendered pretty irrelevant as long as someone will pony up for a stadium.

With regards to Orlando as mentioned earlier in this thread, the O-Rays moved because they were consistently at the bottom of the Southern League in attendance, and because Montgomery was a relatively large market offering them a new stadium. People in Orlando just never really have supported minor league baseball, even when the O-Rays/Sun Rays/O-Twins/O-Cubs were at Tinker Field. Now granted, the Disney ballpark is pretty far outside of the central Orlando area (think Wolff Stadium in San Antonio). Tinker Field was also a dump in a poor neighborhood, but still, that explains it.

I've heard recent rumblings about a new stadium in Orlando for a Triple A team to be coupled with the new Magic arena and the Citrus Bowl renovations, but don't hold me to that.

[BallWonk]

This is happening here with the move to Northwest Arkansas (city?) from Wichita

Really? This is a relocation of the Wranglers? Darn, that makes this logo even worse. The Wranglers have a pretty good set of uniforms -- not great, but pretty good -- so this is a major step backwards for the franchise. And what did Wichita do to deserve to lose its ballclub? If a city in Kansas is cool enough to play a prominent role in great songs by Soul Coughing and the White Stripes, it ought to be cool enough to have a baseball team. I've got dear friends in Fayetteville, which I presume is close to where the Naturals are going to play, but even so I'd rather Wichita could have kept its club. Sigh.

[Fred T. Jane]

Really? This is a relocation of the Wranglers? Darn, that makes this logo even worse. The Wranglers have a pretty good set of uniforms -- not great, but pretty good -- so this is a major step backwards for the franchise. And what did Wichita do to deserve to lose its ballclub? If a city in Kansas is cool enough to play a prominent role in great songs by Soul Coughing and the White Stripes, it ought to be cool enough to have a baseball team. I've got dear friends in Fayetteville, which I presume is close to where the Naturals are going to play, but even so I'd rather Wichita could have kept its club. Sigh.

Yes, Springdale is smack in the middle of the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers-Bentonville conglomerate in NW Arkansas. I drove through it last weekend, and it's really booming. In fact, I wouldn't mind moving there if what I've heard about the area is true.

As for your analysis on the logo, I think it's spot on, as it really seems to be a logo that's trying to do way too much at once. It's not bad per say (I like the elements on their own aside from the baseball in stationary orbit), but has too many things going on at once that screams Chinese Food Buffet"-style logo design.