Project Yakyu: Tokyo Yakult Swallows

[Discrim]

What's good, welcome to Project Yakyu....if you're wondering what the hell yakyu is, it involves a lot of Japanese folks, the constant sounds of banging drums and horns, very clean dugouts, and baseball.

That explained, I'm kicking this off with a set I've been working on in some form for at least the last six months, initially on pen and paper. You could do a surprising amount with a swallow as your emblem, as I have attempted here...at least as much as has been done with the cardinal. You could sit a pair on a bat, a la the Cardinals. You could opt for a flying or perched swallow on the cap, similarly to the Orioles. Maybe a cartoony swallow head, like the vintage O's. Hell, even the incorporation of the distinctive scissor-like tailfeathers would communicate the swallow symbolism. The Yakult Swallows, to my knowledge, have done none of these things recently. Hell, they can't even decide whether they prefer royal blue or navy blue. While the cartoony batting swallow's alright, and not downright embarrasing like most of the similar logos in Japanese ball (I'm looking at you, Hiroshima), he rides the pine for this one. Without further ado, here is the identity package:

Navy and red are the primary colors, gold is only used on the swallow and the red-chested jersey, and the light navy is only used on the swallow.

some might think what I chose for the main home uniform should instead be relegated to an alternate. Hate it or love it, here it is in all its glory...

and here goes the road design...

both use the main all-navy cap. I was initially struggling with whether to include gold on the trim before nixing the idea...except on the caps (and left sleeve of the home jersey), where the swallow is outlined in gold so it doesn't get lost in the cap.

and then the third jersey and cap, which could be worn either home or away

I have a feeling the following will be the favorite of most here...and that there will be a call for the road jersey to be scrapped in favor of something similar to this. I present to you the alternate home jersey and cap, upon which I introduce a twist on the Musial-era Cardinal sleeves:

have your say...

[chestnutz]

I really like the primary. The secondary logo isn't doing much for me, not fantastic or anything, but it'll do.

What I don't like is how you became sort of obsessed with the primary logo and incorporated it into the wordmarks. It just looks amateurish to me, I don't know. I'd much prefer a standard wordmark than that.

Uniforms are very japanese like which is fine. You were right, my favorite is that home alternate, looks fantastic.

[Ted Cunningham]

Second that sentiment on the home alts. They are VERY nice. They're all slashy and modern, yet very tasteful.

My only real gripe is the "Swallows" wordmark. What I see at first glance is "Swellows." I have to actually look at it for a second to figure out the "a."

[DelayedPenalty]

I love the primary logo, and the numbers you used. My only complaint is the wordmark. I think the use of the split swallow tail works well for the first S and the L's, but the other letters are a bit of overkill. I think eliminating the tail effect on the other letters would clean it up, and eliminate the readability issue Ted Cunningham mentioned. Great stuff!

[capn89]

Wow, those are really great. I especially love the wordmark that is navy, outlined in yellow with the bird acting as the "Y." That is just killer.

As for the jerseys, I love the last one particularly. I wouldn't mind seeing that as the home and making an away in the same pattern. Really nice work here.

[santoleri3]

Like the design, but you can't see the wing detail with that dark of a shade of blue...

[Discrim]

running down the responses so far...

chestnutz: actually, that'd be a very apt way to put it...the desire to make a concept out of the idea sorta wound up bordering on obsession.

ted cunningham, delayed penalty: consider the legibility issue dead, the a no longer looks like an e

capn: heh, as I said, I had a feeling more folks would be ready for the swallowtail/old school Cardinal look than the swallow-inspired clashing chest of the rest of the set...but then, there aren't many other teams where the latter would make any sense.

santoleri: yeh, that front was sort of a double edged sword...take away the detailing and this isn't as good of a logo...but then, my own personal preference factored in as well, and I felt the swallow called for more subtle wing detailing. I'm not sure whether more obvious detailing would fit as well here, or make it overly busy...eh well, it'll depend on the color, I'll give it a try later.

I was actually wondering how a gray version of the home alt would go over myself, so here ya go...

[oddball]

The two things that strike me as needing change would be the number font. I've never been a fan of "cutesy" stylized fonts, and then the tail feather in the wordmark should be limited to one letter to give it stronger sense of solidity, because throwing the tail feathers in there gives a weak feel to the letters. It also takes away from the coolness that is the tail feather in the letter, one would be unique, more than one is overkill. I think that's why it doesn't work for the numbers because you've overdone it. The swallow for the "y" is a brilliant idea, and you pulled it off well. Overall, you've done a great job.

[Texasrangers13]

Absolutely love Yakyu, and the concept is amazing. This brings the Swallows more into line with there awesome futuristic intro video the videoboard plays. The concept gives them a little credit, cannot wait to see the rest, especially the B's (who already have the sickest hat, which is on my head), and the Dragons.

[averyj]

What's good, welcome to Project Yakyu....if you're wondering what the hell yakyu is, it involves a lot of Japanese folks, the constant sounds of banging drums and horns, very clean dugouts, and baseball.

That explained, I'm kicking this off with a set I've been working on in some form for at least the last six months, initially on pen and paper. You could do a surprising amount with a swallow as your emblem, as I have attempted here...at least as much as has been done with the cardinal. You could sit a pair on a bat, a la the Cardinals. You could opt for a flying or perched swallow on the cap, similarly to the Orioles. Maybe a cartoony swallow head, like the vintage O's. Hell, even the incorporation of the distinctive scissor-like tailfeathers would communicate the swallow symbolism. The Yakult Swallows, to my knowledge, have done none of these things recently. Hell, they can't even decide whether they prefer royal blue or navy blue. While the cartoony batting swallow's alright, and not downright embarrasing like most of the similar logos in Japanese ball (I'm looking at you, Hiroshima), he rides the pine for this one. Without further ado, here is the identity package:

[image removed]

Navy and red are the primary colors, gold is only used on the swallow and the red-chested jersey, and the light navy is only used on the swallow.

some might think what I chose for the main home uniform should instead be relegated to an alternate. Hate it or love it, here it is in all its glory...

[image removed]

[image removed]

both use the main all-navy cap. I was initially struggling with whether to include gold on the trim before nixing the idea...except on the caps (and left sleeve of the home jersey), where the swallow is outlined in gold so it doesn't get lost in the cap.

and then the third jersey and cap, which could be worn either home or away

[image removed]

I have a feeling the following will be the favorite of most here...and that there will be a call for the road jersey to be scrapped in favor of something similar to this. I present to you the alternate home jersey and cap, upon which I introduce a twist on the Musial-era Cardinal sleeves:

[image removed]

have your say...

This has got to be your first post ever without saying "heh".