San Diego Padres Unveiling

[powersurge]

Not all the fans post on message boards. And it seems like the ownership personally wanted to keep the blue, which is fine, but don't use the vocal majority/minority of a small portion of the fanbase as a justification.

I can't speak for anyone else, but what I'm reflecting on is the team's past and original identity that was used (with some modifications) for over 20 years. I would hardly call it a small portion of the fan base if they grew up with it. I think you can argue that there might be more Padres fans that have been fans of the team for the better part of both the brown and yellow eras & navy and white eras as there are fans who just followed them during the navy and white era. So to call it a minority of fans might be incorrect. I haven't taken a poll on what colors most fans prefer overall, but from what we have seen in recent years with many new identities it seems that a combination of old and new is generally accepted by most fans. I don't think the Padres came up with the best solution in that case. Even blending a little bit of brown into their color scheme might have bridged that gap. I just don't think this solution was best.

[Antediluvious]

Not all the fans post on message boards. And it seems like the ownership personally wanted to keep the blue, which is fine, but don't use the vocal majority/minority of a small portion of the fanbase as a justification.

Why not? The FO says they did 2 years of market research on it. Are we not to believe their word because it's inconvenient for a subset of people who believed otherwise?

Anyway sorry if I seem like I'm pushing this so much. I just get so tired of hearing, particularly on this board, that the Padres "need to" or "should be going" back to brown more often than not from people who aren't Padres fans and that anything else would be a "mistake." Particularly from people that wouldn't have to live with the brown. It was very nice to finally hear that some market research backs up the idea that Padres fans as a whole don't want brown back. That had been what I'd seen anecdotal and it's nice to see something other than an anecdote back that up.

Agreed. For the sake of color diversity in MLB, I'd love to see a brown team. But I'm a little hesitant for it to be MY team.

[kevinmets]

All the controversy over brown vs. navy reminds me of this thread/poll I posted earlier this year:

http://boards.sportslogos.net/topic/79659-padres-permutations-which-color-combo-looks-best/

My personal opinion: I would love to see brown, but it's never been done right in the Padres' history. Plus I understand why navy sells better, so I can't fault them for sticking with it.

I don't know why they ever changed their look after 2001.

Agreed. For the sake of color diversity in MLB, I'd love to see a brown team. But I'm a little hesitant for it to be MY team.

Hey, the Cleveland Browns seem to make it work.

[powersurge]

Not all the fans post on message boards. And it seems like the ownership personally wanted to keep the blue, which is fine, but don't use the vocal majority/minority of a small portion of the fanbase as a justification.

Why not? The FO says they did 2 years of market research on it. Are we not to believe their word because it's inconvenient for a subset of people who believed otherwise?

Anyway sorry if I seem like I'm pushing this so much. I just get so tired of hearing, particularly on this board, that the Padres "need to" or "should be going" back to brown more often than not from people who aren't Padres fans and that anything else would be a "mistake." Particularly from people that wouldn't have to live with the brown. It was very nice to finally hear that some market research backs up the idea that Padres fans as a whole don't want brown back. That had been what I'd seen anecdotal and it's nice to see something other than an anecdote back that up.

Agreed. For the sake of color diversity in MLB, I'd love to see a brown team. But I'm a little hesitant for it to be MY team.

but don't you think that if there were a team that SHOULD go with brown that the Padres could be the team to completely pull it off?

[oldschoolvikings]

Not all the fans post on message boards. And it seems like the ownership personally wanted to keep the blue, which is fine, but don't use the vocal majority/minority of a small portion of the fanbase as a justification.

Why not? The FO says they did 2 years of market research on it. Are we not to believe their word because it's inconvenient for a subset of people who believed otherwise?

Anyway sorry if I seem like I'm pushing this so much. I just get so tired of hearing, particularly on this board, that the Padres "need to" or "should be going" back to brown more often than not from people who aren't Padres fans and wouldn't have to live with the choice.

Yes, exactly. I DON'T believe them. They brought out the uniforms they obviously wanted to bring out... what were they going to say? "We know you wanted brown, but we didn't want to give it to you"? No, they say "vocal minority". I don't buy it. This is the same city that won't give the Charger fans the powder blue primary they've wanted for years.. can anyone pretend Charger fans don't prefer the lighter blue? I know they're two completely different franchises, but it makes you wonder if there's something in the water there.

Honestly, you may be the first Padre fan I've ever heard say they prefer Navy.

[Ray Lankford]

Needs more brown, yellow and orange

Padres fans disagree.

The Padres fans I know agree with him wholeheartedly.

Vocal minority. The majority who are posting on SD local sites or the Padres message boards are quite pleased with this redesign. You have to remember that for 20 years now they've been in blue. It's what the majority of Pads fans either grew up with or have known longer than the brown at this point. The further we get from 1984 the less likely fans will want them to ever wear brown again as earlier fans become less and less of the fan base. Their 2 years of market research backed that up.

No they're not. At best, a good amount of Padre fans on the internet think the design is better than what they expected. I don't think you can say what the majority thinks because it's mostly split between the vociferous Bring Back the Brown crowd and the pleasantly surprised.

As far as the brown fading away goes, I wouldn't count on it, especially after this unimaginative redesign.

[UnclearInitial]

A few thoughts as a Padres fan:

1) I don't hate the new look, but I have a hard time envisioning the team wearing it for the next 15+ years. The home script with the odd looking outline is the worst part in my opinion. The blue alternate is my favorite, though I wish it had the Friar logo on the sleeve.

2) I'd be open to brown and gold if it were done correctly, but with MUCH due respect to the many talented concept-creators here, I haven't seen it done correctly. I think to pull it off the brown would have to be featured much more prominently than the yellow. As others have stated here, I also think a brown and sky blue scheme could be beautiful.

Are you kidding me? Knowing the Padres, they'll change uniforms 6 years from now. Hopefully they would change to what you say in 2), but with sand mixed in.

[bosrs1]

Not all the fans post on message boards. And it seems like the ownership personally wanted to keep the blue, which is fine, but don't use the vocal majority/minority of a small portion of the fanbase as a justification.

Why not? The FO says they did 2 years of market research on it. Are we not to believe their word because it's inconvenient for a subset of people who believed otherwise?

Anyway sorry if I seem like I'm pushing this so much. I just get so tired of hearing, particularly on this board, that the Padres "need to" or "should be going" back to brown more often than not from people who aren't Padres fans and that anything else would be a "mistake." Particularly from people that wouldn't have to live with the brown. It was very nice to finally hear that some market research backs up the idea that Padres fans as a whole don't want brown back. That had been what I'd seen anecdotal and it's nice to see something other than an anecdote back that up.

Agreed. For the sake of color diversity in MLB, I'd love to see a brown team. But I'm a little hesitant for it to be MY team.

but don't you think that if there were a team that SHOULD go with brown that the Padres could be the team to completely pull it off?

Problem was to date they've never pulled it off. Every version they had before ranged from the meh of the 1969 uni to the utter disasters of the late 70's through the Giants ripoffs of the mid to late 80's. As someone said above, there MIGHT be a way to pull it off but so far I've never seen it really done even in mockups (and I don't trust an MLB design group to do better than a lot of the designers on this site). Blue is far harder to screw up and far easier to do right.

[Morgan33]

I don't follow the design trends of Baseball much so maybe I shouldn't comment but holy expletive this identity is mediocre!

Seems to tick the box of every landmark cliche in sports design, from the dull derivative colour scheme to the painfully generic circle logo masquerading as a primary mark. The only thing that tops this off is addition of the words "Baseball club." As for jerseys, they are pretty much indistinguishable from a handful of other teams.

[Ray Lankford]

Not all the fans post on message boards. And it seems like the ownership personally wanted to keep the blue, which is fine, but don't use the vocal majority/minority of a small portion of the fanbase as a justification.

Why not? The FO says they did 2 years of market research on it. Are we not to believe their word because it's inconvenient for a subset of people who believed otherwise?

Anyway sorry if I seem like I'm pushing this so much. I just get so tired of hearing, particularly on this board, that the Padres "need to" or "should be going" back to brown more often than not from people who aren't Padres fans and that anything else would be a "mistake." Particularly from people that wouldn't have to live with the brown. It was very nice to finally hear that some market research backs up the idea that Padres fans as a whole don't want brown back. That had been what I'd seen anecdotal and it's nice to see something other than an anecdote back that up.

Agreed. For the sake of color diversity in MLB, I'd love to see a brown team. But I'm a little hesitant for it to be MY team.

but don't you think that if there were a team that SHOULD go with brown that the Padres could be the team to completely pull it off?

Problem was to date they've never pulled it off. Every version they had before ranged from the meh of the 1969 uni to the utter disasters of the late 70's through the Giants ripoffs of the mid to late 80's. As someone said above, there MIGHT be a way to pull it off but so far I've never seen it really done even in mockups (and I don't trust an MLB design group to do better than a lot of the designers on this site). Blue is far harder to screw up and far easier to do right.

I'm pretty sure the Padres have disproved this theory.

[bosrs1]

Not all the fans post on message boards. And it seems like the ownership personally wanted to keep the blue, which is fine, but don't use the vocal majority/minority of a small portion of the fanbase as a justification.

Why not? The FO says they did 2 years of market research on it. Are we not to believe their word because it's inconvenient for a subset of people who believed otherwise?

Anyway sorry if I seem like I'm pushing this so much. I just get so tired of hearing, particularly on this board, that the Padres "need to" or "should be going" back to brown more often than not from people who aren't Padres fans and that anything else would be a "mistake." Particularly from people that wouldn't have to live with the brown. It was very nice to finally hear that some market research backs up the idea that Padres fans as a whole don't want brown back. That had been what I'd seen anecdotal and it's nice to see something other than an anecdote back that up.

Agreed. For the sake of color diversity in MLB, I'd love to see a brown team. But I'm a little hesitant for it to be MY team.

but don't you think that if there were a team that SHOULD go with brown that the Padres could be the team to completely pull it off?

Problem was to date they've never pulled it off. Every version they had before ranged from the meh of the 1969 uni to the utter disasters of the late 70's through the Giants ripoffs of the mid to late 80's. As someone said above, there MIGHT be a way to pull it off but so far I've never seen it really done even in mockups (and I don't trust an MLB design group to do better than a lot of the designers on this site). Blue is far harder to screw up and far easier to do right.

I'm pretty sure the Padres have disproved this theory.

That's one view. Another is that they did it so right I've already blown 150 bucks on both the new home and the new alt 1.

[Gothamite]

Nah, if the design was really that great, you would have bought authentics.

Plenty of merchandise moves in the first blush of a new design. Just wait and see how much crap the Miami Marlins move over the weekend. The real test is Years Three, Four and beyond, which is why so many teams tend to make changes roughly along that schedule.

Besides, it's time the Padres gave the Brewers back their color scheme.

[Fox]

The good:

• New road script.
  
• Alt logo with original friar.
  
• Patch/stadium logo.
  
• The fact that, despite the color scheme, this doesn't look too much like the Yankees or Tigers.
  
• No more laundry detergent primary logo or bow-tie road script.
  
• The navy alternate uniform is nice (though it would be nicer if the Yankees or Tigers had it instead).
  

The bad:

• Bland color scheme.
  
• Circle primary logo.
  
• Is that a sand outline around the "Padres" script on the home? The fact that I can't really tell isn't good. There's no sand anywhere else in the design package so it seems odd.
  
• No brown. No orange. No yellow.
  

The ugly:

• The "Padres" script left over from the 2004-2011 look. It was bad then, now it's bad and out of place.
  

Overall, definitely an improvement over the 2004-2011 look. Still not great though. The Tony Gwynn-era navy & orange design was better. Brown would be great if it was done right. This is not great. It's not atrocious though, like the 2004-2011 look was.

I agree with everything you just said. The only think I would maybe argue is that I actually kind of like the new primary logo. I know it's bland, but there's something about it that makes me like it.

[JayJaxon]

Ok here is my rendering for my database. Everything look in place there?

[UnclearInitial]

Ok here is my rendering for my database. Everything look in place there?

Doesn't look like you put the pants stripe on.

[bosrs1]

Ok here is my rendering for my database. Everything look in place there?

Pant stripe is about it. Great renderings, love the high socks.

[JayJaxon]

Because of the positioning of the legs the stripe would usually only show up around the top just above the glove, so I often forget to even put it. Good catch.

[NDwas]

Looks like the Padres made a last-minute change to the home uniform sleeve patch.

The style guide says this:

But the uniform says this:

I'll update the graphic to reflect this change ASAP.

[kevinmets]

The good:

• New road script.
  
• Alt logo with original friar.
  
• Patch/stadium logo.
  
• The fact that, despite the color scheme, this doesn't look too much like the Yankees or Tigers.
  
• No more laundry detergent primary logo or bow-tie road script.
  
• The navy alternate uniform is nice (though it would be nicer if the Yankees or Tigers had it instead).
  

The bad:

• Bland color scheme.
  
• Circle primary logo.
  
• Is that a sand outline around the "Padres" script on the home? The fact that I can't really tell isn't good. There's no sand anywhere else in the design package so it seems odd.
  
• No brown. No orange. No yellow.
  

The ugly:

• The "Padres" script left over from the 2004-2011 look. It was bad then, now it's bad and out of place.
  

Overall, definitely an improvement over the 2004-2011 look. Still not great though. The Tony Gwynn-era navy & orange design was better. Brown would be great if it was done right. This is not great. It's not atrocious though, like the 2004-2011 look was.

I agree with everything you just said. The only think I would maybe argue is that I actually kind of like the new primary logo. I know it's bland, but there's something about it that makes me like it.

I'll give you this - it's certainly a huge improvement over the last primary logo.

Looks like the Padres made a last-minute change to the home uniform sleeve patch.

Improvement.

[NDwas]

New home uniform graphic is up on the site.