Tampa Bay Tropics

[GFB]

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted a concept.

I was thinking simultaneously about the Tampa Bay Rays 70s faux-back uniforms while thinking about the history of the Houston Astros and how they were named after the stadium in which they played (or vice-versa, I'm not entirely clear on their history). Anyway, it got me thinking what if back in the late 90s, the Tampa Bay franchise went in the same direction as the Astros and named their team the Tampa Bay Tropics. The name would probably eventually get shortened by fans to the Tampa Bay Trops, and if you would like to think that the franchise would officially shorten it when they actually dropped the Devil in Devil Rays, feel free. So this is my quick and dirty concept for the Tampa Bay Tropics.

Just some notes:

- This concept would have been performed before the Marlins went with their art-deco style, so this would be beating them to the punch.

- This would have also been before the movie Semi-Pro made a mockery of the Tropics nickname.

- Yes, the colors are chosen because of the Tropicana brand.

It's nothing really groundbreaking or revised, so I apologize to anyone who had any high expectations for this concept, .

[raysox]

Very good rough start! I think the Tropics script could be a cleaner cursive font, and a matching (palm tree)AMPA BAY script would look cool too. I love the ball logo, too.

Can't wait till you give it thefull GFB treatment.

[lancealot]

First thing I thought, LET'S GET TROPICAL! Love the caps and the home script not a fan of the road script it just seems so detached from the home and also not a fan of the road alt numbers

[GFB]

First thing I thought, LET'S GET TROPICAL! Love the caps and the home script not a fan of the road script it just seems so detached from the home and also not a fan of the road alt numbers

That's fair. Honestly, I just didn't have time to create a Tampa Bay road script and I didn't want to have the same script on 3 uniforms. The road alt is semi-inspired by their current road alts... so that's where the green-on-green numbers came from.

[WSU151]

Not digging the number on the right side of the away uniform. And I think it'd look more traditional if the patches were on the left sleeves rather than the right sleeves.

I like the concept...the palm tree logo is fantastic. The orange, green, and white are a little Miami Hurricanes, but I like the use of the colors of the orange blossom. Definitely a Florida combo.

[GFB]

Very good rough start! I think the Tropics script could be a cleaner cursive font, and a matching (palm tree)AMPA BAY script would look cool too. I love the ball logo, too.

Can't wait till you give it thefull GFB treatment.

I actually meant for the Tropics script to have a little edge and unfinished look to it ... You look at scripts for other Florida teams... the Gators, the old Miami Hurricanes script, or even the old Smokers script, and they all have a little roughness to it.

[cohenj21]

This is really good, especially the black alternate and the caps. One problem I have is that I think the script on the home uniforms is a little too big for my liking, maybe just downsize the T to make it take up a little less space. Other than that, really nice job.

[Raysfan12]

I love the fact you went to an original identity for the team rather than update the Rays.

Good: Original identity, Color scheme, font, logos, and uniforms (except green uni)

Bad: Can't read number on green alt even though there is orange and the font size is too big

Overall: This is an excellent concept and hopefully improve on it. 9/10 = 4/5 (**) (**)

[BBTV]

Nice work overall. Few things:

1. The stand-alone T mark is really well done. The shading makes me think of football laces though, but that's minor. I don't know that there needs to be those ridges.

2. I love that the script is a little wonky and not so computerized and "perfect". At first I thought that the fact that the tail is perfect was a problem, but the more I look at it, I don't think that the styles clash too much.

3. I know exactly what you were trying to do with the T blending in to the tail, but it really takes away from the organic quality of the script IMO, because it really makes it just a one-piece patch. The classic quality of the Dodgers, Royals, old Marlins, etc. scripts comes from the tail being in the classic "baseball style", (of course the Marlins had their own uniquely-brilliant twist on it) but having the T overlap it makes it look like something that was done in AI (which of course it was) and not something that would have been done back in the day. I think that's fine for the logo, but I'd like to see some separation there on the jersey. Not too big a deal, but something that jumped out at me.

4. I think there should be some orange in the home script. Either the shading, or an outline, or something. Normally I'd like a solid color like that, but I think it doesn't go with the way the piping is done. Maybe if you lost the head-spoon piping and added the green to the sleeve piping, it'd work better.

5. The number should be on the other side of the road jersey. That's just how it's done. Also, the sleeve patches should be on the left sleeve. Again, that's just how it's done. There's nothing wrong with going against the grain, however there doesn't seem to be anything gained in this particular case.

6. The piping on the road should have green inside the orange instead of white. Again, consider losing the head-spoon.

7. The orange cap could probably be used at home, and the home cap on the road.

8. The green could be a tad lighter. It looks almost black.

9. The all-green alt is really well done. I'd move the chest number up a bit to make it more even with the T. There's really no problem with using the green numbers. I like it, and think that it makes the T logo stand out more. It doesn't work in many cases (the Braves navy alt for example) but it's fine here.

[GFB]

Here's a quick update:

Better or worse?

I know the headspoon doesn't really match the uniforms, but I kept it because I think it gives the jersey design a little bit of a UGLY TROPICAL-TOURIST SHIRT to it that I think actually fits the concept kind of nicely.

[St Louis Cardinals]

road script would be awesome

[GeoTheo]

I love this concept. I've been working on a Tampa Tropics basketball logo similar to your but haven't been able to acomplish anything this briliant. I liked the orginal tail better, I think it unified the elements. Now it look like palm tree and "ropics" when before it looked like "Tropics".

[AHcreative]

I love the fact you went to an original identity for the team rather than update the Rays.

Good: Original identity, Color scheme, font, logos, and uniforms (except green uni)

Bad: Can't read number on green alt even though there is orange and the font size is too big

Overall: This is an excellent concept and hopefully improve on it. 9/10 = 4/5 (**) (**)

I'm no math wiz, but wouldn't a 4/5 = 8/10, not 9/10?

Anyway, I really really like this concept. The logos and colors are perfect for a team named the Tropics.

[Dbroalexander]

wow this is a fantastic concept. Only thing is that I don't think the green alternate needs the number on the front. Other than that, great work!

[Legend]

Nice work! Far and away better than the trash they put out there now on a regular basis.

[dgnmrwrw]

Glad to have you posting stuff again. I think in general there are some nice things going on here, and some good starts. But there are a few issues with many of the elements that prevent everything from quite coming together.

First, I like the overall clean style, and especially the style of the lettering on the home wordmark. And since those letterforms look so nice, I do agree that the road wordmark seems out of place, too generic. You don't have to do the same heavily-stylized look, but I bet you could create for the road wordmark something that seems a little more derivative of/related to the style from the home wordmark.

The colors are fine, if a bit dull (both seem a tad too desaturated to be "tropical" for my tastes, but there's certainly no rule that one has to use the "obvious" color choices). I will say that I really like the way the colors have been implemented, using the orange for the piping and the numerals. (One issue with the unis is the lack of white outline on the cap logo. Everything else--road alt aside--uses some sort of outline when placed on a colored background, and I think the cap needs one.)

But the main issues I have are with the two logos. Regarding the primary, I really like the overall style. It's got nice smooth lines, with some implied motion, and it definitely resolves into a T. But that's kind of the problem: To get that T-shape, you've smoothed off the "top" of the tree, making it look a little more like an umbrella/parasol. I think you really need some sort of indication of some upper leaves (fronds?) that would give it that true palm tree look.

Regarding the alternate logo, it's a great concept and it's well executed, and it definitely fits the style of the primary. But the palm-texture for the stitches just looks too odd for me. Maybe it's because it's used as a highlight for the palm but kinda used as a shadow on the ball, but it's not working. I think you'd be better off without them, instead simply using the curves to imply the stitches.

[tBBP]

Could you possibly try this out with a much brighter orange bounced off a super-deep emerald green in place of the black? It would definitely give off more of a "tropical vibe". (Not a straight rip of the Flint Tropics, mind you, but something like an Oklahoma State orange and a deep, rich green-blue.)

Like most everyone else, I really like the tree and secondary "sunball" marks, but the uniforms are lacking life right now. Also, and I don't know if you did this on purpose or not, but I'm seeing a lot of Totally Gothic in that "Tropics" script?just found that a funny coincidence.

[GFB]

Glad to have you posting stuff again. I think in general there are some nice things going on here, and some good starts. But there are a few issues with many of the elements that prevent everything from quite coming together.

First, I like the overall clean style, and especially the style of the lettering on the home wordmark. And since those letterforms look so nice, I do agree that the road wordmark seems out of place, too generic. You don't have to do the same heavily-stylized look, but I bet you could create for the road wordmark something that seems a little more derivative of/related to the style from the home wordmark.

The colors are fine, if a bit dull (both seem a tad too desaturated to be "tropical" for my tastes, but there's certainly no rule that one has to use the "obvious" color choices). I will say that I really like the way the colors have been implemented, using the orange for the piping and the numerals. (One issue with the unis is the lack of white outline on the cap logo. Everything else--road alt aside--uses some sort of outline when placed on a colored background, and I think the cap needs one.)

But the main issues I have are with the two logos. Regarding the primary, I really like the overall style. It's got nice smooth lines, with some implied motion, and it definitely resolves into a T. But that's kind of the problem: To get that T-shape, you've smoothed off the "top" of the tree, making it look a little more like an umbrella/parasol. I think you really need some sort of indication of some upper leaves (fronds?) that would give it that true palm tree look.

Regarding the alternate logo, it's a great concept and it's well executed, and it definitely fits the style of the primary. But the palm-texture for the stitches just looks too odd for me. Maybe it's because it's used as a highlight for the palm but kinda used as a shadow on the ball, but it's not working. I think you'd be better off without them, instead simply using the curves to imply the stitches.

Fair critique.

For the primary logo, I wanted it to be a letter form first, and an icon second. The Flint Tropics go the other way around in the movie, and the problem is then getting an icon to look natural when put together with other letters in a wordmark. So while I can understand your issue with the logo because it is somewhat abstracted, that was kind of the intention. Would it help if I told you that I tried sneaking a "B" in the tree leaves for Tampa Bay?

On the secondary; yeah, I was probably trying to hard to emulate the palm tree trunk with the laces.

Could you possibly try this out with a much brighter orange bounced off a super-deep emerald green in place of the black? It would definitely give off more of a "tropical vibe". (Not a straight rip of the Flint Tropics, mind you, but something like an Oklahoma State orange and a deep, rich green-blue.)

Like most everyone else, I really like the tree and secondary "sunball" marks, but the uniforms are lacking life right now. Also, and I don't know if you did this on purpose or not, but I'm seeing a lot of Totally Gothic in that "Tropics" script?just found that a funny coincidence.

I'm not sure why everyone keeps saying orange and black? At least on my monitor, it is fairly clear that it is dark green. I probably could lighten it a little, but the colors were chosen to replicate the Tropicana juice company...

I actually drew that script by hand, but I'm glad you got a little Totally Gothic vibe. I'll take that as I was able to nail down that Tampa-sports vibe.

[seancarter]

love the concept and wish the tampa bay rays would change their name to tropics

[hockey week]

This is really really well done, but I have to agree with some of the comments, this screams out for a "Tampa Bay" script with the T-tree