I guess my question is, are these logos licensed?

Mike said:

…Also, why don’t they make a Blue hat.

I had really hoped a blue alternate with the main logo was the rumored “alternate hat”. The silver T on black adds no real variety, and is awkward for a host of reasons, some of them already mentioned. (Though inconsistency with the away jersey T doesn’t bug me that much… it’s not like it’s currently ruining Detroit’s jersey, and an exact transplant from the jersey would look even weirder!)

I have no problem with incorporating black & silver in the Jays unis, the way they have. I just don’t think it should overshadow the blue quite so much. And unlike many of the other people who like to bash around here whenever the Jays unis come up, I do like the main logo/wordmark. To me, the identity would work a whole lot better with some extremely simple refinement:

1) Drop the ridiculous player name & number fonts on the back. Not only do they look like they’re trying way too hard to be cool, but they’re the least space-efficient fonts I’ve ever seen, which result in majorly-arched names, and tiny numbers. Just use the traditional name and number typefaces that 75% of the league uses!

2) Come up with a proper round/diamond/square logo based on the hat “J-bird”, that can stand alone and be the primary identity. The word mark is much too wide to be useful in many of the places people traditionally put logos, often resulting in it being scaled down inappropriately small, or being replaced with the current J-bird anyway.

3) Scale back the amount of black & silver, and add more blue.*

(*An even better solution would be to replace the double-silver altogether and make it just double-blue & black. I’ve been working on a mockup using the current black & blue plus a very pale powder blue & it looks pretty sweet in my opinion… combines traditional and modern Blue Jay elements, while adding some fun stuff I’ve always liked, such as cap brims in an accent colour. Plus who here doesn’t dream of powder blues, right?)

The thing that depresses me is that I’m a graphic designer who works for Rogers, the Jays’ parent company, but in an entirely distant and unrelated division. So close but so far away…

Those are VERY nice! I would prefer the old “royal” blue than the blue you used. What would make your uni’s a bit more classy is a bit of red, a maple leaf hidden somewhere would be perfect, e.g. a small one that sticks out just a bit in the A in Jays and O in the away uniforms.

I think the throwback needs more excitement, but do like the powder blues. How about the thin stripes the Bosox have on their home uniforms, what is that called, piping, going around the neck and down the front packet? I’m not a big fan of hats w/ white front panels, even though I am old Expos fan (no, I am not Canadian, LOL).

And how about a tail under “Toronto”, say a bat?

One thing I just noticed, the bird sticks out of the shirt, when I studied graphic design you’re never supposed to do that..so that’s another argument to go back to “Bluejays” so that could be reworked. = )

Anyway, again, nice job, I’d hire you and fire the person who has done the recent stuff…..terrible!

Marc Walls said:

I can’t stand the Rockies uniforms. Blah.

More specifically, what’s the point of wearing a black sleeveless jersey with a black undershirt? Can someone explain that to me.

Seriously, have sleeveless baseball jerseys ever once looked good? Ever? (I figure some people might point to this guy, but I disagree. Though he did have some nice guns.)

Only one example ever needed as a basis why it looks very good, if done right. BTW, as someone who has played baseball for over 37 years now, sleeveless jerseys feel incredibly better when throwing, you don’t feel any seams or extra material restricting movement, even with an undershirt (short- or long-sleeved): RC21

This is a good time of year to be a Detroit fan… the Pistons are usually winning a string of games, the Wings haven’t blown it yet, and we get to make fun of our general manager on Thanksgiving.

And apparently, the Tigers won the series, according to the guy on the right.

I guess the Lions moved to Tokyo and became the Rions? Buwhahaha, okay, sorry. You forgot that the Wolverines are doing much better too but realize there are probably STATE fans there as well which doesn’t bring any joy…

Pete B said:

Pfft, haven’t fox sports seen Coventry City’s or Hull City’s old kits?

More here: Odd Kits Site

Oh. My. Goodness.

Halloween 2007 comes early, LMAO!

I wonder if all those jerseys are from the disco era???

Got a pic of the new Jays hat! You’re welcome to use it Paul
BVTN

Hideous! I know Canada has some fantastic graphic designers…try using one instead of the cleaning lady to design your uniforms, T-Dot! Your uniforms are H.I.D.E.O.U.S. Go back to the originals and you would be light years ahead of the apparel your players are in now which would be better served as PJ’s for kiddies.

interested to hear your thoughts on this small Nike world Viking logo(Portland State U)

Not sure which logo you meant but the bananabuffaslug lookalike thing reminds me of this: shinkansen

Did the Buffaslug designer do that one as well? LMAO!

Off topic here, but there’s a nice photo essay on the SI site on “best dressed teams.” They lean toward the old school which is nice.

Totally off subject but when i viewed that SI gallery there was an inpage popup for RL Polo and the first slide had a guy wearing the same pajama pants im wearing right now…

Toronto’s hat looks absolutely retarded, i dont mind the regular black hat though.

I am so america, football kits to me does not equate soccer uniforms… oh well

Im wondering since Illinois was on natl tv tonight what everyone thought of our jerseys? Im a student here and i like the tribal trim, but the nike template and those awkward shorts dont touch the last uniforms

Jeff… I agree with you on pretty much every point you make. I really like your jersey concepts. My only suggestions for them would be use the “Jays” instead of Toronto on the black uniforms, if they are going to have a throwback, might as well make it just like the old ones, old logo, everything, and the baby blue Brim just doesn’t work for me.

I feel like that sounds really harsh, but I do really like you concept overall. Do you have a larger version of that double blue logo on its own.. it looks awesome!

The Jays in double-blue is here. And your comments are not too harsh at all; I can see where you’re coming from on all points.

“Jays” on black is probably one of their current best sellers, so they’d probably never switch anyway… but it does feel a little inconsistent to me, and most teams have their cities on their away jerseys (the two reasons I switched it in my mockup). I can see both sides.

For the throwbacks, I wanted to allude to, rather than emulate the 70’s/80’s (unlike Milwaukee’s current approach) but would be thrilled to see the Jays try either. The only bummer would be us Toronto fans only seeing the powder blues on TV, rather than in person!

And as far as the light blue brim goes, I kept second-guessing it on the black away hats, so you’re probably right. (It was an attempt to keep as much blue as possible in the aways while still featuring black, but ultimately perhaps just too weird.) But I will always love it on the home blue hats! (As I said, I’m a sucker for accented brims, and I think this would be a pretty unique variation on that.)

Thanks for the constructive criticism!