So, the new Rays logo is out and there are two seriously important things to be said at the beginning of this post:
- Who the fuck got paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to create this piece of shit?!
- Who the fuck came up with the idea of eliminating the word “Devil” from the logo, the new site and everything else?!
Dude, seriously, your new logo sucks fucking balls. Big fucking balls. This is not to say your previous logo was pure gold, but what in the shit were you thinking here?! Evidence below:
Um, what? This is all just a joke, right? I mean, I get it now, you couldn’t seriously have wanted Kevin Costner and his shitty band to play for any real logo unveiling. So this is all a joke, right? Please?
The new home and away uniforms, as well as the team’s new primary logo, feature “Rays” in navy-blue lettering cast with a light-blue shadow. The sunburst gleams from the letter “R.” The two hues of blue suggest the deep-blue waters and bright-blue sky for which Florida is known. The elongated tail of the “R” further reinforces the water imagery.
Sweet yeezus. You’re serious. And yes, the color blue and a really horribly swoopy R totally say water way more than an actual sting ray. Oh wait, though, that atrocious little starburst thing must mean light rays… so is it sting rays or light rays? Or… wait, I’m confused. In fact, I’m doubly confused by your decision to quietly remove the word “devil” from everything. Someone must have assumed that the Rays shitty record was a result of pissing off the lord, so a quick name change oughta fix that.
I think it is important to note that a lot of people are going to hate the logo for one reason or another, and in many cases it will just be a personal reaction to the design. And yes, I personally think it sucks. But I think what is really pissing me off is that it isn’t even done well. Take a close look at that starburst piece of shit at right. How long did you spend in Illustrator on that? 2 minutes? Could you have possibly made it more awkward and unbalanced? And the R looks a hell of a lot like somone who is brand-freekin’-damn-new to splines, once again awkward and poorly executed.
Am I crazy here? I’d love to hear some feedback on this shiny new piece of shit. Check out all the logos here.
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34 Responses
We can’t ever over come the hand we were dealt as the laughing stock of major league baseball. First our stadium, now our fruity new minor league softball logo.
I rode my bike down the minute I could hear Costner’s silky smooth crooning drifting all the way uptown. The whole event sucked, and yes, the logo is bad. Minor league bad. I have a sneaky suspicion those dongmunchers at Pyper Paul + Kenney had a hand in the re-branding. The bay area has a serious lack of talent, especially in the design world.
An embarrassment. Which is no surprise, really.
I think KemGem may be right on, let’s not forget that Pyper Paul + Kenney were awarded the O’Toole award this year… and shhhh, don’t let them in on it - they don’t realize it is an old ad industry joke pointing out what a bunch of tools they are.
Casey
Somewhere out there a PowerPoint presentation is missing its clip art.
This is so fucking sad. It looks like a logo for a Unitarian church. I bet marketing asshole at the Trop test marketed this to death and said: “People just feel plain unconfortable about the whole ‘Devil’ thing. Let’s go sunshine and rainbows. Maybe people will forget we need a better bullpen?”
I am going to throw up in my mouth now as a I put down another deposit for season tix.
It’s the Kansas City Royals…remixed!
[...] guys at St. Petersblog are huge fans of the new Rays logo. Huge [...]
brightlight- that is EXACTLY what i thought.
Terrible. Well all the local bible thumpers can finally stop whining about the “Devil” holding back the team (roll eyes)
yeah…well, maybe now they’ll actually go 500
In this day and age, this logo in inexcusable! If they let 10 year olds design it they would have come up with a better one! And the T and the B? At least try to be a little creative with that! Minor league all the way…the franchise should be dissolved.
heh, brightlight, exactly. My first thought was, isn’t that a default Photoshop shape?
And what’ with the hat, you’re not going to be as good as NY and Boston copying their hats…
where’s the stpetersblog logo for the Rays? a lot ot tough talk; so didja have something in mind?
Fuck those idiots. They’ve been looking to drop the word “Devil” from the name since about a week after they announced it; I guess they figured that now would be perfect, since who the fuck is actually paying attention to these choads anymore?
I always said I’d drop all interest in that team if they ever caved to the Christian nutjobs who bitched about the team name, but unfortunately I lost interest years ago.
Well, until we start playing big-boy baseball, we can’t have big-boy uniforms. It’s just that simple.
Great now we have a fundamentalist Christian baseball team. A Ray of hope for the Burg. I hope they didn’t do it on purpose. The master plan being leave St. Pete in a couple of years. Even the “Sting Rays” would of been better.
where’s the stpetersblog logo for the Rays? a lot ot tough talk; so didja have something in mind?
So by that “logic,” for example, I’m not allowed to say that “Dancing with the Stars” sucks unless I produce my own TV show?
This whole “don’t criticize unless you can do better” tack is idiotic. But maybe spikelavendar designed the new logo, which would explain things a bit . . .
ALL YOUR $450M ARE BELONG TO US
Here’s a better one. Thanks Google!
http://i16.tinypic.com/6t2qnpu.jpg
from these messages, the team should rename themselves :
The Tampa Bay Non-Devil but Stinging Nutjob Divine Bottom Feeding Clip Art Sun Rays of St. Petersburg
has a nice ring to it
how many more people would love to see the rays in tampa not st. pete?
JUAN MAN.
First of all, TAMPA sucks. I would not like to see the Rays in Tampa.
Yes, PP+K did it. And the Rays supposedly used the research we did for them this summer in an MBA Brand Management course. Five groups did thorough qualitative and quantitative research regarding the brand image of the D-Rays in five different demographic segments.
All of which concluded that overall, fans (who actually attend games) LIKE the name (Devil Rays) and colors (green and purple) and logo (actual D-ray) of the team.
So . . . good thing they changed it to this piece of crap.
Really good and really interesting post. I expect (and other readers maybe :)) new useful posts from you!
Good luck and successes in blogging!
Guys do your research. Major League Baseball designed this logo, why do you think it looks so reminiscent of the Padres and the Royals???
From the St. Pete Times:
“Sternberg had a vision. And one year, hundreds of conversations with MLB design officials, dozens of revisions and a few “nasty stories” later, it came out “absolutely spot on” to what he expected.
Sternberg wanted blue (even though more than half the teams wear it). He wanted a “classic, crisp look.” He wanted to incorporate the sun. He wanted something that “had to say baseball.” He wanted timeless and traditional.
Taking a “once in a lifetime” chance to “rebrand” a franchise in its same market with a variation of its same name, Anne Occi, MLB vice president of design services, said they got it by combining the traditional design Sternberg sought with a color scheme indicative of Florida.
The dark blue represents the water, the light blue the sky and the yellow burst the sun, though that turned out to be the most complicated part as they kept trying for the right effect and settled on what Occi said was technically “a glint.” The rolling extension of the R is to reflect motion - “a subtle undulation” - of the water.
“It’s a traditional baseball uniform that’s unique,” Occi said. ”
Just a few more from the Rays Site:
Sternberg said that the process took between six and nine months to complete and included everything from brainstorming ideas for the logo to working with Major League Baseball to that ensure the color scheme and lettering were unique to the Rays. (http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071108&content_id=2296541&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb)
The new colors are unique within Major League Baseball. The Rays worked closely with MLB on the design, and also conducted internal research with employees, fans and local leaders. (http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071107&content_id=2295403&vkey=news_tb&fext=.jsp&c_id=tb)
I’m sure the problem was not PP&K, the problem is MLB - they use the same artists for every project, and even when a team attempts to use outside artists, MLB HAS to know better and get their own way, right? Can you say “cookie-cutter” design? It’s time for new creative blood in this industry and not the same, tired, old sporting designs that all look alike.
The new uniforms are the UGLIEST i’ve ever seen! I mean seriously,they play like a minor league team and now they are actually going to look like one.These are the cheesiest uniforms ever! The old ones were way better if you ask me.OMG! The logo is boring and plain.
DUDE, YOUR AN ASSHOLE- this LOGO kick ASS, and removes al the sorry fucking memories of yesteryear ! FUCK YOU! The team , actually is feeding off this new look. I HATE to be your fucking WIFE!
I on the other hand would Love to be your fucking WIFE. Seriously, I can cook and shit.
I read all of the design stories, the vision, the color scheme ,did my research etc. This is not time less .Simply compare it to Sam’s Club Store logo( http://www.samsclub.com ) . It bothers me that it is so poorly done . If you put an apostrophe after the “y” it could be any Restaurant logo “Ray’s Family Buffet”. No kidding ,this logo could be done in less then 30 minutes. At least Rays fans will not have people jumping on the new uniform band wagon with this logo….ever.
Team logo or corner bar?
I am happy to see the RAYS and their new uniform logo at the top of the Eastern Division….case closed…
Yeah, because their logo has a whole fuck of a lot to do with their record.
Yes the case is closed. And on the cover of that case….
A shitty logo.