Awesome Sports Logos Blog

Breaking Down the Toronto Blue Jays Logo

The Toronto Blue Jays played their first ever game in 1977 and in 1992 they won their first World Series. The winning didn't stop as they took home their second trophy the very next year. But today, they face a different test as they are under the logo microscope.

Photo courtesy of sportslogos.net

Let's start with the color scheme...

Officially, the Blue Jays don royal blue, navy blue, white, and red. While some people don't love mixing two shades of blue, I've always been a fan of it. I think the dark and light blue shades play off one another well.

But the addition of red seems forced. Red appears in two different ways. First, with the Canadian Maple Leaf on the right side, just wide of the Blue Jay. I'm okay with that because it represents Canada, which is perhaps even more important now that Toronto is Canada's only team. But the red baseball in the background doesn't do it for me. I guess the intention is to balance the leaf, but I think it would be cool if the leaf was the only red in the logo because of how it would make such a significant piece of the logo stand out.

How about the Blue Jays nickname? Does it fit? I think so. On the primary level, the Blue Jay is a very common bird in Southern Canada. Beyond that, blue is a common tie with other Toronto professional sports teams, like the Maple Leafs and the Argonauts. Maybe more so indirectly, the team used to be owned by the Canadian Labatt Brewing Company, maker of the popular beer, Labatt Blue.

And how does that translate graphically? I think it translates really well. It isn't amazing. But I think it is solid. The bird has a neutral expression with a beak that looks ready to attack (not that Blue Jays are violent birds to my knowledge, ha!). It's a good demonstration of simple detail.

Geometrically, the Blue Jays' shape is similar to a baseball diamond, though I'm not quite sure that is intentional.

Additionally, the logo includes the aforementioned Maple Leaf, an appropriate homage to Canada, with a baseball in the background. I don't mind the baseball in the background, in theory, but I would prefer it not be red as, like I've mentioned, I think it would be cool if the leaf stood out more as the only red object.

The different elements to the logo do fit nicely and tightly (in a good way). That includes the lettering circled around the main images. "Toronto" is a different font than "Blue Jays" which is cool because the nicknames font is the same unique stencil-like lettering used on the team's jerseys, a unique feature of their representation. Contrarily, Toronto has more of a regular style.

Overall, it’s a solid logo. The Blue Jays have it going on in the logo department. Now it’s time for them to get back to their winning ways on the field.

Here’s a couple of teams that haven’t played on the field yet but we think they are already successful in the baseball logo department.

The Idaho Taters was our first logo created and it’s still one of our favorites. Who doesn’t love a potato t-shirt hitting a home run?

Then there is the Middleton Fingers baseball t-shirt, one of our best sellers. This t-shirt is certainly an eye catcher.

Get both of these t-shirts discounted and free shipping by joining our t-shirt of the month club. Now that’s baller!!

Thanks for reading,

Jared Sandler

Awesome Sports Logos Columnist

Posted in Baseball by Gavin on 6/14/2015 at 9:56:45 pm.

Awesome Sports Logos Blog

Breaking Down the Toronto Blue Jays Logo

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