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.

Why Decorah has an Awesome Sports Logo

We love answering questions about our t-shirts. In fact, we have a frequently asked questions section on our site to help customers. A question has come up lately from a few of you. “Where the heck is Decorah and why did you create a sports logo for Decorah Iowa? 
 
It’s a great question. Many of our awesome t-shirts derive from personal stories and this is the case with the Decorah Trolls. Decorah Iowa is about 15 miles south of the Minnesota/Iowa border. My wife’s grandparents owned a 40 acre farm about an hour away from Decorah. Each summer, one of the highlights of my wife’s childhood was the last weekend in July when they would travel to Decorah for their annual Nordic Festival. 
 
The Decorah Nordic Fest has been existence since 1967. What’s normally a town population of just over 8,000 balloons to as many as 75-80k through the course of Nordic Fest. So what actually is Nordic Fest? According to the official website, Jerry Aulwes, Mike Dahly, Harry Olson, Darrell Pierce and Gary Svenson enlisted the help of Vesterheim Director Marion Nelson and Women's Club member Phyllis Leseth and came up with two goals for Nordic Fest. Number one was to showcase and celebrate Decorah. Secondly, it was important for the group to celebrate the areas Scandinavian heritage. The festival features great food, competitions, a parade, and fireworks.
 
 
Years later the festival continues to grow. We love celebrating area heritage like this and when my wife told me this story, I knew the Decorah Trolls t-shirt had to happen. We figured a minor league baseball team would be the right fit with a troll like figure wearing Norwegian colors. His bat is in the shape of a club. We actually liked the lettering of this logo so much that we made a t-shirt with just the lettering. 
 
 
 
We actually feature another sports logo with a festival. Our Dade City Kumquats t-shirt is a tribute to the Kumquat festival held each January in Dade City Florida. Plus, we couldn’t resist designing a Kumquat swinging a bat. 
 
 
 
This is what sports logo designs are all about. Significance to the area is so important. A perfect example of what’s wrong with today’s logos is the soon to be defunct Worcester Sharks. Worcester Massachusetts is in the central part of the state in the seven hills. The nearest body of waters that could feature a shark is at least an hour and a half away. They were the IceCats and had a great logo but when the Sharks became the parent club, the logo changed. We need less of this in the sports logo world. 
 
So head to Decorah and check out the small town festival known as Nordic Fest. Or if you are in Florida try out the Kumquat festival. If you can’t make it to either, you can show of your pride by adding both baseball t-shirts to your closet. Remember, big discounts and free shipping by joining our t-shirt of the month club.
 
Keep being Awesome!
 
Gavin Spittle
Founder, Sports Logo and T-shirt Lover
Awesome Sports Logos
Posted in Awesome T-shirts by Gavin on 3/15/2015 at 2:26:33 pm.

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