As a Northwest native, I've been hearing about the city of roses getting a professional baseball team since i was knee high. Much like bigfoot, it's a local legend passed down from generation to generation. Do I think it will ever happen? Naw, it's just a pipe dream, but if it did, what might that look like?
I was approached by the talented folks at Jolby who wanted to keep the baseball dream alive, and imagine what the future Portland Professional Baseball team could become. The hope and vision for the event was to bring awareness of the history of baseball in Portland, help create excitement around the possibility of having an MLB team, and to help keep the future of Baseball in Portland strong by supporting Friends of Baseball.
I teamed up with a few design buddies who were die hard baseball fans and we dove into the project. We looked at every aspect from naming, backstory, type, logo marks, to color palette and more. There were six design teams total, each tasked with bringing the same vision to life. Drawing on our knowledge of the city and our desire to have a damn good time with a branding exercise, we decided not to take ourselves too seriously. We assumed (correctly) that most designs would fall into traditional baseball tropes, colors and iconography closely associated with the PNW, so we took a hard turn and did the opposite at every opportunity. We started with true no green, no fir trees and no Oregonian animals.
So without further adieu, may I be the first to introduce ... The Portland Californians.
I was approached by the talented folks at Jolby who wanted to keep the baseball dream alive, and imagine what the future Portland Professional Baseball team could become. The hope and vision for the event was to bring awareness of the history of baseball in Portland, help create excitement around the possibility of having an MLB team, and to help keep the future of Baseball in Portland strong by supporting Friends of Baseball.
I teamed up with a few design buddies who were die hard baseball fans and we dove into the project. We looked at every aspect from naming, backstory, type, logo marks, to color palette and more. There were six design teams total, each tasked with bringing the same vision to life. Drawing on our knowledge of the city and our desire to have a damn good time with a branding exercise, we decided not to take ourselves too seriously. We assumed (correctly) that most designs would fall into traditional baseball tropes, colors and iconography closely associated with the PNW, so we took a hard turn and did the opposite at every opportunity. We started with true no green, no fir trees and no Oregonian animals.
So without further adieu, may I be the first to introduce ... The Portland Californians.
Proceeds from the event benefited Friends of Baseball, a Portland-based charity organization whose mission is to enhance children’s lives through Baseball’s power to teach.
We've got a few Californian shirts left:
Portland Californian Merch
We've got a few Californian shirts left:
Portland Californian Merch
Design: Tim Weakland + Brandon Hrycyk + Nate Tabor
Event Concept: Jolby + Friends
Enamel Pins: Ways + Means
Pennants: Oxford Pennants
Additional team concepts: Jolby & Friends / Ryan Bubnis / Scribble Tone / Savannah Holder / Eric R. Mortensen
Photography: Julie Kasprzyk / Courtney White
Event Concept: Jolby + Friends
Enamel Pins: Ways + Means
Pennants: Oxford Pennants
Additional team concepts: Jolby & Friends / Ryan Bubnis / Scribble Tone / Savannah Holder / Eric R. Mortensen
Photography: Julie Kasprzyk / Courtney White