San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants have come a long way over more than a hundred years of history. The team began play in 1883 as the New York Gothams. Two years later, they changed their name to the New York Giants. During those early seasons, the team experimented with different color palettes, using black, blue, red, brown, and even pink. In 1916, the Giants became the only team to ever wear a plaid uniform. They would first use their iconic black-and-orange combo in 1933. Even so, the Giants would wear royal and sometimes red from 1936 through 1946. From there, the Giants brand returned to black and orange in 1947 and has used that palette since. The next big change was in 1958, when the Giants moved out of New York along with the biggest rival, the Dodgers. While the Dodgers went to Los Angeles, the Giants would relocate to northern California and become the San Francisco Giants. The San Francisco Giants did not stray design-wise from those late New York years, only changing the type from black outlined in orange to orange outlined in black. During the 1970s however, teams were trading in their flannel uniforms for double-knit polyester. The Giants made their most radical changes since moving to the Bay Area, switching their Tuscan GIANTS wordmark for a script on the home jerseys and replacing the road greys with an orange jersey and white pants as well as an alternate black jersey after the first season with the new gear. The team would tone things down in 1983, replacing their script with a slab serif GIANTS wordmark and bringing back the road greys but with their SF logo on the left chest. In 1994, the Giants revived their original SF logo and returned the full SAN FRANCISCO wordmark to the road jerseys. Those changes would be a stepping stone for their 2000 brand refresh, which saw the additions of an updated secondary block typeface to pair with the Tuscan GIANTS wordmark, cream home uniforms, and gold accents, giving the look a warmer tone. Outside of a few tweaks and additional jerseys, the Giants’ brand has remained very consistent since. My Giants rebrand represents a significant change from the branding of the past, but also pays close attention to the team’s traditions. The new primary logo features a seal against a roundel format with black, orange, gold, cream, and grey completing the color palette. The seal represents the city’s native species as well as the Giants’ mascot, Lou Seal. The seal also appears by itself as a sleeve patch. The updated cap logo combines a tall S with the two horizontal strokes of the F flanking the S to the right. A script G and the traditional interlocking SF fill out the logo set. The wordmarks are rendered in the same tall font as the cap logo, with the numerals in a stout block font. All of the typography has a subtle drop shadow to the lower right. The two primary caps feature the new SF mark on a black crown, with options of a black or orange brim. The home uniform retains the cream base color, but with two-color headspoon and sleeve piping and the SF mark on the left chest. The road greys make the headspoon and sleeve piping consistent, which their current away uniforms lack, and also add a flannel texture to the grey base color. The throwback uniforms blend nuances of a few eras on a white base with the classic SF mark on a black cap. The home alternates match the orange-brimmed cap to an orange jersey with black typography and GIANTS across the chest, while the away alternate paired a black jersey with orange type and trim with the flannel grey pants. The black jerseys can also be used with black pants for a home night alternate. Lastly, the batting practice jerseys bring back the 1916 plaid against an orange base with a upward tilted wordmark. It is worn with the BP cap, which features a black crown, orange bill, and script-G alternate logo.