Broad Street Bullies Banana Ball Team
With the recent rise in popularity of the Savannah Bananas, I decided to create a Philadelphia Banana Ball team.
Introducing the Broad Street Bullies!
I conceptualized this brand identity and implemented it into collateral such as uniforms, merchandise, and advertising.
Branding
Moodboards
When creating my mood boards I wanted to convey the spirit that makes Philadelphia sports culture so special. When thinking about Philly sports I came up with some keywords to help me guide my imagery. Some of these included words like; unapologetic, gritty, community, and energy.
Moodboards
I wanted to incorporate Philadelphia’s Broad Street into my brand identity because it is the major artery through the city. It is also the first place Philly sports fans go to celebrate their victories.
Style Tile
My pattern making inspiration came from the shape that Broad Street creates when it circles around Philadelphia’s City Hall. I had a lot of fun experimenting with the scale of this shape when designing my deliverables.
I also used a concrete road texture to add dimension to my designs.
Pattern Making
Philadelphia was at the heart of every design decision I made in this process. I traced the public transportation map to create an interesting background for whatever promotional designs I needed.
Final Logos
Sketches
In true Banana Ball Fashion, I needed a funky mascot to bring the team to life. I wanted a figure that was funny but bold and competitive looking.
I had a lot of fun messing around with mascot illustrative style and getting the right facial expression on the dog to convey a competitive but not scary nature.
Logo Development
The use of a pitbull as the mascot was a perfect encapsulation of Philadelphia. Philly is seen as rough on the edges with rowdy sports fans, but on the inside it is a very communal, loving city where people look out for each other.
Pitbulls also have a reputation for being very aggressive and angry, meanwhile most of them are very sweet dogs.
Symbolism
I created a custom font for the identity that matched that gritty, bold feel that I wanted for the team. I named it Bullies Banana Ball Sans.
I wanted the font to emulate a stamp-like texture, so I created the letters out of blocky shapes and added texture to look like ink dripping from a freshly pressed stamp.
Font Development
Uniforms
Personally, I love a pinstripe. So I knew I had to include a pinstripe home uniform for the teams. I also wanted to nod at the Philadelphia Phillies iconic pinstripe home uniforms. I based the base colors of both my jerseys off pitbulls, which generally tend to be brown or grey.
Home Uniforms
The away uniforms consist of the brands brown color as a base with blue trim on the jersey. For both uniforms I added a mud splatter texture to look like dogs who are not afraid to get dirty.
Away Uniforms
Merchandise & Collateral
Philadelphia has a very prideful sports culture. I wanted to convey that in my advertising. To do this I used more possessive language and paid homage to Broad Street, one of the major arteries of the city.
I also used this direction in my social media posts to get fans excited about the team.
Advertising
Social Media
This was a valuable experience for me because it pushed me to put as much intentionality into my designs as I could. Every decision had a Philadelphia aspect behind it. This process helped me practice brand consistency within my own brand, but also in upholding the standards of the Banana Ball franchise.
Photoshop
Illustrator
Software Used:
Joe Bosack