Urban street-style graphic tee to bring Bronx flare to the Somerset Patriots.
Designer, Art Director
Photography by Hannah Ally
Purpose
The Somerset Patriots became the New York Yankees’ Double-A affiliate in the 2021 offseason. It was easy for the Patriots to embrace and connect to Yankees’ Pinstripe Pride. But Somerset needed to embrace the Bronx. Just over 50 miles away from Yankee Stadium, TD Bank Ballpark needed to feel part of the New York experience.
Inspiration
Process
“The future stars of tomorrow, today!”
The tee needed to be a blend of the longstanding tradition of the Yankees while leaning into modern, urban trends. I kept to the traditional Yankee/Patriot blue and white in a serif typeface, but chose to blend it out into a gradient to give the effect of street art. The photos of the individual players were chosen to represent their personal characters. They were layered and edited to be treated the same.
Final
Adobe Photoshop, Screen Printed
Tee in team store
Bailey Dees & Zach Messinger
Me with final product
Beyond
This is one of my most meticulous projects. While I had great creative freedom, I was under a restricted length of time with the MLB All-Star break approaching. I also had to work under specific MiLB and MLB trademarking rules.
This project greatly improved my layering and shadow work. Additionally, knowing that the shirt was going to be sold (to an audience as passionate as Yankee fans) introduced a new pressure to my process.