Project Type:
Buffalo Bisons Rebrand
Deliverables:
1 Primary, Secondary, and Word Type Logo Design/Brand Guide
1 Hat produced; 2 Digitally Mocked Up (Home/Away)
2 Uniform Digital Mockups (Home/Away)
1 T-Shirt Toss Design Produced
1 Custom Dorm Banner Produced
1 Prototyped Website Homepage (Roster, Merch, and Schedule Page)
3 Environmental Graphic Digital Mockups (Flagpole Banner, Seating Map Display, and 1 Extra Stadium Signage)
1 Baseball Trading Card Design; 50 Produced
1 Game Day Ticket Produced
Social Media (6 Instagram Tiles/ Promos)
1 Program (3 Ads/ Promos, Schedule, and Roster, Stadium Seating Map) Produced
Description:
This page displays an original trading pin created for Penn College of Technology’s Le Jeune Chef and the 2025 Little League World Series. The project objectives were to develop a visually engaging design that represents both the culinary program and the event, while managing the production process from concept to final product. The work demonstrates skills in illustration, branding, and collaboration with a vendor, ensuring that the pin is both aesthetically appealing and suitable for manufacturing and distribution.
Proposal
Many sports teams struggle with knowing when it is time for their brands to be updated and to feel more on trend, usually involving a fear of becoming unrecognizable to their current fanbase, but also wanting to grow and attract new fans with more of a modern feel. The Buffalo Bisons are a Triple-A Minor League Baseball team and the affiliate of the Major League Baseball Team, the Toronto Blue Jays. The team has honored the Bison for decades as their main mascot and primary brand element due to being a sentimental creature to Buffalo’s culture. However, they have not updated their current logo since 2013, making it outdated and ready for a brand refresh. As a potential solution, I strive to create a rebrand for the Buffalo Bisons that balances the team’s sentimental tradition, rooted history, and identity, while incorporating more of a modern sports design. I am going to keep the team’s current color scheme due to its rich history with the organization; however, I am updating the team’s primary and secondary logo and typography to have the overall visual language fit more of our current times.
The rebrand will be applied across a wide range of design components, with each component being thoughtfully designed to enhance fan engagement and maintain consistency across signage, merchandise, promotional materials, and digital experiences. There will be precise attention to detail and specific methods, like digital mockups, before any production is made. The digital mockups will help allow for careful consideration of scalability and usability to ensure the brand performs effectively in professional sports branding environments.
The target audience for the Buffalo Bisons rebrand is sports fans of all ages within the Buffalo area, as well as sports fans nationwide, making flexibility essential in the design system. This project aims to appeal to both loyal fans who value the team’s legacy and rooted history, as well as bring in new fans drawn to a bold, up-to-date aesthetic. By balancing tradition with modern design principles, the rebrand will strengthen the Buffalo Bisons’ identity, elevate fan connection, and make the organization more recognizable and competitive presence within Minor League Baseball and the sports industry.
Project Objectives
To independently research, design, and produce a logo system (primary and secondary logos), a hat, 2 jersey mockups, a program, a website homepage, a game day ticket, a baseball trading card, 6 Instagram tiles/promos, and 3 environmental graphics (flagpole banner, seating map display, and a billboard for the highway) for the Buffalo Bisons rebrand.
To develop a cohesive and versatile brand system that reflects the energy, competitiveness, and tradition of professional baseball.
To apply graphic design principles like typography, color theory, hierarchy, layout, and composition to create visually effective and functional designs across both print and digital formats.
To create and produce a cohesive design system throughout physical, digital, and environmental deliverables.
To evaluate my rebrand design decisions from peer and professor critique, as well as self-reflection, to improve the work throughout the semester.
To plan and manage my calendar specifically to have the proper sequence of design elements, like physical production to digital designs.
To analyze historical parts of the Buffalo Bisons franchise to make sure to respect for the integrity of the already established brand.
To strengthen my presentation and communication skills by clearly describing all my deliverables and the rationale for the Buffalo Bisons rebrand.
PROGRAM
