Mariners unveil 2023 All-Star Game logo
SEATTLE -- Fittingly and literally, it’s peak Pacific Northwest.
The Mariners on Friday unveiled the 2023 All-Star Game logo ahead of their second-half opener against the Astros. It was a fireworks night and the team entered play on a 14-game winning streak, creating a sold-out atmosphere for the big reveal.
The illustration incorporates the Mariners’ branding and an iteration of their throwback font, but it goes well beyond the team’s branding by encapsulating the Seattle skyline, whitecapped Mount Rainier, evergreen trees and more, all adorned in mostly Northwest Green. Other elements include the logo’s five corners, representing the PNW’s five-state region, and the compass star pointing Northwest. The Space Needle is purposefully tucked within the trees to show how closely connected the city and the mountains are.
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“It made sense that there was some Seattle imagery, but we wanted to have something that at least referenced what makes the Pacific Northwest special, some nod to our five-state region,” Mariners president of business operations Catie Griggs said.
The creation process began last fall, shortly after T-Mobile Park was announced as the site for the 2023 Midsummer Classic. Griggs and members of the Mariners’ marketing staff collaborated with Major League Baseball on illustrations, walking through everything from overall feel to colors to themes. From there, the MLB’s design team spent the next few months creating multiple design looks, which culminated with the one revealed on Friday.
“When you look at the different components of it, for us, Seattle is really unique in that you've got this very tech-centric, future-centric city,” Griggs said. “But it’s right up against the mountains, the water, all of the incredible hiking that we have in our area. And so we wanted to show that sort of the two different sides of Seattle in a single image, and so that's what came together.”
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Seattle has twice hosted the All-Star Game -- in 1979 at the Kingdome and in 2001 at T-Mobile Park -- and they’re hoping that next summer’s event is just as memorable. They believe that the logo is a reflection of that.
“It’s also the type of mark that can live in a lot of different places,” Griggs said. “You can picture it as a patch you put on a backpack to go hiking or a sticker you can throw on your water bottle. It'll be great on T-shirts and hats. For us, it's not just about creating a mark that you can put on board one place or lives on press releases. This is about something we really want to see out in the market.”