The Texas League’s Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals unveiled their first rebrand since the team debuted in 2008. The new look preserves the team’s nickname, based on their home state’s slogan, “The Natural State,” and introduces a suite of new logos created by Torch Creative.
“As we set out on this project almost 18 months ago, we had a few key goals in mind,” said Naturals VP/General Manager Justin Cole in a statement. “The first [was] maintaining strong ties to our past, so that meant not completely abandoning all aspects of the brand that we love. The other two main goals were vibrancy and variety.”
That vibrancy can be found in a bright new colour palette, which is an updated version of the team’s previous look (above), while the variety is highlighted in a series of alternate logos (below). Most of the alternates feature a customized letter N or the outline of the state of Arkansas containing landscape elements from the primary logo.
“We felt the location of the team and the surrounding visual setting provided a rich array of elements to choose from and incorporate into our initial design concepts,” said Brad Bishop, who owns Torch Creative, LLC, with Michael Thurman. “We focused on delivering a clean aesthetic and brand package that effectively married all elements together, whether used in conjunction with each other or individually.”
One notable alternate features a rooster, a wink and a nod to chicken purveyor Tyson Foods, headquartered in the team’s hometown of Springdale, Arkansas. The Naturals have highlighted chickens in their brand previously—they’ve played “What Might Have Been” games as the Thunder Chickens, which was the runner-up in their 2008 name-the-team contest, and in 2019, the team introduced an alternate Growlin’ Chickens brand.
The new-look Naturals will first take the field Friday, April 5, 2024, at home against the Tulsa Drillers.
