This week in uniforms and logos: How one firm dominates the Minor League look

One design firm helped unveil the new identities of three different Minor League Baseball franchises and we saw a few new alternate uniforms in the NBA and NHL. It's your week that was in sports logos and uniforms.

It was a very busy week for Brandiose, the San Diego-based design agency was responsible for the design and development of three new Minor League Baseball team identities. New logos, new uniforms, new colours, and in one case a whole new team, all of which were unveiled over the past seven days.

The Tuscan Padres of the Pacific Coast League (Triple-A, San Diego Padres) relocated to El Paso, Texas for the 2014 season and last Tuesday the team unveiled their new name and logos. The El Paso Chihuahuas was picked as the new moniker, beating out finalists such as the Aardvarks, Buckaroos, Desert Gators, and Sun Dogs. Chihuahuas was said to be chosen because the owner of the club wanted to "first and foremost appeal to children and families" while also "representing El Paso's spirit and fiercely-loyal community".

While the name does certainly appeal to families and children; adults (who typically spend money on baseball teams) aren't too happy. A petition has circulated 'round demanding the team change their nickname and to allow fans to have the final say on what they will be called (good luck with that!).

"El Pasoans have shown numerous reasons as to why we oppose this name, ranging from 'non-intimidating' and 'stereotypically offensive' to downright 'ugly'", reads the petition.

Whether you agree with them or not, the petition is closing in on 10,000 signatures, which is damn impressive for something like the nickname of a minor league baseball team.

As for the logos, for the name the guys at Brandiose were handed you have to admit they did a great job. The primary mark features a snarling chihuahua wearing a spiked red collar, alternate marks include crossed dog bones framing a baseball, a stylized "EP" for "El Paso" and my favourite, a tribute to their big league club in San Diego. Instead of the Swingin' Friar, you got the Swingin' Chihuahua using a dog bone as a baseball bat. Genuis.

Uniforms for the Chihuahuas are expected to be unveiled in the next few weeks, all we know at this point is that the club will have five different caps, one red and the rest black.

Sticking at the Triple-A level but over in the International League, the Charlotte Knights, the top affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, also unveiled an entirely new Brandiose-designed identity this week when they introduced their new logos and colour scheme on Thursday. The Knights had used purple and green as their colour scheme since the early 1990s, starting in 2014 it'll be black, gold, and silver; "the colours of royalty", explained the club.

The Knights new primary mark features the head of a knight (appropriately enough) wearing silver armour, flowing around his head is a golden cape positioned in the shape of a C for Charlotte. "Knights" is written below in an olde-english style font with a crown on the "H" and the "T" in the shape of a cross. The team says their inspiration for the new wordmark was the old Charlotte Hornets minor league baseball team who played in the Queen City from 1901-71.

A whole host of alternate logos and caps were also introduced along with the new primary mark, one features a knight on horseback, both decked out in full armour wielding a sword with a cape flying in the wind; another a dragon impaled by a sword to form the shape of the letter "K".  Cool.

Wrapping up Brandiose's busy week down one level is the new look of the Texas League's Arkansas Travelers (Double-A, LA Angels).

The Travelers were in need of a new look in a bad way, their previous primary logo while very unique, just... didn't work anymore. A flying "A" with a blue swoosh behind it and a slogan overhead, yes, a slogan on a logo in 2013. Most fans of good design didn't appreciate the "Greatest Game on Dirt" logo which the Travs used as their primary for the past two decades, rating it an embarrassingly low 3.3 out of 10 on SportsLogos.Net.

Replacing the "Flying A" is white horse head with a red A in front of it. It's not the greatest logo in the world, but when compared to the old look it's a masterpiece. As is the custom with a Brandiose designed logo set (as you've already learned), there's a whole whack of alternate logos that go along with the primary identity, including one which retains the infamous "Greatest Game on Dirt" slogan from the old primary. It's on an alternate now, much better, much more appropriate.

In other news...

The San Antonio Spurs unveiled a new camouflage alternate uniform "in honour of the servicemen and women of the Armed Forces", also in-part because San Antonio is nicknamed "Military City U.S.A." (you learn something new every day, folks). 

“Playing in San Antonio, we’re constantly reminded of the selflessness and courage of those that serve. We owe them a debt of gratitude and it is an honour to recognize and show support to all active and retired military members.” - Spurs guard Danny Green.

The camouflage look features nothing but the Spurs' "U" logo on the front. Jerseys will be auctioned off during the games in which they are worn with proceeds going to San Antonio Spurs based youth charities. The uniforms will be worn twice, first onNovember 13th against Washington and again on February 28th against the Charlotte Bobcats.

The New York Knicks officially unveiled their orange alternate uniform, which we had already seen courtesy a series of leaked and teaser photos of the new look in last week's post. In case you missed it, you can watch a video about the new uniforms on NBA.com

While in the NHL, the Calgary Flames made their leaked alternate uniform (which we also talked about last week) official at a fan event on Sunday. You can see photos of their new uniform here.

Chris Creamer is the creator and editor of SportsLogos.net. You can follow him on twitter at @sportslogosnet.