As ESPN enters its 29th consecutive season of Major League Baseball coverage, the company continues to find fresh and innovative ways to present baseball to a national audience. In addition to K-Zone 3D updates and a historically diverse Sunday Night Baseball telecast team (its first Hispanic male and female combination – Alex Rodriguez and Jessica Mendoza), ESPN‘s Creative Services department and its MLB production team have worked diligently to create a new, unique look for its baseball programming this season.
Barry Rahmy, ESPN senior director, Project Design and Animation, explained the vision:
“To distinguish our new MLB look from other broadcasters and our own previous identity, we abandoned depictions of monumental architecture, such as stadiums and scoreboards, for a deep collection of personal objects and nostalgic memorabilia,” said Rahmy. “The process of knolling — arraying the objects along parallel or 90-degree angles — gives each new graphic and animation its distinctive, ordered appearance. The end result is a complete visual identity that honors the rich history of Major League Baseball in a manner that’s fresh and modern.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: ESPN’s MLB season-opening schedule will feature 10 games over six days with multiple appearances by the defending World Series Champion Houston Astros, including their home opener and banner reveal on April 2. It all begins on Thursday, March 29, with four games and more than 13 consecutive hours of Opening Day coverage on ESPN presented by Coca-Cola starting at noon ET.
