Since 2003, the Lancaster Barnstormers, members of the impartial Atlantic League of Skilled Baseball, have had a visible model that displays the idyllic environs of Pennsylvania’s Amish nation. Their emblem has portrayed a static barn underscored by a swooping baseball.

One of many oldest logos within the league, the staff felt it was time to maneuver away from the peaceable imagery of their longtime model.

“The barn, while it has to do with Lancaster and the agriculture and everything, it’s not the fiercest, most menacing type of mark,” mentioned Lauren Zuckerman, Lancaster’s Director of Advertising and marketing.

That change got here at this time when the staff unveiled a brand new, abbreviated identify, with an electrical (actually) suite of logos that paint a really totally different image. The identification, created by Skye Design Studios, incorporates a bull with a lightning bolt throughout its brow crashing by wooden and a looming barn set in opposition to the backdrop of an electrical storm.

Whereas Lancaster, Pennsylvania, could be identified for rolling hills and delightful countryside, the choice to rebrand with a extra aggressive identification was about conveying the angle of the staff.

“At the end of the day, this is a baseball team, these are professional athletes,” mentioned Skye Dillon of Skye Design Studios. “This is about generating excitement and in a lot of ways creating something strong and dynamic that creates excitement.”

And the Stormers have a purpose to boast with a robust identification.

“The team has won four championships—two back to back,” Zuckerman mentioned. “So we are a very strong team and we wanted something that represents that, something that other teams should be scared of.”

Whereas the phrase “Barn” is gone from the staff’s nickname, the barn itself remains to be there within the new suite of marks—solely this time with a bit extra sizzle. A roundel options the barn withstanding a nighttime electrical storm.

One other emblem within the suite incorporates a wordmark—a mix of Pennsylvania Dutch calligraphy mixed with daring, aggressive block font, per Dillon—set underneath a barn. On this occasion, the barn is portrayed with its doorways open, intimating {that a} storm has blown them open or that animals could come charging out.

The method of rebranding the Barnstormers started in 2015 when Skye Design labored with the staff on an All Star emblem. The rebrand mission, which Dillon dubbed “Storming Forward,” was shelved for practically a decade till the staff determined the time was proper. After exploring choices that concerned various cattle, a couple of human characters, and an anthropomorphic mix harvester, the staff settled on a bull for the vitality it conveys.

“Instinctively when we started the process, the close-to-the-vest option was doing this whimsical character that felt right at home in Amish country,” Dillon mentioned.

Finally, collaboration and conversations over the course of practically a decade led to the model that was unveiled at this time.

“We landed on the bull for a lot of great reasons, but it was certainly not our first choice initially,” Dillon mentioned. “It took the entire process to really discover as a team that was the right solution.”

Whereas this new identification is a departure for the staff, there are particular points of the model that will probably be acquainted to followers. The colour palette is basically unchanged, and a script L that serves because the staff’s cap emblem will stay in use.

Even the brand new identify itself is one which locals will acknowledge.

“Stormers has kind of been the nickname that people have been using to shorten Barnstormers pretty much the whole time the team has been around,” Zuckerman mentioned. “We wanted to make sure we weren’t completely changing the name or losing the identity of the team, so this was a great way to modernize it.”

The Stormers will take to the sector when Atlantic League play begins April 25, 2024.