Saskatoon Berries baseball team logo is a dream come true for graphic designer | CBC News

“We have a feeling everyone’s going to want a slice of us,” the Saskatoon Berries baseball team said in a social media post that ran with a video of a pie being divided and served to reveal their new logo on the pie plate.

The dark purple logo of an angry Saskatoon berry with a hat on backwards and a baseball bat was launched Thursday morning, 14 days after the team’s name was chosen through online polls. The post on X, formerly known as Twitter, has had almost 320,000 views and more than more 900 likes.

Steve Hildebrand, the senior vice president of Sask Entertainment Group (SEG), which owns the team, said staff brainstormed ideas and that the final design is thanks to their in-house designer Brad McLeod.

McLeod, the creative content manager for SEG, also works on the Saskatoon Blades Western Hockey League team, the Rush of the National Lacrosse League, and other content for the company.

McLeod said he’s excited that the online response to his design has been mostly positive because even though the Berries was the most popular name – chosen by fans – it still had some naysayers. In the final vote, fans had four choices: Cobra Chickens, Bridge Pigeons, River Pirates and Berries.

He was thinking people might hate the logo, but to his relief that hasn’t been the case. 

Instead McLeod said, he’s seen “a lot of comments saying the logo helped change their opinion or win them over or make them get what we were doing a little more.”

Since the logo release there’s been lots of support, with even Premier Scott Moe posting his approval on the social media site X.

For McLeod, part of the challenge was the tight turnaround on the design because he didn’t know what he would be working with until after the name polls closed. 

He came up with several designs and was glad the cartoon won. 

McLeod, who got his start designing in high school, said it’s exciting to see his work being featured on real teams now.

“I was really into those websites and they had things where you could submit jersey designs for people to see,” said McLeod. “I never really thought of it as a career for a long time.”

There’s a lot of work left to do for the Berries, according to McLeod. They still need to decide on a jersey design and what certain merchandise will look like, but this logo has been a dream come true for him.

Hildebrand said they are hoping to roll out the new merchandise at the end of September or the beginning of October.

The baseball team is a new member of the Western Canadian Baseball League and they’ll make their debut in spring 2024.