Starting in 2012, Yokohama DeNA BayStars adopted the Ballpark Transformation Concept aimed to make the home stadium/Yokohama Stadium feel closer to citizens so that they can be proud of it. With our office next to the stadium, and as well as our special passion for the city of Yokohama, we participated in promoting this concept from its initial stages.
In this project, our design strategy was not the branding of the baseball team but the branding of Yokohama, and we encouraged the rebranding based on this strategy.
We aimed to foster civic pride by relating to the identity of Yokohama, a port city brimming with exotic charm and a pioneering spirit, and turning the baseball team into something closer to its citizens.
A significant background to this strategy was the unique history of the city of Yokohama. Its history as a city was relatively short, as Yokohama emerged with the opening of its port about 150 years ago. As a result, the port town has a rare Western influence to it from its early history. Furthermore, the opening of the Yokohama port was at the same time as when the baseball culture in the U.S. was starting to emerge. In other words, the Baystars are the only baseball team in Japan that, by pursuing a hometown identity, can embody the atmosphere of the good old days in the U.S, the country of where baseball originated from, and can get the closest to the essence of baseball.