‘MLB on TBS’ reimagines the baseball diamond with standout structural, virtual and AR elements

Turner Sports worked with Big Block to create the new overall on-air design of the “MLB on TBS,” which the league wanted to leverage as a way to draw younger viewers into the sport.

View on Giphy

“Baseball has so much nostalgia in it and we’ve always in the past kind of kept that in our mind as we designed, whether it’s a set or graphics. In this case, we wanted to kind of take a big leap forward and not dismiss nostalgia but maybe find ways to use it in a more contemporary, more modern way,” explained Jordan Shorthouse, VP, creative director at Turner Sports.

As a result, materials such as baseball hat material, jersey material and highly realistic embroidery are combined with references to structural elements and materials such as girders and trusswork, the vertical slats in a rotating billboard and a variety of wall and other surfaces — many of which are direct references to the scenic elements on set. 

Advertisement

A literal interpretation of a baseball boosts up the imperfections that make each ball unique, while bright red threads wave their way across the screen, which was part of Big Block’s approach of animating with a “new, fresh kind of unique contemporary way.” 

“The other thing we wanted to do with this package is come up with something that had a lot of components,” noted Shorthouse. “When you have a package like this… after the first season you’re kind of tired of it or you see the fade transition run a thousand times. We tried to come up with as many unique sandboxes as we could. So you’re going to see all kinds of materials, all kinds of transitions being used.”

Type-wise, the design uses Knockout for headlines and Roboto for information graphics. 

View on Giphy

Turner Sports has stuck with its previous design for the insert and scoring graphics, similar to Turner’s recent rebranding of the “NBA on TNT.”

“You see a lot of packages that are extremely flat and simple, leaning into like phone graphics for readability,” said Shorthouse. “Our MLB insert system leans into that but also adds just the right amount of shading and texture to give it some production value.”

Motion Graphics

MLB on TBS

View a gallery of this project…

Project Credits

Turner Sports
Steve Fiorello – VP, Coordinating Director
Jordan Shorthouse – VP, Creative Director

Scenic Design – Clickspring Design
Emmett Aiello – Chief Creative Officer
Christine de Witte – Senior Design Director
Tristan James – Project Manager
Donna Lee – Rendering and Design
Jodie Golla – Drafting Production Manager
Lauren Fremgen and Mike Kaukl- Drafting and Design

Lighting Design – The Lighting Design Group
Niel Galen – Senior Designer
Eric Kasprisin – Gaffer
Teddy Sosna – Programmer
David Cook – Project Coordinator

Fabrication – Chicago Scenic Studios, Dimensional Worldwide, Turner Studios and PRG

AV Integration – PRG

Motion Design – Big Block with Turner Sports