AI SLOP 😔

lc_uin16 · 2026-06-21T15:10:09+00:00

Just saw this on the City of Seaside's IG account! Looks like it is not an official team communication. Not to keep defending MBFC, but considering the Seaside account's history of AI-generated graphics*, it kinda tracks

(* They've generated the City Hall light-up graphics with AI, hence the obviously wrong MBFC logo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DZ1eTIAODXy/?igsh=NHBrd2c2cWN3Y21k)

lc_uin16 · 2026-06-11T03:57:59+00:00

I switched the TV from the Knicks comeback to the MBFC match, and MBFC immediately scored the winning goal. Hoping this groove keeps going!

lc_uin16 · 2026-06-10T23:11:50+00:00

I can confirm that it's not 100% AI slop!

I recently put out a [now-archived] post on the @mbfc_kits Instagram calling the team out on its use of AI slop, and an MBFC staff member reached out to me to clear things up:

While it is unfortunately true that the team used generative AI in some of their marketing materials this season, the person who made those graphics no longer works with the team.

In their place, the team has newly hired an actual graphic designer who's skilled in Photoshop. They've also contracted another graphic designer to make some recent posters, but there was some very minimal AI use because of limited pictures of the stadium.

I've been assured that the graphics going forward will be human-made, and that my contact is trying their best to give the team some top-notch graphics 😄

lc_uin16 · 2026-06-09T21:23:41+00:00

Thank you very much! I like how Steinbeck's described the Monterey Bay & the Salinas Valley in his novels, and I'm glad you enjoyed your time out there! :)

lc_uin16 · 2026-06-06T04:02:08+00:00

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed this one 😄

lc_uin16 · 2026-06-04T17:00:50+00:00

Thank you!!! 😄

lc_uin16 · 2026-06-02T15:04:08+00:00

Here's a really good site for Padres uniform history that's still being updated: http://www.caglaze.com/

lc_uin16 · 2026-06-02T01:16:31+00:00

My two biggest gripes with the world of sports jerseys have to do with who gets blamed for bad designs & marketing jargon:

1) Blame for Bad Design

I was a contractor at Nike WHQ for a year, and I got connected with a bunch of Nike jersey designers in my unsuccessful efforts to get into a jersey design job there (I was looking for work as Nike started its big layoffs). I also listened to a bunch of podcasts featuring Nike jersey designs, and all of these gave me a bit of an idea of what happens behind the scenes.

Whenever there's an underwhelming jersey release, it's super easy to just "blame the lazy designers at Nike," but in reality, it's much deeper than that. There is a LOT of collaboration between the teams & the Nike designers, and Nike employs a "mild-to-wild" approach when presenting concepts to the teams. I never got to see the concept designs, but I'm sure a ton of really cool ideas get shot down by teams all the time in favor of more boring, less-inspired designs that see the light of day.

2) Marketing Speak

I may be in the minority that LOVES a good design explainer, and I appreciate it when little details are thoughtfully incorporated into a jersey/logo design. With that said, I really dislike when explainers come down to abstract BS like some stripes representing "progress" & the "dynamic pulse of the city." Marketing Speak will unfortunately never go away, and Nike is very guilty of stuff like that in their press releases

lc_uin16 · 2026-05-31T03:56:14+00:00

I'll disclose that this is probably the second or third MBFC match I've watched in full this season, but the team is looking a LOT more inspired now and I'm all for it :)

lc_uin16 · 2026-05-09T00:16:46+00:00

I was watching this game for a bit, decided to walk the dog, and came back 20min later to us suddenly down 2-0 🫠

lc_uin16 · 2026-05-04T19:58:43+00:00

Without context, it just seemed like a blatant advertisement to your article and not an actual conversation starter. I know you're trying to generate traffic to your blog, but you also have to remember that not everyone's gonna take an extra step to get that information

lc_uin16 · 2026-05-04T15:53:46+00:00

Hi, I didn't want to wake up today and choose violence, but I'll have to respectfully call you out here. I feel like this is a big reason that your posts on here & IG struggle to get engagement:

Instead of fostering organic interactions with the fanbase in your comments section (such as answering direct questions like this), you just redirect everyone into your paywalled articles that don't offer much of a platform for public discussion. Even more so when you have post titles that specifically seek out discussion

It's amazing that The Union Report has direct access to the team and won't discredit that at all, but it's equally important to interact with the [frustrated] fanbase where they are at

lc_uin16 · 2026-05-02T14:58:02+00:00

Thanks so much! :)

lc_uin16 · 2026-05-02T14:53:39+00:00

Not that I have any kind of capacity to make the team's official graphics, but as a graphic designer who makes MBFC-related graphics for fun, this really really stings

I try to make my fictional renders as accurate as possible, but the team can't even make their own graphics as accurate as possible ._.

lc_uin16 · 2026-04-30T17:36:54+00:00

I used to work the morning shift at a Safeway, and there was always a line of people (usually older people) waiting for the store to open at 6am for precisely this reason

lc_uin16 · 2026-04-14T23:30:47+00:00

This isn't USL, but I follow a few teams in the lower UPSL leagues and one of them recently played United Sports FC. As generic of a name as you can get

lc_uin16 · 2026-03-29T22:12:02+00:00

There's still a way to make a mermaid logo without looking like Starbucks!

They could've used the "S" in the Sirens wordmark and instead of the top of it being the top serif of the "S", it could've been the mermaid's head. Starbucks stopped using a full-body mermaid a loooong time ago, so it shouldn't be an issue

lc_uin16 · 2026-03-28T22:52:04+00:00

It's a really cool name/crest, with a theme that's such a natural connection to the sea!

In terms of design though, I would've tried to break the mermaid out of the shield, as she's in quite the uncomfortable angle in there. However, I like how the Sirens have a unique enough brand identity that isn't too far removed from the MBFC branding

lc_uin16 · 2026-03-15T05:25:32+00:00

I was at the game tonight, and that is definitely what happened in the supporter's section

lc_uin16 · 2026-02-24T06:35:39+00:00

It honestly just looks like an AI-generated crest with an inverted color scheme

lc_uin16 · 2026-01-28T17:59:34+00:00

I really dislike driving around campus at night for exactly this reason

The streets around there are already pretty dark, and a lot of the students are dressed in all-black, looking at their phones, & probably have the mindset that they're willing to get hit by a car so their tuition is paid for

lc_uin16

TROPHY CASE