New Club Crest Ideas

[wilko154]

15 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

OK, here's my abbreviated version of my perspective on the FCG crest/identity discussion at VP last night -

It was a loooong chat. A guy from the design agency was leading it, and lists PSG and LOSC amongst other clubs he/the agency has recently designed for.

It was a conversation that I'm deeply passionate about, as you can imagine. Whilst one of the members began with "this'll be easy - we just go back to the round one", I was keen to emphasise that it needs deeper thought than that.

As much as the general consensus on the survey was "it was just marketing buzzwords", things made more sense when I began talking about values. As a club, we were historically pioneers and this should be an opportunity to showcase that. If we just "go back to the round one" we're the same as Chelsea and Man City - and they're a couple of Johnny Come-Latelys who want to pretend they've got heritage.

The lion is one of two constants in the history of Aston Villa. The name is the other. Personally, I'd love for our crest to be a lion with Aston Villa written below it. Maybe give the Villa more prominence than the Aston (like Paris and St Germain on their new crest).

I wouldn't have the star. Incorporating it suggests we won't win it again. Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona - no stars. Villa and Forest - stars.  Maybe feature it inside the shirt, behind the badge, or something. It has a role, just not as part of our main identity. Look at Liverpool's official crest, then look at what shows up on the front and back of the shirt. An identity can take various forms so long as they all work together.

I talked about how disjointed our visuals are in general - from Twitter to matchday to around the ground. I requested a bespoke typeface that we can own and use everywhere. I also talked about colour. As you approach VP now, there are countless banners on lampposts. Great, but the top part of them is sky blue and so is most of the crest, so they are largely invisible.  Couple that with no real clarity on what our colours are. No consistency either. My suggestion was to get a 1982 shirt, send it to a company in the US called CSI and have them created the dye recipe and reference number for that claret and that blue. That then becomes the standard.

I also talked about the prestige of the crest and the shirt. I talked a lot. Dave Woodhall was keen to support me in saying that I should be the one talking a lot! As I approach the Holte on a matchday I see the club badge in gold leaf and feel proud. As I leave VP at the end, I'm trampling all over it on burger wrappers and serviettes. It's disrespectful. The badge is our crown jewel. Treat it like that.

Same for the shirt - only the men's and women's first teams should get the main kit. All other age groups have their own version. Pro and replica should be available for sale, but you only get a Villa shirt when you're picked for the first team. It's an honour.

As much as this is my personal view on it, albeit an informed one, I also spoke about the requirements of other fans in different localities and age groups - including potential new fans seeing us for the first time and being able to know who we are. I was part of implementing the new identity of Spurs and the Italian federation, saw first-hand the mess with Everton's first go around at their new badge (and the "please everyone" version they ended up with) AND had to talk Hull City down from the cliff edge when they were looking to implement the whole "Tigers" thing. What they ended up with could've been far, far worse.

I feel like we'll get something good here, something to be proud of, so long as the surveys and feedback don't hamstring it.

A camel is a racehorse designed by committee.

You've perfectly summed up my thoughts on the crest and the recent shortcomings of the club in terms of colours, logos, stars and kits.

Thanks for representing the site; you've done us proud with this one!

[stewiek2]

15 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

 

I talked about how disjointed our visuals are in general - from Twitter to matchday to around the ground.

Totally agree with this. I actually had a designer role job interview in 2016 (didn't get it as the person they chose had photography experience), and I pointed out then that the branding wasn't locked down enough. Even now, they still use typography and styling from 2016 (good ot have the brand guide as part of my interview process  ).

On the survey when they had the page with all the different visuals and asked to describe overall I put 'brand unaligned'.

[Hev]

Does anyone remember the old pin on badges that were an actual Villan with a big chin and in a cloak ? Not that i want him as our crest but you dont seem to see it now?

[NurembergVillan]

1 minute ago, stewiek2 said:

Totally agree with this. I actually had a designer role job interview in 2016 (didn't get it as the person they chose had photography experience), and I pointed out then that the branding wasn't locked down enough. Even now, they still use typography and styling from 2016 (good ot have the brand guide as part of my interview process  ).

On the survey when they had the page with all the different visuals and asked to describe overall I put 'brand unaligned'.

Shame you didn't get the job, Stew.

My words of choice for "Other" were "disjointed" and "lazy".

[NurembergVillan]

2 minutes ago, Hev said:

Does anyone remember the old pin on badges that were an actual Villan with a big chin and in a cloak ? Not that i want him as our crest but you dont seem to see it now?

[stewiek2]

5 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

Shame you didn't get the job, Stew.

My words of choice for "Other" were "disjointed" and "lazy".

By the way Rob, which agency is leading the process?

[TheMelvillan]

3 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

Had that fella as my profile pic for a while. I like him, the sneaky wee rogue

[NurembergVillan]

9 minutes ago, stewiek2 said:

By the way Rob, which agency is leading the process?

I dunno actually mate.

[Talldarkandransome]

15 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

OK, here's my abbreviated version of my perspective on the FCG crest/identity discussion at VP last night -

It was a loooong chat. A guy from the design agency was leading it, and lists PSG and LOSC amongst other clubs he/the agency has recently designed for.

It was a conversation that I'm deeply passionate about, as you can imagine. Whilst one of the members began with "this'll be easy - we just go back to the round one", I was keen to emphasise that it needs deeper thought than that.

As much as the general consensus on the survey was "it was just marketing buzzwords", things made more sense when I began talking about values. As a club, we were historically pioneers and this should be an opportunity to showcase that. If we just "go back to the round one" we're the same as Chelsea and Man City - and they're a couple of Johnny Come-Latelys who want to pretend they've got heritage.

The lion is one of two constants in the history of Aston Villa. The name is the other. Personally, I'd love for our crest to be a lion with Aston Villa written below it. Maybe give the Villa more prominence than the Aston (like Paris and St Germain on their new crest).

I wouldn't have the star. Incorporating it suggests we won't win it again. Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona - no stars. Villa and Forest - stars.  Maybe feature it inside the shirt, behind the badge, or something. It has a role, just not as part of our main identity. Look at Liverpool's official crest, then look at what shows up on the front and back of the shirt. An identity can take various forms so long as they all work together.

I talked about how disjointed our visuals are in general - from Twitter to matchday to around the ground. I requested a bespoke typeface that we can own and use everywhere. I also talked about colour. As you approach VP now, there are countless banners on lampposts. Great, but the top part of them is sky blue and so is most of the crest, so they are largely invisible.  Couple that with no real clarity on what our colours are. No consistency either. My suggestion was to get a 1982 shirt, send it to a company in the US called CSI and have them created the dye recipe and reference number for that claret and that blue. That then becomes the standard.

I also talked about the prestige of the crest and the shirt. I talked a lot. Dave Woodhall was keen to support me in saying that I should be the one talking a lot! As I approach the Holte on a matchday I see the club badge in gold leaf and feel proud. As I leave VP at the end, I'm trampling all over it on burger wrappers and serviettes. It's disrespectful. The badge is our crown jewel. Treat it like that.

Same for the shirt - only the men's and women's first teams should get the main kit. All other age groups have their own version. Pro and replica should be available for sale, but you only get a Villa shirt when you're picked for the first team. It's an honour.

As much as this is my personal view on it, albeit an informed one, I also spoke about the requirements of other fans in different localities and age groups - including potential new fans seeing us for the first time and being able to know who we are. I was part of implementing the new identity of Spurs and the Italian federation, saw first-hand the mess with Everton's first go around at their new badge (and the "please everyone" version they ended up with) AND had to talk Hull City down from the cliff edge when they were looking to implement the whole "Tigers" thing. What they ended up with could've been far, far worse.

I feel like we'll get something good here, something to be proud of, so long as the surveys and feedback don't hamstring it.

A camel is a racehorse designed by committee.

Wow

[HKP90]

19 minutes ago, TheMelvillan said:

Had that fella as my profile pic for a while. I like him, the sneaky wee rogue

 

24 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

Is that Jimmy Hill?

[MrBlack]

1 hour ago, tomsky_11 said:

If you think that tongue is big...

I'm not suggesting the lion on it's own, just noticed the second colour detail on the original and thought using same for us but claret and blue might work in making it more unique to us. I'd get the name in there with it somehow, even if just underneath like Spurs, which again ties it to us. I guess what are the key base elements we have to have in there to make it truely and uniquely us. It's the lion, the name and the colours.

Agreed with what you say.  I was partly responding to a few other posts saying we need something unique that is identifiably us. Taking that as the lion, which is the main image we use, was my logical path. 

Your colours point is valid as a unqiue identifier when combined with a lion, but the way we use monochrome and multiple different media which don't always use the base colours, means outside of its base form it isn't identifiably us.

I think we need something that is, in any form factor. And I think our leadership want the same thing too based on what they've said.

[NurembergVillan]

14 minutes ago, Talldarkandransome said:

Wow

Is that good or bad?

[Talldarkandransome]

48 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

Is that good or bad?

Very good, for me you've just put into words what most people have been unable to articulate, me included 

[His Name Is Death]

1 hour ago, stewiek2 said:

By the way Rob, which agency is leading the process?

If PSG and LOSC are previous clients, then surely it's Dragon Rouge?

[The Fun Factory]

1 hour ago, NurembergVillan said:

That is the Villa Villan. Think that first appeared in the old cigarette cards in the 1930's. I got an unofficial t shirt years ago with it drawn by Norman Hood. It was a good drawing but the quality of the shirt was a bit crap. I think the club tried to bring it back on some official merch a few years ago but obviously didn't gain traction.

Personally think could be a more interesting logo/mascot than Hercules but its perilously close looking to the hamburgler though.

[Aston_Villan4]

2 hours ago, Hev said:

Does anyone remember the old pin on badges that were an actual Villan with a big chin and in a cloak ? Not that i want him as our crest but you dont seem to see it now?

Hell yeah. It’s my profile picture.

[CarryOnVilla]

From a design perspective, the whole club’s branding is wonky donkey at best. Much like the on the pitch antics, the branding doesn’t have any clear top to bottom identity. It’s a hot poch () of ideas. Mostly a little change here and there over time.. so now we got conflicts of design ideas, from the website, to the match day programs, to the social media templates to the signs, the banners, the shop, the kits and badge. 

When the new badge is designed, I want an overhaul of the entire branding of the club. A look and a feel that is 100% Aston Villa all the way through the visual range. 

historic, cutting edge, professional 

Edited August 26, 2022 by CarryOnVilla

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

10 minutes ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

Hell yeah. It’s my profile picture.

Legit only just realised this after you highlighted.

Always thought it was just something random abstract. lol

[nepal_villan]

2 hours ago, stewiek2 said:

By the way Rob, which agency is leading the process?

If it's the one that did PSG and LOSC then it would be Dragon Rouge.  Here is their PSG case study and their LOSC case study.  They also did the French League.  Looking at the examples, what I like about them is that they seem to work on the total visual identity and not just the logo, so we can expect a very integrated design concept.

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by nepal_villan

[MrBlack]

Looking at a few of the slogans used in their work suggests "better never stops" was part of Dragon Rouge's influence starting to take effect.

Which, if it is, bodes well for the prospects of us having a unified media presence that starts with a logo that aligns to it all.

Whilst more of what we're hoping to achieve needs to start happening on the pitch sooner rather than later, having a professional looking brand behind it will help us both get there and stay there. 

Can't wait to see what their seemingly very creative experts make of the information they're getting from the surveys and focus groups. Sounds like they work pretty quickly too, so shouldn't have to wait too long to see the outcome.