New Club Crest Ideas

[nick76]

10 hours ago, rooster85 said:

Propably the best known Polish graphic designer who specializes in creating and redesigning sport logos said about the options that in the first one the shield didn't match to the lion. I asked him about this, he replied that the lion paws didn't have even distances to the shield's edges. Also that the lion had a lot of details while the shield was simple. He understood the graphic dillemas, because he had created a similar crest (see it here), but he had tried to arrange elements on the crest more precisely. Nevertheless he would choose that option, because the round crest was just to similar to other crests in PL.

This reminds me of those art museums where the average person looks sees some of the art in there and think what the hell.  A pile of bricks displayed as an art exhibit selling for $1m or blobs of paint in some random form on a paintings lauded by art critics as priceless yet to the average job looks like something their child could do.  I look at that link and think his crest is pretty boring and would be very disappointed with it but I’m sure in designer world it’s brilliant.  

This badge though isn’t about what designers think is the best, it’s about 2 things 1) what the majority fans want and 2) what the club needs in terms of a better marketing badge.  Neither of those things are likely or were ever going to be a designers dream.  

I do think some of the fans versions of the badge were better than these two options but even then I’m not sure the design world would be wowed.

[Teale's 'tache]

As a designer (of sorts), I thought I'd share my insights on these designs and maybe try and explain a few bits and pieces.

Firstly, I don't see anything fundamentally wrong with either of the designs, which is good, as we've had issues previously, they are solid if not particularly spectacular.

I wanted us to be brave with the new crest and do something different to make us stand out and really represent us and our history, I don't think either of these designs really do that, but I think that's because what I wanted and the brief the designers were given were different. Fan engagement is commendable, but it's always going to hamstring the designer when so many restrictions are set in place. It must have the whole name, it must have a lion, it must have a star, it must be in these colours, the more restrictions, the less room for real creativity to flourish.

I don't know if the font-face is custom made or just something slightly adjusted, it's okay, it's legible and has some character, but it kind of sits between two stools of being neither modern nor retro, it's safe, it will be interesting to see if it's used elsewhere in our marketing or just restricted to the crest.

The lions are fine, an evolution of the old one, a bit cartoony on the more detailed one for my taste, but nothing wrong with it, it's safe. The only bold design choice on either badge is the switching direction of the lion, and considering all the restrictions in place it was the only real bold design choice they were allowed to make. It will take a little while to get used to, but I understand the reasoning. I'm going to disagree with the Polish guy slightly in terms of having the paws equal spacing from the badge/circle edge, it would be nice for the distances to be equal, but not at cost of having the lion look weird, if you stretch the arm to fit it will look too long, so then you have to get in to moving/changing the whole lion just to accommodate this one lot of spacing, it would be nice, but not essential for me.

In terms of the shapes, the "gas lamp" shape doesn't really look enough like a gas lamp, to anyone who doesn't know anything about Villa there's no chance by looking at it that you'd come to the conclusion that it is a gas lamp, however, it's not really that important, it's a nice enough shape, it looks like a shield yes, but it's a different shape to most other shields out there, so it's at least unique in that regard. The circle is fine, but it's overused in crest design and the safe option, I'd imagine if there was no fan engagement there'd be no circle, but it is what it is.

The star bugs me on both badges, I'm not going to get into a debate about if we should have it, just how it's being used on these designs. It's too small, you resize either crest down even slightly and it's completely lost. It ruins the balance of both designs. A good design will have balance, and balance is usually achieved by having symmetry, or as much symmetry as you can. In the case of these designs we have a few elements bringing symmetry, the shapes are both symmetrical, and 'Aston Villa' is nice and symmetrical as well. The lion obviously is not, and that's fine not everything has to be, just enough to have balance. What's frustrating is the star as a shape is symmetrical if you have it in the center of the design, but just plonked there to the right it ruins the balance, and it's too small to be of any use, just feels like they didn't really know what to do with it.

I think they are both safe designs, mainly because of the restrictions put it in place from all the consultations, which is not what I personally wanted but they are both an improvement. I think we've missed an opportunity for revolution and ended up not really having much of an evolution either.

The circle will most likely win the vote, because of nostalgia as much as anything else, and I'll be happy enough having grown up with the previous circular badge, but the designer in me will always feel like we've wimped out and took the safe option.

Edited November 9, 2022 by Teale's 'tache
typo in my typo

[Unused Sub]

For what its worth, I voted for the lamp shield. However, when asked if It should replace the current badge I said no. Its all about the lion, the rest is basically like salad on a dinner plate: not fussed at all about it. While I get the basic principle of swapping the direction, its just a non-starter for me. Get our lion to face the right way.

[tomsky_11]

33 minutes ago, Teale's 'tache said:

The star bugs me on both badges, I'm not going to get into a debate about if we should have it, just how it's being used on these designs. It's too small, you resize either crest down even slightly and it's completely lost. It ruins the balance of both designs. A good design will have balance, and balance is usually achieved by having symmetry, or as much symmetry as you can. In the case of these designs we have a few elements bringing symmetry, the shapes are both symmetrical, and 'Aston Villa' is nice and symmetrical as well. The lion obviously is not, and that's fine not everything has to be, just enough to have balance. What's frustrating is the star as a shape is symmetrical if you have it in the center of the design, but just plonked there to the right it ruins the balance, and it's too small to be of any use, just feels like they didn't really know what to do with it.

Saw a version of the gaslamp crest on twitter where the only change was to move the star from inside the crest to above it and centred and it definitely looked better.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 hour ago, Unused Sub said:

Get our lion to face the right way.

Yeah well that's what they are trying to do.

By the " right way " you simply mean the way all the other clubs currently have them.

It's been clearly explained why the direction has changed, and it makes sense, not just for historical reasons, but for differentiation reasons.

The truth is, a few months or less after launch, no one would even realise what direction the lion is facing anymore ffs.

I wonder if over the years... every time people looked at the badge they thought " Ah, i really like how the lion is turned to the left.... I wouldn't have it any other way ".

Truth is, it's not even a thought.

[DaveAV1]

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Yeah well that's what they are trying to do.

By the " right way " you simply mean the way all the other clubs currently have them.

It's been clearly explained why the direction has changed, and it makes sense, not just for historical reasons, but for differentiation reasons.

The truth is, a few months or less after launch, no one would even realise what direction the lion is facing anymore ffs.

I wonder if over the years... every time people looked at the badge they thought " Ah, i really like how the lion is turned to the left.... I wouldn't have it any other way ".

Truth is, it's not even a thought.

At the World Cup in 1998 we were chatting to a Millwall Fan. He had a Millwall tattoo, which he’d had done fairly recently. He was unsure if the lion on his tattoo was facing the right direction. There was no internet or smart phones back then so none of us knew. This lad was from Brighton and was knocking about with a Brighton fan. Funny bloke all round really. Not quite the full tea service but harmless enough. Well  sort of harmless, like I say he was a Millwall fan from Brighton. 

[sparrow1988]

6 hours ago, fightoffyour said:

Now I wish we had a dragon

Bloody Welsh Nationalist

[fightoffyour]

11 minutes ago, sparrow1988 said:

Bloody Welsh Nationalist

Krakowian!

[nick76]

11 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

Krakowian!

Ok, bloody Game of Thrones fan!

[Talldarkandransome]

Voting end is 1730 today isn't it

[The Fun Factory]

Personally if it isn't option 2 I will deny the validity of the results and storm the Holte End.

Edited November 9, 2022 by The Fun Factory

[Demitri_C]

I think option 2s won looking at a lot of polls its miles ahead.

Its the much better one of the two so im happy if that is indeed the case 

[HKP90]

When will we know the poll result?

[david-avfc]

On 05/11/2022 at 10:51, jayEm said:

Apologies if this has been done already. But I think the shield option looks way better with a yellow lion. Currently it just feels very.... blue. In my opinion a golden lion stands out brilliantly against the claret background of both the badge, and the home kit as a whole. On the kit it's a lovely little highlight. It's admittedly a bit West Ham, but we do it far better.

Switching the lion to yellow immediately works so much better, which is a shame because that makes me realise the gaslamp design could have had so much more potential than what we've been given. The official gaslamp option just doesn't scream "Aston Villa" to me, which fundamentally makes it a bad design from my perspective for Aston Villa's badge! I'm no graphic designer so can't describe the issues exactly but the lion seems a bit too cartoony for me which is possibly exacerbated by the baby-blue colour, the thing is I actually like the lion in yellow but hate it in the light blue

Edited November 9, 2022 by david-avfc

[Spoony]

4 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

Personally if it isn't option 2 I will deny the validity of the results and storm the Holte End.

Then I will prorogue Villa Talk and take it to the Villa Talk Supreme Court, which I assume is just limpid in a wig. 

[HalfTimePost]

23 hours ago, Unused Sub said:

While I get the basic principle of swapping the direction, its just a non-starter for me. Get our lion to face the right way.

It does face right

Edited November 10, 2022 by HalfTimePost

[BOF]

 

[EvilChameleon]

The roundel wins!

[abdomlahor]

great, how boring

[Jareth]

Good result