Future Club Crest & Brand Identity

[Mic09]

45 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Considering the club have specifically said it'll coincide with the 150 year anniversary, I imagine the crest will be very old school. Hopefully in a good way

I think the opposite - the new badge will be extremely modern, almost MSL-y. It will look great, but will be a big step in a different direction. 

[The Fun Factory]

So how long is it going to take for the club to consult the fans and then decide on their own design then?

[Ginko]

9 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

One interesting one on the use of AV in any lettering or form is that the design and marketing companies hate it - in foreign markets it's Audio Visual or Audio Visual Football Club, it confuses people who don't know us and they very much wanted to get away from it. With this management team very much driven by the marketing numbers and the desire to maximise incomes for the brand, I'd be astonished if we see the initials back again any time soon.

This would be a real shame, in my opinion, but obviously I don’t know as much about global marketing as the people at the club (hopefully, at least).

Our name and the initials are so unique and complimentary that it’s absolute madness we haven’t used this as the main focus for our brand. Surely there’s a way we could implement it that made it obvious we’re an enormous, historic football club and not a bloody electronics company?

Ditch the lion and use the AV as our unique marketing angle. Surely we can do this without falling afoul of heritage laws and confusing foreign markets.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

I did think of the " Villan " concept as mentioned by another poster, but not sure how it would go down with fans.

It would certainly be different to all the other badges though for sure.

Had a look at the company which did the 76ers work, and they've done work for some massive companies, Cadillac etc.

[DJBOB]

50 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

I think the opposite - the new badge will be extremely modern, almost MSL-y. It will look great, but will be a big step in a different direction. 

My feeling too. Think they’ll go with something very different than the historical badges.

While there are some gash MLS ones, it’s hard to say that they’re not unique.

[AvfcRigo82]

22 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I did think of the " Villan " concept as mentioned by another poster, but not sure how it would go down with fans.

It would certainly be different to all the other badges though for sure.

Had a look at the company which did the 76ers work, and they've done work for some massive companies, Cadillac etc.

I would like something like this.

Either classy in small writing on the rear neck area of the shirt.

Or, in big graphical font letters (like the font example below) going across the base of the rear of the shirt 'VILLANS', I think might also look cool.

Edited September 27, 2023 by AvfcRigo82

[Ginko]

31 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I did think of the " Villan " concept as mentioned by another poster, but not sure how it would go down with fans.

It would certainly be different to all the other badges though for sure.

Had a look at the company which did the 76ers work, and they've done work for some massive companies, Cadillac etc.

Yeah, I’m not sure it’d really work in this country. I don’t want to see an incarnation of this guy on the badge:

The only cartoon character on a badge that works is the leprechaun on the Boston Celtics logo, and even that’s a bit of a stretch in my opinion.

[OutByEaster?]

1 hour ago, Ginko said:

Ditch the lion and use the AV as our unique marketing angle. Surely we can do this without falling afoul of heritage laws and confusing foreign markets.

it's not about heritage necessarily, it's about those initials already meaning something else to most of the world - there's a reason we're not playing B&H on Saturday.

 

[jayEm]

11 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

I wouldn't be at all surprised if we hadn't already engaged Mother Designs for the work.

Aston Villa's Lead Designer (who knew we had one of those?) has reposted something from them from a couple of week's ago on his Linkedin

I'd be very excited if these guys did a proper, end-to-end rebrand of Villa. You can tell from their work that they're quality.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

25 minutes ago, Ginko said:

Yeah, I’m not sure it’d really work in this country. I don’t want to see an incarnation of this guy on the badge:

The only cartoon character on a badge that works is the leprechaun on the Boston Celtics logo, and even that’s a bit of a stretch in my opinion.

Can't we creat a new " Villan "?

Unai Emery as Count Dracul with the slicked back hair and the middle finger up

On a serious note though... a new Villan?

As others have already mentioned though, I think the solo Lion is probably sewn up.

Will be some variety of that imo.

Edited September 27, 2023 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[Daveburnside]

The most unique part of our identity is our name, specifically the second part. 

Hopefully its a full and well thought out rebrand and not just whacking a generic rampant lion on the shirt.

[OutByEaster?]

15 hours ago, nepal_villan said:

Seattle Sounders of MLS just announced a rebrand. Think they did a good job (follow link to see the different applications of the logo).

I think the Sounders are a perfect example of the exact way I wouldn't want us to do it.

Look at these badges they've had:

Each of them is completely of their time - that 1983 badge screams "Hello from the 80's", the 90's mess does the same and the 2009 one is very much the crisp, modern badge of 10-15 years ago - in each case, I'm sure that in the year it was introduced, Sounders fans were absolutely in love with it, in the next year they'd have thought it was pretty cool, but four of five years in, they'd have been thinking,  "this thing looks so outdated, we need a refresh".

And the thing is, the 2024 one, the new badge, is completely the same - the stripped down simplification is a trend, it's a design trend based on commercial marketing - it's there to sell stuff for the next three years - it's the badge equivalent of a modern moustache - sure, you think you look amazing today, but if you've still got one in three years time, they'll be laughing behind your back in the coffee shop.

There's nothing about those badges that says this is who we are, even though I'm sure all of them were accompanied by a whole load of marketing guff about the badge saying who they are - there's no permanence, no continuity, no underlying value - each badge could be a different franchise. all five of those Sounders badges could play in the same league and no one would bat an eyelid.

I'd hate for us to go that way, make something that endures, and, if you need to, sharpen it to the times every ten years or so, but keep the core image, the shape and the elements at least. Beware the trend.

I don't know much about the Seattle Sounders, it seems they've been going for 50 years, yet from their branding, I imagine them with all of the history and gravitas of a drive through car wash - I'm pretty sure that's not what the history of their crest is supposed to tell me and I'm damn sure it's not what I want for us.

 

 

[Ginko]

10 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

it's not about heritage necessarily, it's about those initials already meaning something else to most of the world - there's a reason we're not playing B&H on Saturday.

 

Fair enough, but there must be a way around it? Did the design team go I to specifics as to why they thought using AV wouldn’t work? Search engine optimisation, perhaps? 

[OutByEaster?]

1 minute ago, Ginko said:

Fair enough, but there must be a way around it? Did the design team go I to specifics as to why they thought using AV wouldn’t work? Search engine optimisation, perhaps? 

That, but also that for most of the planet, they're wondering if there's an audio visual company somewhere in England that had a works team.

The full name on the other hand is beautiful, it's unique, it works graphically; the matching of the number of letters, the framing with the A's at each end, the way it drips from the tongue, it's evocation of grand houses and an England the rest of the world likes to believe in, it's wonderful - perfect for what we want to do - our name tells a story, sadly our initials suggest we'll sell you a decent amplifier.

 

[Teale's 'tache]

3 minutes ago, Ginko said:

Fair enough, but there must be a way around it? Did the design team go I to specifics as to why they thought using AV wouldn’t work? Search engine optimisation, perhaps? 

Using AV in a graphic would have no bearing at all on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), Google can't accurately read the letters that are part of a graphic, and so can't use it in their search algorithms, only if we constantly refer to ourselves as just 'AV' would there be any overlap. 

Personally, I think the whole Audio/Visual thing is a bit overblown, and if anything it could be used to our advantage by a skilled marketeer.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

In fairness to the club.

Looking back at the original badge release, they DID say it would be assessed and analysed etc.

So there was pre emptive messaging there.

It's not just come out of the blue.

[The Fun Factory]

23 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I think the Sounders are a perfect example of the exact way I wouldn't want us to do it.

Look at these badges they've had:

Each of them is completely of their time - that 1983 badge screams "Hello from the 80's", the 90's mess does the same and the 2009 one is very much the crisp, modern badge of 10-15 years ago - in each case, I'm sure that in the year it was introduced, Sounders fans were absolutely in love with it, in the next year they'd have thought it was pretty cool, but four of five years in, they'd have been thinking,  "this thing looks so outdated, we need a refresh".

And the thing is, the 2024 one, the new badge, is completely the same - the stripped down simplification is a trend, it's a design trend based on commercial marketing - it's there to sell stuff for the next three years - it's the badge equivalent of a modern moustache - sure, you think you look amazing today, but if you've still got one in three years time, they'll be laughing behind your back in the coffee shop.

There's nothing about those badges that says this is who we are, even though I'm sure all of them were accompanied by a whole load of marketing guff about the badge saying who they are - there's no permanence, no continuity, no underlying value - each badge could be a different franchise. all five of those Sounders badges could play in the same league and no one would bat an eyelid.

I'd hate for us to go that way, make something that endures, and, if you need to, sharpen it to the times every ten years or so, but keep the core image, the shape and the elements at least. Beware the trend.

I don't know much about the Seattle Sounders, it seems they've been going for 50 years, yet from their branding, I imagine them with all of the history and gravitas of a drive through car wash - I'm pretty sure that's not what the history of their crest is supposed to tell me and I'm damn sure it's not what I want for us.

 

 

The first one looks the best and was almost certainly the cheapest in design. 

[Zatman]

2 hours ago, VILLAMARV said:

As much as this thread just goes round and round with the same posters making the same points over and over again, thank you for this. The Chelsea comparisons really irritate me.

Well if a lot of people see the same thing then it might be a bit of an issue

[OutByEaster?]

10 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Looking back at the original badge release, they DID say it would be assessed and analysed etc.

So there was pre emptive messaging there.

It's not just come out of the blue.

The launch was delayed while they figured out the best way to try and stop it - with the kit already produced, this fudge was the best they could do. I very much doubt there's any sort of real assessment or review taken place, the fact that we've already moved past that to starting to consult on the next one with no real discussion on assessment of the current one is a pretty clear indicator I think. This badge had been killed before it could walk - it's only in front of us because of the deadlines on kit factories.

If Mr Heck had been brought in before the kit was manufactured, this would all be very simple, it's not his fault that didn't happen. 

The owners must really rate him to give him permission to make this mess, and to completely write off their expensive project as unusable right from day one. I wonder if he made it a condition on signing the contract to join us.

 

[S-Platt]

12 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

This badge had been killed before it could walk - it's only in front of us because of the deadlines on kit factories.

Which begs the question we need to vote on any new badge pronto and have it sent to kit manufacturer as I believe shirts for next season are more or less already decided?