Villa's 150th anniversary logo

[nick76]

6 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Wonder if the colour scheme is a hint of the direction forward, if so I'm on board.

MORE Claret and gold... With the blue as accents etc.

I don't think people realise how limiting our current structure can be from a design standpoint, especially with kits imo.

Less Gold please.  

We are Claret and Blue, not Claret and Gold!

[479Villan]

9 hours ago, maqroll said:

Well, seeing as Heck is American...

That doesn’t make a design “American,” whatever the hell that even means. There’s no American athletic design aesthetic any more than than there is a British architecture. 
 

You want to call it a piece of shit, call it a piece of shit. But “hurrrr it’s American” is just lazy. 
 

(also I like being a team so currently successful we have to argue about a future branding mark that will exist only to shift overpriced clothing from Fanatics in order to vent our spleens)

Edited December 20, 2023 by 479Villan

[Keener window-cleaner]

Dont want to spoil the party but I think it looks classy and quite good, it's a bit artistic and will make people ask what it means. For a badge only ment to be used during one calendar year I can see the point with that, it will bring more interest than just a plain Aston Villa 150 years-badge. I think it's a nice design.

I don't imagine our new crest will be this way, that would be wrong (and my stand on the new badge is that we shouldn't change it too often, we could as well wait several years with that).  

Edited December 20, 2023 by Keener window-cleaner

[mikeyjavfc]

I think everyone saying it looks “American” are mostly think of Baseball. Most teams in MLB have a stylised monogram of their name that they use in their marketing; less so in other sports. Seems to be more traditional for Baseball. I think it can look classy if done right. The AV150 wouldn’t look out of place in this list:

 

[Vive_La_Villa]

11 minutes ago, Keener window-cleaner said:

Dont want to spoil the party but I think it looks classy and quite good, it's a bit artistic and will make people ask what it means. For a badge only ment to be used during one calendar year I can see the point with that, it will bring more interest than just a plain Aston Villa 150 years-badge. I think it's a nice design.

I don't imagine our new crest will be this way, that would be wrong (and my stand on the new badge is that we should change it too often, we could as well wait several years with that).  

I’m glad you think this as I don’t get it at all. 
 

But as you say it’s just a one year thing so who cares really.  The crest will be the big one.  A bit disappointed as I actually like the new crest. 

[Philosopher]

I have to be honest, I don't particularly like it. 

The colour scheme is fine for such a badge. 150 years probably should be gilded. It just looks a bit squiggly and illegible!

[Chindie]

Its awful.

Thankfully it's only a 1 year commemorative logo thing, although it's a shame that the branding for the big birthday looks like it came a knock off chocolate box from 1930 and is completely illegible.

It does suggest whatever we've got coming for the real badge is going to be a complete hash though.

[TheStagMan]

21 hours ago, ender4 said:

I'm not sure... i think its says "A 1500" at first glance.   

I like it. I think it would look good on the front of my Austin 1500.

 

Wait, what? Is a badge for Villa? Fecking hell.

[Stevo985]

I think a big part of the issue is the arrangement as well. If it was 

 

AV

150

 

then you could maybe get there quicker. But because the 150 is placed where it is it looks like it’s part of a word with the V

Very strange. I wonder if we’ll see it tweaked based on the negative feedback

[ender4]

9 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I think a big part of the issue is the arrangement as well. If it was 

 

AV

150

 

then you could maybe get there quicker. But because the 150 is placed where it is it looks like it’s part of a word with the V

Very strange. I wonder if we’ll see it tweaked based on the negative feedback

Will Heck hear the feedback?  Will he even care? He doesn't seem like the sort of person to appreciate feedback. 

[Chindie]

I mean you can dig holes in it all day.

The stylised A which has more than a bit in common with a stylised H given it's missing the vital 'point' of the top of the A.

The stylised V which actually has more of a U in its construction given it's also got the rounded point.

The placement of the 150 which confuses how to read the entire thing.

The gradient of the 150 rolling into the stylised V in such a way that, with the stylisation, can be read as the V actually being a very stylised cursive 0 so it becomes 1500.

The weird mashup of a (bad) Edwardian calligraphy knock off in the AV with a more modernised cursive 150 but which isn't so different to the calligraphy style that it kinda gets lost on the legibility.

You'd probably be better able to read it if you shifted the 150 diagonally up to the right, next to the A and above the V, and put it in a pointedly different font. And then changed the calligraphy of the A and the V to actually be legible as what they are under the flourishes.

Its just not good and what's worse is you can see what they wanted to do so obviously (they want the Victorian/Edwardian heritage thing so went with a calligraphy style you'd see on the side of a 1920s delivery wagon, or a circus cart, but **** it up when they realised they had to do something slightly different to a million other 'A's in a million other sports teams, and then they wanted the 150 to be more approachable and modern so did a take on the nice standard cursive script, badly).

Its just rubbish. It looks good if you have extremely bad near or far sightedness and forgot your glasses so can only see blurry colours.

[Mark Albrighton]

On 19/12/2023 at 23:34, grantholtgolazo said:

Honestly I do think it has more appeal/stand out factor to younger people or those with only passing interest in Villa. It doesn’t look like the typical design we’d expect, that can be a good thing. The rangers 100 year design is a good contrast, while I don’t dislike it, it’s so standard and typical it looks as if it could be 100 years old itself.
 

These designs are done by professionals who not only are savvy in their craft they understand the importance of marketing. Growing the club and revenues will require bringing new supporters on board, I think club designs will keep that goal in mind and it may result in some growing pains & some small amount of displeasure for fans of the classic design/imagery.

Personally, I don’t see much about the design that tells me that it would appeal to a younger demographic.

But that’s subjective, fine.

However, celebrating/commemorating the 150th anniversary of a club. To me that’s something that should appeal more to older supporters, surely? People who appreciate that sort of stuff. The supporters who have experienced a bit of that history.

Are there many potential supporters, 10 years of age that give a shit about it being our 150th birthday? I dare say in order to attract those supporters we ideally need to be doing well in the league and have a few instagram friendly players.

The new badge proper, on the other hand…I could get my head around it looking a bit more dynamic and trying to capture younger fans. But commemorating 150 years of the club is inherently a look towards the past, rather than an opportunity to say “Hey kids on Tik Tok, you like 150 year old things, don’t you…”

On the professionals know what they’re doing point, they can still can get things wrong. The Leeds badge. Or, moving away from football (and appealing to the kids with this reference), the original design of Sonic the hedgehog in the film had massive backlash and they had to hold their hands up and say “Yeah ok we got it wrong”.

Just being “a professional” doesn’t mean they’re infallible.

 

Edit - just so my point isn’t lost in my waffle, while I don’t think this 150 logo has much youth appeal, I don’t think it necessarily should, in this case.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Mark Albrighton

[Teale's 'tache]

3 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Just being “a professional” doesn’t mean they’re infallible.

Can confirm, I'm a professional designer and have dropped some colossal cojones in my time. Though, I've always generally worked solo and not as part of a team. I'd expect there to be a whole team working on this, so it must have gone through multiple sets of 'fresh eyes', to not have been corrected and made more legible isn't a great sign. However, I do reserve judgment until we see the rest of the branding and how it's used.

[Risso]

30 minutes ago, Chindie said:

I mean you can dig holes in it all day.

The stylised A which has more than a bit in common with a stylised H given it's missing the vital 'point' of the top of the A.

The stylised V which actually has more of a U in its construction given it's also got the rounded point.

The placement of the 150 which confuses how to read the entire thing.

The gradient of the 150 rolling into the stylised V in such a way that, with the stylisation, can be read as the V actually being a very stylised cursive 0 so it becomes 1500.

The weird mashup of a (bad) Edwardian calligraphy knock off in the AV with a more modernised cursive 150 but which isn't so different to the calligraphy style that it kinda gets lost on the legibility.

You'd probably be better able to read it if you shifted the 150 diagonally up to the right, next to the A and above the V, and put it in a pointedly different font. And then changed the calligraphy of the A and the V to actually be legible as what they are under the flourishes.

Its just not good and what's worse is you can see what they wanted to do so obviously (they want the Victorian/Edwardian heritage thing so went with a calligraphy style you'd see on the side of a 1920s delivery wagon, or a circus cart, but **** it up when they realised they had to do something slightly different to a million other 'A's in a million other sports teams, and then they wanted the 150 to be more approachable and modern so did a take on the nice standard cursive script, badly).

Its just rubbish. It looks good if you have extremely bad near or far sightedness and forgot your glasses so can only see blurry colours.

I know nothing about graphic design, but I know something shit when I see it. You can't read it. The letters don't look like the letters they're supposed to be, the numbers are a mess and in the wrong position and it's a weird mix of old and new, with the old being nothing like anything you'd see in 1874. It's just a really badly designed mess, basically. It just worries me that Heck, who is supposed to be good at this sort of thing, thinks that it's even vaguely acceptable, both in terms of the actual logo, and the half-arsed amateur way it's been revealed, with a low key tweet from his personal Twitter account and half a mention in his absolutely dreadful video. All of this doesn't present much of an idea that he really knows what he's doing. I think all he's done is can Purslow's effort, then take the same brief to a different design agency. There's not going to be any significant overhaul of our brand, it's just him marking his territory like a stray cat. He doesn't appear to get 'soccer', at all.

[Captain_Townsend]

Since Heck ditched the new circle badge, my fear is that he is the board room equivalent of Gerrard. Joining us after solid foundations have already been laid  by the previous guy and a clear plan  has been carefully put in place. Only he then proceeds to rip it all up and break it.

[est1874]

Marque haters ought not to check our social media this morning

[mikeyjavfc]

First viewing the wild. Looks nice I think in this context. Meltdown over. 

[est1874]

2 minutes ago, mikeyjavfc said:

First viewing the wild. Looks nice I think in this context. Meltdown over. 

You'll not convince people that easily sadly

[Chindie]

1 minute ago, Risso said:

I know nothing about graphic design, but I know something shit when I see it. You can't read it. The letters don't look like the letters they're supposed to be, the numbers are a mess and in the wrong position and it's a weird mix of old and new, with the old being nothing like anything you'd see in 1874. It's just a really badly designed mess, basically. It just worries me that Heck, who is supposed to be good at this sort of thing, thinks that it's even vaguely acceptable, both in terms of the actual logo, and the half-arsed amateur way it's been revealed, with a low key tweet from his personal Twitter account and half a mention in his absolutely dreadful video. All of this doesn't present much of an idea that he really knows what he's doing. I think all he's done is can Purslow's effort, then take the same brief to a different design agency. There's not going to be any significant overhaul of our brand, it's just him marking his territory like a stray cat. He doesn't appear to get 'soccer', at all.

Oh definitely.

I'm not a graphic designer but I can see what they're trying to do and why they've made the decisions they have. Like I can see why they've laid it out the way they have - they want to the centre the design on the thing that's allegedly an A, but they've got 2 other things they need to put on it and still want maintain the spacing and positioning (i.e. they don't want anything to close to the edge of the circle to unbalance the general centring) so they've decided the 3 elements have to be in a generally triangular shape. But then they've sacrificed reading the thing for a more general design language thing.

It is truly rubbish.

And yes it absolutely calls into question whatever else is coming down the pipe with the rebranding. I'm quite concerned we're going to get a pastiche of a 'traditional' football crest through the lens of an American perspective, with some modern design language stuff.

This thing stinks of that. Its been designed with a brief that wants very particular things (the faux Victorian thing, the 'classy traditional' thing) but without actually understanding what those are, why they are, having authenticity about it. Which if that's the approach we're getting for the rest of the brand... eesh. And also worrying that he seemed to suggest we're also going to be getting some 'new' features to our classic icons, which makes me think we're going to get some new 'design language' shit like when Lerner tried to make checkerboard a thing.

[nick76]

5 minutes ago, mikeyjavfc said:

First viewing the wild. Looks nice I think in this context. Meltdown over. 

Nah still looks shit