Project Type:
Crystal Palace Rebrand
Deliverables:
1 Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Logo Design/Branding Guidelines
1 Set of 9 Instagram tiles, including 4 Lineup Posts and 5 Advertisement/Promotional Posts
1 Set of rebranded home, away, and alternate jersey designs
1 Prototyped website including a homepage, roster page, and shop
1 Set of merchandise, including scarves, shirts, jackets, hats, keychains, and stickers
1 Matchday booklet containing lineups and supplementary information.
Brand Profile
Crystal Palace Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in London, England. Crystal Palace FC was founded in 1862, making the club one of the oldest remaining clubs in the country, and the oldest in the top-flight division. The Eagles play their home games at Selhurst Park, nestled in the vibrant areas of South London. Crystal Palace is known for very successful youth programs, often turning young players in to top stars across the league and across Europe. Their fans are well known for their devotion and support of the club.
As a club, Crystal Palace’s goal is to have a fanbase centered around inclusivity for all, due to the club’s location in a very diverse area of the country. Their branding reflects a blend of classic football heritage mixed with modern design, utilizing bold typography mixed with script, simplistic layouts, and the iconic red and blue color palette. The team is known for being a staple in the English top-flight division, bolstering itself to have a strong connection with the fanbase.
Proposal
English football is rooted in my country’s personality and culture alike. The sport is a national phenomenon, something that occurs from childhood, all the way through adulthood. The professional teams that have been created for decades and even centuries hold an important place in many fans’ hearts. In modern society, they have created an international fanbase, spanning many continents, with fans supporting just one team. Many times, this team has gone through some sort of brand evolution as they continue to progress up the league ladder to maintain their position at the top of the table. As they continue to become more and more prevalent, the team will often go through a marketing change to reach fan bases both nationally and internationally.
The Crystal Palace rebrand hopes to do exactly that. As a team that has found a steady foothold in the English Premier League table and has begun its attempts across European Competitions, the club is overdue for a marketing rebrand. The team is rooted in London, the center of England’s social and financial culture. Their logo and marketing, however, seem to be stuck in the early 2010s, not evolving with the ever-changing city in which they are rooted.
The primary target audience will be the local supporters of the club, as they hold the largest stake in the team’s support, visiting the stadium on a weekly basis as they watch the games. The secondary audience will expand to international fans, many of whom are located in the US, as the Premier League has expanded its fanbase stateside in recent years.
Research Synopsis
Research was a very important part in shaping the outcome of this project, especially within the visual identity of the brand. The process began by researching current trends in the marketing of various sports organizations, particularly those that have gone through a rebrand. While researching and finding information articles such as, How to Brand (or Re-brand) a Premier League Club: Names, Locations, Kits, and Crests by The Athletic and How Do You Rebrand One of Europe’s Largest Clubs? Smorgasbord Studio Shares its Wisdom by Its Nice That were key factors in understanding how and why these rebrands take place. This research gave me enough background to continue developing the brand while moving into the initial sketching/brainstorming phase at the beginning of the project. Additional inspiration was drawn from sports logo creators like Joe Bosack, whose logos have had a large influence on the modern-day designs of athletic logos.
After the logo system was further developed, I began looking at Crystal Palace’s current website to look at their current brand identity, as well as to gather supplemental information that would be used for player information, schedules, and statistics. This information was used in many of my deliverables, such as the matchday booklet, Instagram ads, and jersey designs. After I attained the information I needed from the website, I began looking at other successful soccer rebrands to get an idea in the direction they had gone in to make a successful rebrand happen. I also used Instagram to follow design trends, as a lot of my feed is filled with well-established teams, many in the same league as Crystal Palace. Teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Real Madrid were all very prevalent influences, as their branding shows a mix of classic design, mixed with a modern look.
During the final phase of the project – developing the website – I once again looked towards successful soccer companies along with large corporations like Adidas and Nike. I did this to get a better understanding of the experience that the users are getting while using their sites. Using these companies, I was able to get a better understanding of layouts, especially for the products that they are showing, while utilizing the branding elements I had used in other aspects of the rebrand.
Objectives
To independently research, design, and produce a logo, jerseys, merchandise, website, Instagram tiles, and matchday booklet for a Crystal Palace rebrand.
To apply previously learned branding, marketing, and design skills learned to create an effective design and branding system for the football club.
To thoroughly research the club’s history to create a branding guideline that continues the legacy of the club.
To self-analyze and critique current projects in order to maintain successful design and continuity between the numerous project pieces.
To successfully apply critique and notes from peers and instructors to continue a successful design.
To continue the current branding of the club, as well as create exciting new changes to further the development of the company.
To produce a design that is cohesive among all parts and deliverable with successful attention to detail.
To effectively present information and designs learned and created during this process to faculty and students alike.
Target Audience
The target audience for the Crystal Palace FC rebrand is football fans of all ages within the South London area, as well as international fans worldwide, making a successful branding solution necessary to facilitate various formats and uses. This project aims to please both the loyal fanbase Palace already has, as well as bring in new fans who are interested in the club’s history and league presence. Balancing traditional design elements with updated, modern design is key in strengthening Crystal Palace’s global identity, elevating fan connection, and making the club a more recognized organization across the Premier League and various European competitions.
Process Work
Process Narrative
The process began with researching the current Crystal Palace brand, both its logo and identity. The time spent doing this went hand-in-hand with researching current sport rebrand trends across all sporting markets to get a better understanding of how rebrands of this fashion have gone. I felt that the brand already had strong aspects that were working well, such as the color scheme and branding elements like the Eagle and Palace insignia that are shown in the logo. I felt it was important to keep some of these aspects as the club needed a more modern update, rather than a complete transition to something new. To begin generating ideas I began to look at the outer shape of the logo – there isn’t one. This is a key factor I wanted to change, as with a better outer shape, it would be more easily branded on jerseys, merch, and digital media. I then began to sketch thumbnails for possible solutions to this problem, redesigning key elements like the eagle and palace, and placing them in more successful shape solutions. This would be the most important aspect of the rebrand, as once the logo process was done, branding elements would begin to become more obvious and cohesive.
Once I had decided on the direction I wanted to take, I began to work on the logo in Adobe Illustrator, illustrating the new logo and adding more specific typography. During this stage, I was able to create not only the primary logo, but secondary and tertiary logos as well. Once the logo had enough traction to dictate a brand, I shifted into creating the matchday book, branding guidelines, website, merchandise, social media ads, and jerseys, all of which were based around the logo, ensuring brand consistency across both the digital and physical applications.
When the system had been fully created, I was able to create consistent pieces throughout the entire product line. It focused on fitting current sports branding trends while still maintaining the historic aspect of the club.
Final Logo System
The logo system is formatted for use across various applications. The primary logo showcases the famous eagle insignia and a reference to the famous Crystal Palace landmark. The secondary and tertiary logos use pieces from within the primary logo, with the secondary focusing on the eagle head, and the tertiary showcasing the name through typography.
Brand Guidelines
The brand guidelines act as a reference to Crystal Palace’s visual identity. The book ensures there is total consistency and proper usage of the branding elements (colors, typography, scaling, etc.) across all design platforms and applications. The book is the basis for maintaining a professional presence, whether the elements are being used in print, digital, or merchandising applications.
Jersey Suite
The new rebranded jersey puts a modern spin on the traditional CPFC jerseys. The home jersey is done in the classic red and blue striped pattern, while also showcasing a darker blue winged pattern across the front. The away jersey is done in white to contrast with the opposition, while giving a nod to the primary colors through stripes placed on either side of the torso. The black alternate jersey once again nods to the colors, with two stripes running down the chest, with the wings shown in the logo breaking the space in a diagonal pattern.
Merchandise
The merchandise produced allows fans to show their love for the team in various forms of products. All of the merchandise contains promotional elements, many coming from variations of the logo. The merch showcases these marks in a range of products, from simple T-shirts to high-end modern streetwear aesthetics. The mockups produced show how the team can become more integrated in the fans’ everyday lives in a variety of ways.
Matchday Booklet
The Matchday Booklet is a short paper booklet to be handed to fans as they enter the stadium prior to the game beginning. Its main purpose is to highlight the starting lineups of the home team and the opposition, as well as statistics from previous meetings between the clubs. However, the internal spreads also showcase short articles about certain players or managers as well as infographics, rosters, and advertisements for the team’s sponsors.
Website Prototype
The website prototype is a database for all things Crystal Palace. It allows fans to have an immersive experience, gather information on players and games, and shop for their favorite merchandise. The homepage places emphasis on various design elements while managing to showcase unique information and various news highlights. The website also includes the roster, individual player information, and a store. The branding on the page ensures the classic, yet modern aesthetic that has been put into place using the brand guidelines.
Instagram Tiles
The Instagram tiles were a series of nine posts from the official Crystal Palace account. These posts were used to boost user engagement with the team. The pieces in these posts contain lineup information for four of the grid spaces. The posts would be made the day of a match, giving the information needed to the viewer. The other five posts are made to highlight data from specific players, give announcements about the team, or promote ticket sales or other events taking place in the stadium.
