Chicago Pioneers Football Club

So, as an avid football (soccer) fan, I have always wanted to support a team here in the States.  Thing is, my real introduction to football came when I traveled to Europe for the first time.  I was in my early 20's and the learning curve was steep.  It was easy to immerse myself in the game when I lived in London.  As a poor university student, watching footy on the tele was one of the only pleasures I could afford.  Luckily for me, there were always games to watch.

It just so happened that my train station, New Cross Gate, was also the train station for the nearest football club, Millwall.  Their ground, The New Den, was just down the hill from where I lived.  I used to pick up one of the club fanzines whenever I saw it at the newsstand and read up on the team news.  Unfortunately, Millwall had a bit of a reputation, some of it earned and some not, for racism.  It made me hesitant to support the club or to go to The Den to watch a match, since I didn't really have a band of friends to go with me.  Instead, I ended up supporting Charlton Athletic, which was another South London club about a 10 minute bus ride away.  To this day, they remain my club, though they have really fallen on hard times the past 10 years or so.  When I started supporting them, they were a model midsized family club, well run, involved in the community, and with solid, hard working players.  Nowadays, they are anything but that.  But they are still my club.

Living in London, the easy thing to do would have been to latch onto one of the hugely successful London clubs, like Arsenal.  Since the mid 90's when I lived in London, Chelsea Football Club (with their Russian millionaire owner) have become a force in the game.  And now, Tottenham Hotspur are a club on the rise, with a new stadium under construction and a very good team on the pitch.  But supporting a North London club while living in South London would have been something of a betrayal.  Sort of like living on the North Side of Chicago and being a White Sox fan.  I mean, it happens, but it usually isn't done.  I never took the easy road and supported one of the big London clubs, because that's not where I lived.

In the 20 plus years since, football has caught on in the States (somewhat).  There is the MLS.  But I've never taken to it, even though Chicago has had a team for a while.  I know that by default I fell into that hated group of football fans who thought they were "too good" for the MLS because they preferred European, Mexican, or South American football.  And I was alright with that.  I thought the MLS was a joke, with all the ripped off team names and all the nonsense.  I still laugh whenever I hear "Real" or "Sporting" or "United" associated with the silly teams of the MLS.  I mean, what a lack of originality!

When I came back to Chicago to finally finish college, naturally I designed a concept for my Chicago football team.  I came up with the name "Pioneers" because Chicago has a rich history of being ahead of the curve.  And I don't mean "pioneers" in the sense of the people who traveled to settle the Western territories, though it is true that Chicago was once "the West."  But I mean the city was a leader in industry, in shipping, in architecture, in science, in the arts, in music.  So "Pioneers" seemed an apt moniker.  I used a ship to symbolize the pioneering spirit.  Chicago is on Lake Michigan, so a ship on water also seemed to fit the concept, though it's not an original idea.  There are plenty of football teams from shipping centers who have a ship in their emblem.  But I went with it anyway.

I designed the badge for The Pioneers directly from a sketch I made while at Columbia College Chicago about 20 years ago.  One day when I become a bazillionaire and the football club finally becomes a reality, the sketch of the original badge - on a crumpled piece of art paper - will be framed and prominently displayed in the club museum.  Heh.

Logo Redesign: Club Atlético de Madrid

This one really pisses me off.  It pisses me off because Atlético have one of most unique badges in European football.  It's close to perfect, and I see no reason to mess with it.  Naturally, the club have decided that they need a re-brand.  Maybe it has to do with them moving into their new stadium next season.  Perhaps someone figured a new stadia needed a new logo.

Atlético de Madrid are a huge club in Spain.  They're the third most successful club in the country and have a rich history, beginning in 1903 as an offshoot of The Athletic Club in Bilbao.  They are known as the "colchoneros" or "mattress makers" because of the unique red and white striped shirts of their uniform.  In the 1930's mattresses in Spain were commonly covered with red and white striped fabric.  Athletic Club wear the same stripes, since they have a common history.  And yet, Atleti's shirts with bright blue shorts are quintessentially them.  You know that kit anywhere, and you know that badge anywhere.  

Atlético's old badge is pure class.  It incorporates the colors of the team, the famous red and white stripes sit asymetrically under a blue triangle.  I'm not sure what the stars signify, but there are seven of them.  Inside the blue triangle is a white one, upon which sits the bear and the strawberry tree, a very old motif that has long been used to represent the city of Madrid.  

Their new logo reminds me of a lame logo for an MLS team.  Almost every MLS badge is either tacky as fuck, or a ripoff of an existing badge (usually from an existing European team with years of history).  What they've gone for with the new badge is a bigger bear and tree (for which they had to turn the bear and have him facing to the right).  To make matters worse, they've decided to screw with the traditional colors, opting for a darker red and blue.  The stripe are no longer off center.  Add to that the white stars, and the whole thing looks like some odd American flag ripoff.  Dreadful.  

So, I took my design back to the traditional shape of the badge, tweaked the bear and tree, changed to the new color scheme (which I hate) and I figured I'd leave it at that.  A sort of compromise to whatever the hell their new vision is.  Like I said at the outset, their current badge is awesome.  If it were me, I wouldn't do anything to it but tweak the bear and tree.  If what they want is to eliminate colors in the original badge (the green, black and brown)  in order the help with the printing or execution of the logo in various mediums, then I'm willing to go with red, white, and blue for the color palette . . . but preferably the old red, white, and blue.

Logo Redesign: Fulham Football Club

Fulham got their latest badge in 2001, riding the minimalist wave.  Thing is, it's so plain and uninspiring, I just don't get how it ever got approved.  Granted, they've historically had some pretty complicated badges, and almost always based on the Borough of Fulham's coat of arms, which itself is pretty complex.  In going for something completely different, I think they fell a little short.  The new badge isn't at all interesting on its own, nor does it reference anything uniquely Fulham.  It's new, but it's so dull.  I suppose the only thing about it that references the actual club itself are the colors.  Fulham's kit is primarily white and black, with red as the secondary color.

Fulham isn't a huge club, but it's an old club,  It was established in 1879, making it the oldest professional football club in London.  That's a pretty cool distinction.  Not as famous as neighbors Chelsea Football Club, Fulham still have history and a loyal fan base.

I took inspiration from their ground, Craven Cottage.  It sits right along the River Thames, and the ground was developed around (and gets its name from) an actual cottage, first built in 1780 by William Craven, the sixth Baron Craven.  That cottage became the pavilion for the football club when the ground was redesigned by the famous Scottish architect, Archibald Leitch, in 1904.  The red bricked main stand and cottage are architectural landmarks, Grade II listed buildings.

The gable of the cottage was my jumping off point for the new badge.   Gables are repeated on top of the main stand, as well.  The ground is old school, with four stands.  It hasn't been turned into a thoroughly modern, sleek stadium yet.  Fulham have played there since 1896, so it is a very important and historical part of the club.  While many clubs have moved to bigger and more modern facilities, or others have had a history of having played at many different venues, Fulham has the distinction of having played at Craven Cottage for almost their entire existence. So I definitely wanted to pay homage to Craven Cottage when I designed the new badge.

 I went predominantly black and white, with red accents.  And I stuck with "FFC" which is a motif repeated throughout the old main stand.   I put the founding date of the club, since it pays tribute to the fact that Fulham is London's oldest professional club.  Lastly, I added the wavy bands at the bottom of the badge to mark the club's proximity to the River Thames.

Logo Redesign: Leeds United Football Club

Lately I've been on a bit of a logo redesign spree.  I will be posting some of them in order to document them.

Leeds United Football Club has had its current badge since 1998 or so.  They have had various incarnations since the club's inception in 1919, but I find their current badge pretty uninspiring.  The team is generally referred to as "The Whites," though they have also been known as "The Peacocks."  Traditionally, they wear all white or predominantly white on the field. as their home uniform.  Secondary colors are yellow and blue.

Leeds is a huge city, and Leeds United has, at times, been one of the biggest football clubs in England.  They've been kind of off the radar for a while, but I didn't pick them for a branding update based on recent successes.  I picked them because I hate their lame badge.

As you can see, historically, they haven't exactly had the most awesome designs.  Badges on shirts really weren't all that big until later on in the 20th century.  But these days, a good logo goes a long way, especially in a global sport like football.  Leeds is located in West Yorkshire, and oftentimes they have had the Yorkshire Rose as their default symbol.  I decided to ditch that altogether.  And go back to the peacock theme of years past.  In truth, I should have gone for a completely new look and a completely new direction, but since I don't live in Leeds, and am not an avid Leeds supporter, I really wouldn't know where to begin.

I went with a stylized peacock for the redesign, a predominately white design, with an emphasis on blue and less of an emphasis on yellow.  I also liked the idea of going back to a round badge.  There aren't a lot of teams with round badges in English football.  The peacock seemed to fit nicely inside the circle.  I made countless variations, including many with a more traditional shaped English badge.  But for now, this is the one I have chosen to present.  "LUFC" is also the way the team has chosen to brand themselves, probably to differentiate from when they were known as "Leeds United Association Football Club."  For the purposes of this project, I stuck with "LUFC."

Overall, I am happy with my redesign.  I think the stylized peacock can stand alone as a logo, or work well with the club initials or full name.  I like the idea of a stand alone visual icon as the main representation of the club, though I recognize there might be a need for the club's name to be more prominently displayed.  We are in an age of simplification, and a lot of football badge redesigns are very minimalistic.  It's a trend that some people hate, but in general, I am a minimalist at heart.  The truth is, a club's identification has to work in a variety of mediums and sizes.  It has to work well in a small size like on club stationary or a huge scale, such as on the side of stadium.  And that is why simplicity is usually the way to go.