Your crest is the ever present for your club. It’s the instantly recognisable image that shows that a player or official is a member of your club. It’s important that you make the most of this star player and show it off at every available opportunity. Not every club will consider changing their crest as it’s a piece of the club history. However, if you’re a new club just starting out or feel the need to change, here are some useful tips.
1. If you need to create a new crest or want to update your old one, it’s best to use a professional designer. Ask around at your club to see if anyone can do this or knows a designer. If not, ask a local design or print firm if they can help for free or for a discounted price. Click here for a design form to help instruct a designer. You could always try linking with a local college design course and get a student to help design a crest or promotional materials.
Consider making your logo as simple as possible. If you intend to get your badge embroidered onto kits, costs are based on the number of stitches. Keeping your logo simple may save you money. Similarly, consider using less colours in your logo as this may save you money when getting the logo printed on promotional materials and stationery.
2. Take a look at club crests of Premier League and Football League clubs. These range from the traditional to modern, but often draw upon city landmarks, icons and club nicknames. These can give you inspiration for your crest.
Beware of making mistakes as your club crest will need to last a long time. Make sure you get input from your committee and members, and ensure you get the committee to approve it so everyone has their say.
3. The crest should feature your club’s name, either locked into the crest or above/underneath. Make it unique and reflective of your club. You could think about having a strapline to use with your club’s crest, perhaps appearing on communications such as letterheads and your website, rather than on club kit. Consider your mission statement and whether there’s something obvious in there that you could use.
4. Make sure you get a good quality electronic version of the logo as this will have a better printing quality and store it safely. Your Club Media Officer will need a copy to give to local media. You may be happy to circulate the logo around your club as team managers and club officials may need to use it, but other clubs prefer to keep it to be used by just a couple of club officials to ensure that it is being used in the correct way.
5. The crest should be used on team and club officials’ kit – typically on the front top-left of the chest (heart position) or front bottom right of shorts. The crest should also feature prominently on club communications e.g. match programme, headed paper, website.