Toffees come unstuck over badge re-design

When the Z-Cars theme strikes up, the Gladys Street end rises en-mass to its feet and the players’ heads begin bobbing up the steep staircase you know you’re at Goodison Park, home of Everton FC.

Football is a funny business, as fans we can get obsessed over the smallest of details, a change of pie or the removal of a sticker on seat, even the change of a scarf design can elicit mass objections.  So it’s no wonder then that the recent decision to change the Everton badge design has caused such uproar.

Such an uproar in fact that within days of the new design being ‘launched’ on a mostly unsuspecting Everton public the club has had to promise a u-turn of monumental proportions.  Now, on the surface, especially to those outside of Everton or those untainted by the subtleties of football obsession, the change is far from dramatic.  Especially when you consider that the current badge has only been in position as a whole on forever changing kit designs since 1978, a relatively short space of time.

Here’s the current and new design:



However the change has proved too much for supporters with particular focus on the removal of the Latin inscription and laurels.  The Latin motto Nil Satis, Nisi Optimum, which means "nothing but the best is good enough" has been part of the badge since 1938, but didn’t appear on the kit until 1978, disappeared from it again in 1982 and returned in 1991.

So what is the problem with an element that has been included or dropped on more than one occasion?  Well that my friends is football and the increasingly ‘hard pressed’ fans.  In a football world increasingly distant from fans, for many of the 22,000 signatures of the complaint petition the objection is one of a break with tradition or “not fitting a club of Everton’s rich history and stature”.

It is this seeming rush by clubs in the current age to somehow disassociate themselves with some of the more traditional elements of football.  Sky Sports have been one of the biggest sinners in this with every stats relating to Premier League days (ie 1992 onwards), as if football didn’t exist before this.  If you’ve noticed, they have even begun to conveniently forget some of those stats and teams from the earlier years of even the Premier League to make the clubs they wish to “push” more look like they’ve always been the biggest in the league.

Other comments on the make reference to the design as being "amateurish", "poorly designed", "ridiculous", "clownish".  It is at this point the age-old problem for designers/agencies becomes a real; design has such a subjective nature that it is rare to get 100% approval with any project, add that to an emotionally evocative aspect such as a football club badge and the reaction is perhaps that much more understandable.

From a design point of view, particularly as I’m guessing the brief would've required a need to make allowances for use in modern technology, the cleaner design has its benefits.  I should also point out at this juncture that sometimes the simplest looking designs require a huge amount of work, so I wouldn't go with the “amateurish” comments.  Good designers are able to achieve this.  The dropping of the motto from the design point of view may make practical sense when you are trying to create a workable “space” to use.

Try telling that to some Everton fans though, practicality isn't the issue for them, the fact it fits better on a smartphone screen will hold no weight for them, because the badge is their link to their club and their tradition.  For some fans, the badge is the clubs brand, it is the promise from their club to them, it stands for tradition, obsession, comfort, victory and every memory they have taken from their football journey.  For others the badge will be a logo, pure and simple, the name Everton FC is their brand.

Perhaps Everton didn't really understand what Brand is.  Or perhaps the people within Everton assigned the project are in the “logo” camp.  They will therefore have worked to create a good looking logo, without understanding the impact that can have on the brand.

The better place to work from with any kind of project like this is to create a series of brand workshops.  Start by working with different groups of people from all areas of the business, and in this case the fanbase, to understand not the logo, but the brand.  Those sessions should be focused entirely on values, and what the brand means.  From those sessions key values and often many great design guides can help formulate the direction for new logo designs.

At the very least it ensures that you have already created several groups of “fans” for the new logo before it appears, as they feel included and often proud to have played their part in the process.

This is perhaps the biggest lesson Everton FC can learn, any U-turn actions should include a more wider-consultation, and this should be seized as an opportunity to get to the heart of the brand and create a subsequent logo that serves to bind some as they march on together.