OUGD603 - Sports Rebranding - Brief idea

While thinking about different ideas for a rebranding brief, one particular subject came to mind. This was the rebranding for Everton Football Club in 2013, which aimed to produce a new logo for the club's badge. The club says the reason for the rebrand was because “complexity of the [old] crest made it difficult to reproduce for certain print, broadcast and digital media,” Therefore, the in-house graphics team at Everton FC came up with a new logo for the club, which aimed to simplify the design. However, this rebranding was met with backlash from the fans and after just one season the club changed the logo again. 

In order for the design to be simplified, the design team at Everton aimed to include less detail and eventually made changes to the overall colour scheme. What was originally a blue crest featuring laurel wreaths and the club slogan, became a more minimal and contained emblem. This was quickly substituted for a more favourable logo, which referred back to the original in an effort to compromise. 

What interests me most about this rebranding is the response from fans, as the design team hadn't considered the input of the club's supporters. The second rebranded logo in response to the backlash was then shown alongside 2 other variations for fans to them decide on their favourite. This made me think about how rebranding can create a refreshing new identity, but how it can also be received by its audience. Therefore, I am setting myself the task of rebranding a sports brand, in an effort to understand the complexities of designing an identity for a client.