Workshop Team Organisation's Lack of Branding

[El_Scorcho]

Sure, but the struggle hasn't been with the league, it's how they themselves have chosen to represent the club. From an outsider's point of view (and granted any outsider will never grasp the nuances) the whole "never tear us apart" thing is weird. Nobody tore them apart, nobody's done anything to them - it's nothing more than an internal administrative question.

They seem to have settled a lot of these questions now, and no question they're a well run club, so hopefully the chippiness will disappear.

Nobody is arguing the AFL have done anything to us. It's a South Australia/SANFL thing. It's certainly not how we chose to represent ourselves and as you say, through a lot of hard work it's been sorted out for good. The AFL have usually been pretty supportive, especially under Demetriou.

 

[Fizzler]

That s**t AAMI deal also involved the Crows, did it not?

Probably, although I’m not entirely sure because the Crows still train there, and they’re a SANFL owned team (or something similar)

 

[SFgiant]

A la...?
View attachment 515319

Sure, I'd redo it with the same 'taste' of the current brand though.

I am against the stick man logo for StKilda because it was a rip off of a TV show logo from the 60s.

StKilda have a logo that's stood the test of time.
For mine, I'd follow some of the US colleges that use Saints and go with a knight type theme, even using the Shield logo as a shield.
Something along the lines of the sword here, or crossed swords behind the cross logo.

This would probably have been even more suitable when they wore the Crusader jumpers.

I guess that's one of the reasons I love that stickman depiction. It does feel really 60s, making it befitting for a club looking to repeat that era. That knight idea is a good one, especially with using the crest as a shield.

I'm also a fan of using suburban landmarks to influence branding. A more talented person than myself may use a bit of Art Deco aesthetic in a St Kilda brand to link to the Palais Theatre and surrounding area.

 

[just_kick_it]

I would love the AFL to bring back these as a secondary logo

 

[exile]

Fair enough, I guess.

I reckon the Raptors is a good template for a team using a simple, traditional sports primary logo without a mascot. The main design element can be used independently of the rest of the logo, and the logo is generally modular and can be recoloured.

Spoiler

Primary

Alt

Alt

Wordmark logo

completely agree, theirs works really well now. all those different variants of the hornets logo make it seem like they were giving participation medals to the other submissions for the new logo, but the variable colour schemes applied to one single logo i think is pretty effective.

gave it a go to replicate the raptors logo for the suns. i have no idea what you'd use for the central logo bit to represent a sun, nor do i probably have the creative skill to actually create it haha, so what's below is kinda just an example.

 

[Andonis1997]

I would love the AFL to bring back these as a secondary logo
View attachment 516614

These mascots are being used on some select baby gear at 'The AFL Store's' products, for what it's worth.

 

[SFgiant]

Here's the illustration to the idea. It's not much, but I think the logos add to the brand's distinction.

 

[Dylan8]

Here's the illustration to the idea. It's not much, but I think the logos add to the brand's distinction.
View attachment 517484

I like the secondary logos but I don't think they belong on the uniforms. The value for me is more in the ability to make the visual identity of a team cohesive and consistent, and also diverse. Particularly in digital media and merchandise.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I like the secondary logos but I don't think they belong on the uniforms. The value for me is more in the ability to make the visual identity of a team cohesive and consistent, and also diverse. Particularly in digital media and merchandise.

Yeah for me, footy is so good at every level because almost every team has their colours and their colours. Even with their great 90s jumpers, North Melbourne is blue and white stripes and St Kilda is red, white, and black in that order and North Adelaide are sort of like South Fremantle. There’s incredible consistency with even shades but also colour balance. We don’t see things like we do in English soccer with Chelsea sometimes having heaps of yellow and red on their shirts, so much so they’re almost blue and that at times not blue and white.

Then there’s the mess of American sports and their teams moving towns, changing names back and forth, and the idea of changing colours being a shoulder shrug thing. I mean sure the Bucks have a vibe but they’ve been green and red, green and purple, almost all purple, then green and cream. You know?

Stuff like little secondary logos are ultimately pointless. Use the stickman on an alternate jumper or something, don’t clutter things up. It’s like how Carlton have a great strip which is navy and a monogram and that’s the beauty, then add a logo to the back and little dashes of grey? Be bold, blocky, obvious, and simple and if you want to ship jumpers then make mild alterations with collar designs and Hawthorn taking away the stripes on the back or adding a number panel or going to all yellow socks.

The main thing is clubs should restrict themselves to say 2-3 logos. So many teams bring out a logo for a season and have it on a cap... what’s the point? In four years someone can own the same scarf but have a random one off logo. That might be cool for some retro merch but when you do a rebrand, don’t just lock in your logo for ten years, but lock in a font you can use everywhere, a wordmark, a second and third utilisation of stacking / alternate logos and... that’s it. Keep it tight and uniform and do a rebrand well.

So that could be for Melbourne: the main logo, the simple MFC, then a demon character, and a ‘as old as the game’ sort of one. The latest Richmond one would be the logo, a sash based character, the tiger in isolation, etc. St Kilda with the classic crest, a cross based one, then a St. K with a cross sort of thing, then stickman. That way they can be used on all sorts of merch and all sorts of ‘markets.’

 

[Barrybran]

Secondary logos have a place in attracting kids and casual fans. They shouldn't be part of the official uniform or match day gear but they can be used as part of the club's identity to great effect.

 

[Red Crow]

Yeah for me, footy is so good at every level because almost every team has their colours and their colours. Even with their great 90s jumpers, North Melbourne is blue and white stripes and St Kilda is red, white, and black in that order and North Adelaide are sort of like South Fremantle. There’s incredible consistency with even shades but also colour balance. We don’t see things like we do in English soccer with Chelsea sometimes having heaps of yellow and red on their shirts, so much so they’re almost blue and that at times not blue and white.

I think you've illustrated really well the difference between footy and baseball, which is what SFgiant was referencing in his OP. Baseball has so much more scope for branding on the uniforms because, historically, its always been what - white at home and grey away or something? So those extra bits of branding - wordmarks, letters, monograms, etc - they become very important in distinguishing the clubs from one another. But here, the uniform design itself is the key branding. Sure, some teams share mutual colours or design elements, but nobody shares both. Adding more logos to footy jumpers is just unnecessary clutter IMO.