Reimagined Soccer (and other) Emblems (Chile)

[VampyrRabbit]

Hi, I like to redesign soccer logos as a way to unwind. Here are a few I've done since I decided to make a start. I always wanted to try my hand at redesigning them, but never got round to it or just span the wheels so to speak....until a few weeks ago.

    

First up, Harrogate Town. They traded their old crest (which was almost identical to the coat of arms of Harrogate) for a new one when they turned professional in 2017, and like many new emblems, it was done in the "English Style" in one similar to the new Manchester City logo (Roundel, date of formation on midline of surround, many outlines).  I decided on something that moved away from "English Style"

As far as I'm aware, there aren't any other clubs in England that have an alchemical symbol as part of their crest, and Harrogate are nicknamed the Sulphurites. So I've used an alchemical symbol for Sulphur as the centrepiece for the crest, to reflect the nickname of the team and the springs that the town of Harrogate is known for. I also used a more "Brimstone" shade of yellow, and a font that feels "Yorkshire". The white rose is also larger on this crest, and the date of the teams foundation is on the crest, rather than their admittance into the West Riding (of Yorkshire) league.

          

Redesign for the Corsican club Bastia, their Current logo has black outlines on everything and the emblem of Corsica isn't the focal point. The only black outline is the one around the shield with the Moors Head. The star is a nod to the teams earlier name of Sporting Étoile Club Bastia, which is the name they had when they reached the final of UEFA Cup in 1978 and won the Coupe de France in 1981.

The shape of the shield was taken from a carving in the Citadel of Bastia.

 

 

And last for the time being, Oxford United. This is sort of an update to the crest that the team wore between 2001 and 2015, but with the yellow the dominant colour and the horns breaking through the roundel.

The Desmond Morris designed Ox head is timeless, so I left that well alone, and used the shades the team wore in 1985-87, when they made their way to the top tier of English Football for the first time and won the League Cup.

[VampyrRabbit]

More crests for three more teams.
 

Logo for Chicago Fire, I'm not a fan of the "fire crown" logo or the new one just launched. This uses the Florian Cross from the original logo, which is part of the original logo design that should really have been kept.

At the centre of the logo is the Flag of Chicago, possibly the most Iconic city flag in whole of the US, partially surrounded by a red C. On the left branch of the Florian Cross is the municipal device of Chicago, as found on the Chicago Theatre sign, and the right branch is adorned with a heart, to represent the one of the nickames of Chicago being The Heart of America, and it's position of the city being at the heart of the US Rail network.

 

  

Crest for Toulouse FC, the current logo had everyone thinking the team was about to be brought out by City Group, so I decided to give them something more distinctive and pretty leftfield, and used the Occitan Cross instead of the full coat of arms for the sake of simplicity.

The outline of the crest is taken from a decoration from the Capitole de Toulouse, and the white and violet stripes are a nod to the distinctive architecture of Toulouse, known as Le Ville Rose (the pink city), as is the colour of the lettering and date of foundation.

 

Crest for Fulham, this has the Cross and the Crossed Swords from the coat of arms of Fulham, and the waves at the bottom represent the river Thames. At the top of the crest is a representation of the gable from the Haynes stand of Craven Cottage. 

I've seen loads of redesigns for Fulham, and most of them have been really good and included the cross and the crossed swords. I wanted something a bit different, hence the cross being just an outline. I put just the "Fulham" to try and keep it resonably non cluttered.
 

[CFBJunkie]

These are amazing. I'd buy a scarf or jersey with them. 

[VampyrRabbit]

On 2021-11-30 at 9:04 PM, CFBJunkie said:

These are amazing. I'd buy a scarf or jersey with them. 

Cheers, Soon as I put together a template, I'll probably do some kits with these logos. And now that you've mentioned it, perhaps scarves too.

Some more designs -

Redesign for Stade Brestois 29 (the number refers to the department number of Finistère) , the centre of the shirt has an Ermine, symbol of Brittany, with a pair of crossed sword blades beneath, referancing the team being known as The Pirate Team. The Ermine and the red V form a chevron, in referance to the earliest kits that Stade Brestois wore, and the rope represents the maritime heritage of Brest. 

 

1903 was the founding date of Armoricaine de Brest, the precursor of SB29.

Stoke City have a crest that is 20 years old, but has no symbolism except for the red and white stripes, which considering so many teams in England play in those colours, makes it look really generic. I wanted to change that. The team traditionally had black as their third colour, but blue was introduced on the current crest by the former Icelandic owners in 2001 (and eventually made its way to the first team shirts), but they left in 2006. I changed the blue back to black, and added local symbolism to the crest, with the two Bottle Klins and the Staffordshire Knot.

The six stripes represent the six towns that make up the potteries, and the font used for the name and the Latin Motto (which means "Strength United is Stronger) is one similar to that used for the Gladstone China sign.

Another version, this one has just the name and the date of foundation (in the same font), and a white inner outline.

 

Redesign for Örebro, I used the O with the umlauts as the logo shape because it gives a distinctive outline, and it also looks kind of like a face. Mostly because it definately looks like a face.

Inside the O is a representation of Örebro Castle and one of the nearby bridges, inspired by the logo of Orebro castle.

Edited December 15, 2021 by VampyrRabbitDesign
Stoke City redo added

[VampyrRabbit]

Three more Emblems. First up, another French team, after Corsica, then the  South West and then to Brittany, we have a team from the South East.

 

This redesign has a representation of an icon (or should that be icons?) of Grenoble, the  Grenoble-Bastille cable car, affectionately nicknamed Les bulles (the bubbles), which links the city centre with the former fortress that overlooks the city. 1892 was the year of the original clubs foundation. There was just one flower on the current logo, but this one has all the flowers from the Grenoble seal and logo. Grenoble played in a white shirt with a blue chestband in the 1980's, hence the band.

In the first game at the Stade des Alpes, GF38 played in a gold and blue shirt. The golden yellow comes from the banner of the historical province of Dauphiné, of which Grenoble was the capital.

 

               

A refresh for Japanese side Júbilo Iwata, this uses the shades of blue that they usually wear as the main colour for the crest.. The team were formed in 1972 as the works team of Yamaha, and that date is printed on the Football. I gave the two birds a slight facelift, got rid of the two banners and swapped the positions of the Júbilo Iwata and Yamaha FC script.

 

           

And thirdly, a redesign for Piedmontese side Novara, this has the year of foundation on the crest once. Pretty much the main reason I did a redesign for this Italian side was the foundation date on the crest being printed not once but twice. Its now near the base of the Savoy cross.

 

 

[KaneMinusBrain]

The Harrogate crest is a stroke of pure genius, and the Toulouse crest is fantastic - takes it from mildly crowded generic roundel to something truly unique.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next. If you're sticking with France for example, I'd love to see how you freshened up Lens' quite dated looking crest.

[VampyrRabbit]

On 2021-12-06 at 8:49 PM, KaneMinusBrain said:

The Harrogate crest is a stroke of pure genius, and the Toulouse crest is fantastic - takes it from mildly crowded generic roundel to something truly unique.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next. If you're sticking with France for example, I'd love to see how you freshened up Lens' quite dated looking crest.

Thanks, I had the idea of a Harrogate crest with that symbol ever since they reached the 4th tier, but never got round to putting it down. The lettering followed afterwards. For TFC, I originally used the seal in their current crest, but something wasn't clicking, but using the Occitan Cross did the trick.

Les Sang et Or were deffo one of the teams on the list, because unless they are going back to the old RCL logo with the miners lamp (as they used on the kit they released last week), they need a refreshed emblem bad. I should have something up in the next few days.

[VampyrRabbit]

   

The shape of the shield was taken from the repeating motif of the main train station in Lens, an Art Deco style building (big fan of Art Deco here) which was inspired by an old steam locomotive.

The pickaxe and shovel represent the mining heritage of Lens, and beneath the lamp is the number for the Pas-de-Calais department.

Alternate version without the border.

[VampyrRabbit]

                                 

Redesign for Rayados, this has a representation of Cerro de la Silla as top of the M, which I feel is the major thing missing from the current emblem.

Here are a couple of Alternates, with Orange as a third colour, which Rayados have used quite a few times,  and with Sky Blue, a colour they have used on a number of change kits.

[vtgco]

Love the update for RC Lens; the lighthouse works elegantly in that diamond motif container and the placement of the "Lens" text is really nice. My only ideas might be to swap the pick & shovel and make the shovel pointier (right now it looks like an indoor lamp!) or remove them entirely.

 

The eye-shaped O for Orebro works as a great, unique container... I'd just make the O a touch thicker, and unify all the stroke weights in the illustration.

 

Your Fulham update is a really great, creative design; no changes necessary!

 

The idea is good, but I'm not quite feeling the execution on Stoke City. The font and composition feel a bit off, and there's a lot of empty space. Maybe try smoothing off the curve of the bottom of the crest, thickening the "neck" of the Bottles to match the stripe width, and adding a white border between the black and the stripes (like the current logo has between the stripes and the blue).

 

I feel similarly about your composition for Stade Brestois. I think the best thing would be to "zoom out," so that more of the blades are visible and the ermine is smaller; right now it's hard to tell what's happening.

 

Chicago looks good; the font is nice, and the flag and C gel well together. I'd increase the blue stroke weight on the outside of the C. For an otherwise symmetrical logo, I'd also consider choosing either the Civic Y emblem or the heart (or combining them into a single icon) to use on both sides.

 

I appreciate the new unique, mosaic-inspired container for Toulouse a lot! I think the whole crest would look nicer outlined in dark purple and then gold, rather than just gold. You might also ditch one color; maybe replace either the lavender or the red with an earthier shade of pink, like that building in the photo.

 

Monterey looks best in dark blue & white only. I like the mountain idea, but I'd move it around and enlarge it so the largest dip forms the "V" shape of the top of the M, and maybe move the ball above it or to the bottom of the crest.

 

Anyways, lots of good work here! Sorry for my rambling; feel free to take or leave the suggestions. Excited to see whatever crest you have next!

[VampyrRabbit]

4 hours ago, vtgco said:

Anyways, lots of good work here! Sorry for my rambling; feel free to take or leave the suggestions. Excited to see whatever crest you have next!

No probs, I dig concise and clear critique and you've given a lot of it, which I'm grateful for.

You are right on the money with Stoke, I didn't include a border between the black and the stripes because of the number of stripes and thought it would make the logo look unbalanced, but I think it could work.

 

SB29 need a full pair of swords for that Swashbuckling look, and making the ermine and the red background a bit smaller should help them fit.

Going to do  take your ideas on for Rayados, give the M a more aggressive look and just use two colours.

Thanks for the feedback, and I'll have the redone logos up soon.

[BayBaseballFan]

Stumbled upon this thread and I'm very glad I did. Great work. Even though I'm not the biggest soccer/football fan, I've appreciated how much meaning and symbolism are crammed into the crests. Harrogate Town, Grenoble, Oxford and Club de Lens are among my favorites from the first batch. Looking forward to more.

[VampyrRabbit]

On 2021-12-15 at 5:48 AM, BayBaseballFan said:

Stumbled upon this thread and I'm very glad I did. Great work. Even though I'm not the biggest soccer/football fan, I've appreciated how much meaning and symbolism are crammed into the crests. Harrogate Town, Grenoble, Oxford and Club de Lens are among my favorites from the first batch. Looking forward to more.

Thanks, GF38 and Harrogate are also some of my faves too.

 

Another French team......

         

Crest redesign for Pau. The city is renowned for its views of the Pyrenees, and in particular the peak of Pic du Midi d'Ossau, which appears on the city logo and is a symbol of the town. The outline of the mountain is on the crest.

 

A representation of the Fontaine de Vigny, another icon of the city, is on the crest, and between the columns, I put the pretty distinctive Football from the current logo, which I really wanted to keep. I also wanted the wonderful motto of the club, "Vaincre ou Sourire" (Win or Smile) on the crest - it did sit in blue space between the club name and the football on the current crest, but was removed and the size and placing of the name and football wasn't changed to compensate.

Alternate version with different font, white background for Pic d'Midi Ossau, a thicker line weight for Fontaine and different shades of blue and yellow.

[VampyrRabbit]

 

 

Redesign for Coventry City, this was inspired not only by the crest the team wore in the 1960's and 70's when the team reverted back to sky blue, but also Coventry being the city that got the world moving, in more ways than one. Cov was named the UK City of Culture in 2021, and one of the themes was "Coventry Moves"

The Elephant now stands on a bicycle wheel, the team was founded by workers of the Singer cycle firm and soon enough, the new team gained the nickname "The Vocalists" (geddit?). Coventry became the centre of bike manufacturing in England and the Safety Bicycle was invented there.

The other part of movement is the check pattern being carried by the pretty hard working Elephant, and that is a nod to the 2 tone movement of the seventies, with the movement born in the city and two of the leading lights, The Specials and The Selecter hailing from Cov. The team have worn kits with the two tone pattern on them in the past, first with the 1996-1997 shirt and this seasons kit has the pattern on its cuffs, and have released a couple of change kits with the pattern in the last few years.

 

The bike wheel and the two tone were elements that I wasn't going to leave out of a redesign for Cov considering the history and two things that the city should be (and is) proud of. 

[vtgco]

I like both these new updates! Not 100% feeling the font choices (feel a touch basic), and I think both (but Pau especially) could use somewhat thicker line weights.

For Pau, the composition is great with the mountain and the Fontaine. I'm curious how it would look with the sky in a different color (white?) rather than being outlined?

With Coventry, I like the checkerboard shawl for the elephant (feels like chess with the "rooks" above it :P) and the retro ball. The wheel is an inspired idea for an element, but it doesn't read clearly as wheel... I think the ball needs to much smaller for it to work, and so maybe you move "18" and "83" to the left and right of the castles.

[VampyrRabbit]

17 hours ago, vtgco said:

I like both these new updates! Not 100% feeling the font choices (feel a touch basic), and I think both (but Pau especially) could use somewhat thicker line weights.

For Pau, the composition is great with the mountain and the Fontaine. I'm curious how it would look with the sky in a different color (white?) rather than being outlined?

With Coventry, I like the checkerboard shawl for the elephant (feels like chess with the "rooks" above it :P) and the retro ball. The wheel is an inspired idea for an element, but it doesn't read clearly as wheel... I think the ball needs to much smaller for it to work, and so maybe you move "18" and "83" to the left and right of the castles.

I'll do the update for Pau shortly, in the meantime, here is on redo for Cov, I ditched the shield and the name, since they played with just the elephant, castle and football on their shirts in the 60's and 70's, gave the elephant a bit of a tweak (including a proper tail) and switched the colours for the ball.

I'll give a "Full Shield" version another go sometime, maybe try to incorporate the Phoenix into it.

 

 

And here is a redo of Monterrey, with a "Close up" of Cerro de la Silla and no shield.

[VampyrRabbit]

  

 

Redesign For Americas Hardest Working Team, this is my attempt to make a logo somewhere between their second logo and their first. I haven't posted the current one because I posted it in the MLS 2022 Kits thread, and posting that travesty once was enough.

 

 

The Crew script and the hard hat is from the original logo, the Shield and SC is from the second logo. The arched Crew script and yellow background is a nod to the nickname of Columbus, "The City of Arches", and the O is for Ohio.
 

[VampyrRabbit]

Staying in the US.....

    

This redesign for LA puts the quasar (originally from the Seal of LA County) as the main focal point, and surrounding it is a swirl detail inspired by the teams first emblem.

Thats not the only inspiration from the original logo - the wordmark has the middle two letters highlighted, and above and below the other 4 letters is a Greek Key pattern, taken from the Griffith Observatory.

Another nod to the stellar name of the team. I decided to have the quasar simple as on the LA County Seal 1957- 2004 for the sake of simplicity.

 

 

[vtgco]

Really appreciate the thicker outlines for Coventry City, and the font is much better, but the wheel issue stands. Looks really good without the shield; not to say that it doesn't work with one.

Good placement of the mountains on the Monterrey update, though I think I liked the shield... Does it work still or no?

 

Your hard hat is nicely rendered for Columbus, and I like the Arch City idea, but there is too much empty space everywhere! I'd definitely have the arch text be "CREW SC" to fill the gaps on it. After that, I'd probably either put the arch below the circle like a banner and fill the circle with the helmet... OR maybe fill some of the remaining space with stripes and/or checkerboards (not sure this would work, personally)

 

The Galaxy one is a nice era-combine, but I think it really wants to be a roundel logo; maybe the Greek pattern could work in there too. The Griffith Observatory makes for good inspiration; I've been thinking about an Angel City FC kit based on it too : )

[VampyrRabbit]

9 hours ago, vtgco said:

Really appreciate the thicker outlines for Coventry City, and the font is much better, but the wheel issue stands. Looks really good without the shield; not to say that it doesn't work with one.

 

 

When I redid the numbering, I just got rid of the name instead of updating it and decided to discard the shield too. Coventry are one of those teams that can get away with a pretty stripped down crests and I'm pretty sure it would work on a mostly Sky Blue shirt.

 

I agree on the wheel. Problem is that if you make the football small enough that the wheel becomes clear as a wheel, it means that there is a lot more light blue on the bottom half of the crest than the top, and makes it look unbalanced. I think I might have found a solution to that problem, going to sleep on it and see if it still works tomorrow.

 

9 hours ago, vtgco said:

Good placement of the mountains on the Monterrey update, though I think I liked the shield... Does it work still or no?

I think so.

9 hours ago, vtgco said:

Your hard hat is nicely rendered for Columbus, and I like the Arch City idea, but there is too much empty space everywhere! I'd definitely have the arch text be "CREW SC" to fill the gaps on it. After that, I'd probably either put the arch below the circle like a banner and fill the circle with the helmet... OR maybe fill some of the remaining space with stripes and/or checkerboards (not sure this would work, personally)

I'll have a go at something like the top right, perhaps the middle one.

10 hours ago, vtgco said:

The Galaxy one is a nice era-combine, but I think it really wants to be a roundel logo; maybe the Greek pattern could work in there too. The Griffith Observatory makes for good inspiration; I've been thinking about an Angel City FC kit based on it too : )

The Griffith Observatory is awesome, I'm suprised that Galaxy haven't used it for inspiration for one of their shirts yet. Not sure I can keep the GALAXY lettering with a roundel logo though, which is one of the things I really wanted to keep.