New Everton Crest, launched in May 2013
The Everton Crest Debacle: My View
I’ve stood back and taken in what has been happening with our lovely crest and it has turned into a PR timebomb for the club that will probably be buried to the back of supporters brains by the announcement of a new manager. The news that Everton Supporters aren’t happy with the badge has made national news in countless newspapers including the BBC, The Guardian and many red tops too.
The club announced that they consulted fans groups and shareholders, yet reports that are coming out are saying that The Everton Fans Forum say they were misrepresented and the Everton Shareholders Association said they had no contact and would reserve judgement until they had seen the merchandise.
In my opinion it seems like the club have asked those that they know will follow them, take the example of Ken Sweeney (Chair of the Mid-Cheshire Supporters Club) who was consulted and said “It meant a lot to be entrusted to see the badge and to see how it was evolving”. This is the same Ken Sweeney that recently won “Fan of the year” at the end of season awards and who’s name was leaked in the Ian Ross (Ex-communications director at Everton) email debacle, in which is was said that the club has given them a lot and they owe us. I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine. It stinks to high heaven of boys being in cahoots.
There have been many polls conducted on Everton Fans sites and independent websites and the overwhelming majority are not in favour of the new design. On our own homepage, 95% of people currently don’t like the new badge and in a recent poll on the Grand Old Team website 99% of fans from the 2831 that answered didn’t like the badge, even the clubs official facebook page had 1900 facebook comments with a massive majority being against the new badge.
Our merchandise partners Nike and Kitbag were both consulted on the change and the feeling was that the new badge would have more appeal to a global audience. Bullshit, the reason it is like this, is to make it easier for Nike to sew on their crappy uninspiring kits.
Recently Crystal Palace changed their club badge having consulted the fans on what they thought and when it wasn’t right, they changed it.
The official petition has received over 20,000 signatures
Why Don’t People Like The New Everton Badge?
Ask any Everton fan and the majority don’t mind a change of badge and quite a lot will actually welcome it as we understand the need for change and to freshen up the image. The problem is that when the design is just plain wrong.
The new badge looks like it has been designed by a 5 year old and is supposed to be sold at the Early Learning Centre as part of the Fisher Price Range. The tower looks like it has been designed in clip art and the club motto ‘Nil Satis Nisi Optimum’ has been completely removed as have the Laurels.
For most fans the removal of the NSNO motto the main point, as they felt that the direction the club has been going the last 20 years isn’t deserving of “Nothing but the best is good enough”, the actual main point seemed to be the abomination that is Ruperts Tower. It just looks cheap and like the Merseyside Blue logo in Pro Evolution Soccer on the Playstation.
Former Everton Legend came out on twitter recently and said:
@NevilleSouthall: Let me say to all evertonians the new badge is crap, Keep the old one its the best one, Wake up Everton football club nobody wants it
What Next?
What should happen is that the club should listen to the fans and change the badge to something that means something to the supporters, afterall, it is their club. What is likely to happen is something a lot different. It’s likely that they will push ahead with the current branding, the fans will largely boycott the merchandise and this will affect the commercial aspect of the business.
I mean, who wants to purchase a David Moyes Everton doll when the man has nothing to do with Everton anymore.
Alternatives
Over on www.theevertonforum.com some of our forum contributers came up with some really credible alternatives based on what the fans want. They are modern designs that incorporate some of the classic Everton Logo’s.
Here’s a selection of the different logo’s, all of which have received great feedback on the forum, facebook and twitter.
Logo 1
Logo 2
Logo 3
Logo 4
Have your say, do you think one of the alternative logo’s looks better than the new design? Would you prefer one of them to be our logo? Comment below or visit our special logo thread on The Everton Forum: https://www.theevertonforum.co.uk/thread4261.html
Also, remember to vote on our poll on the homepage to say if you like the new badge or not.
Also, remember to sign the official petition if you are an Everton fan and against the new crest: https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/everton-football-club-keep-the-wreaths-and-motto-of-everton-football-club-don-t-change-the-badge?utm_campaign=share_button_mobile&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition
I’d prefer any of the above to the awful one just launched BUT why on earth change the crest at all – it looks good and captures important key elements about the club and universally popular with fans.
Love the 4th one – but from what I’ve read its unlikely we’d get a badge with “EFC” in it, so would go for the 1st one (which is great too).
I don’t hate the new badge as much as some people, but it looks like its from a cartoon.
This one is well the best.
http://s23.postimg.org/sczuv1njv/EFC_tin_man.jpg
2nd one the best. But all better than what we have now.
like the 4th option but any will be better than the new logo, like the one we have now, wish people would leave things alone.
I’d prefer the 1st or the 4th one. However all are better than the current.
prefer the first one and cant see why we could not use one like that!
Number 4 and no2 ooooz class & quality
Dear Jamie,
if you wanted a chance to redesign the Everton badge, then you should have got a job as an in-house designer at Everton. Saying a finished design reminds you of something isn’t a good critique.
You won’t like me saying this but none of your designs are better than the new one.
All the previous EFC badges are horrendous and proof that you needed a new one.
You are doing design a disservice by putting your own (multiple options = numerical advantage) designs up as competition without access to the original brief and after the event. I feel your motivations are purely selfish ones.
These guys have done a great job and have gone through a rigorous design process involving stakeholders and carefully avoided design by committee. They should be applauded for that.
Maybe Everton doesn’t deserve the best.
Sorry
Ian
Ian,
The designs aren’t my own. Just because it is a design, doesn’t mean it’s a good one. Just because a global brand wants to make it easier to add it to its merchandise, doesn’t make it any better. We will agree to disagree on the designs. Just because they aren’t done by professionals, doesn’t make it what the club needs. We know the history, we also want to improve the future.
As I said before, the images were mocked up on our forum by people in a few minutes. Not days or months.
I am not doing design a disservice. I am doing THAT design a disservice. Our designs weren’t a competition, they were done off peoples own back. We may not have had the brief, BUT at the same time, the brief may not have been that great or infact influenced by the club!
Ian, you don’t seem to know the facts. They haven’t gone through various stakeholders and have admitted they made a massive mistake in the designs as you may or may not have seen by the apology on the club website: http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/2013/05/28/a-message-to-evertonians
So maybe what you wrote isnt infact correct? Just a thought……
Cheers
Jamie
Hi Jamie,
That apology is classic PR, from a template and slightly disingenuous. I wouldn’t take that as a victory or as a sign of vindication if I were you.
My point is, the manager picks the team. Fans criticise. They update their badge. Fans criticise. Fans think they know best, but rarely do. Let people do their jobs. They care just as much as you do, I promise.
You don’t like the badge because its new, you have no emotional connection to it like you had with the previous ones. You feel disenfranchised. But this is because those badges represent all the happy memories and events you have. Win the FA Cup and the Carling Cup and you’ll probably grow to like it, or at worst you won’t hate it anymore.
We’ve had all this silly logo bashing before (London 2012 is the classic). I seem to remember that all went well in the end, didn’t it?
I’m a football fan and a graphic designer, so I do empathise with you. Thank your lucky stars you’re not a Cardiff fan. That guy really doesn’t care.
You’ve got an exciting season ahead of you, just enjoy it
Best wishes
Ian
Hi Ian
Classic PR in the fact that EVERYONE is talking about Everton, but our problem with the badge wasn’t the emotional connection or the happy memories. We have had some quality crests over the years and it was rightly time for a new one. The problem with the designed badge was the fact that it looked like a Clip Art badge. It was a bad with no history and no future. It was bland (see LA Galaxy badge).
London 2012 is a little different, that was just a logo that didn’t mean a whole deal to anyone, they just didn’t like the badge. It was only for an “event”. It isn’t worn day in day out, it isn’t tattoo’d on your body, the olympic rings were still around, you don’t pay good money year in year out to see the Olympics.
The badge was just a poor choice from the club. Fans will always critise team selections and managers as you say….. that is the joy of being a fan……. BUT rarely will you get over 22,000 fans (and rising) sign a petition within 2 or 3 days to change anything like that!
I don’t disagree that the designers or the club cares (although the designers were Liverpool fans and the CEO didn’t care to keep the fans informed) I think they just made the wrong call.
I know you are a designer……………BUT they can get it wrong………….. I’ve worked with enough graphic and web designers to know that sometimes they do get it wrong. (Although, often that is the clients fault)
I do thank my stars i’m not a Cardiff fan.
Cheers for your response!
Jamie
Hello again Jamie,
My comparison with London 2012 is an apt one. I am talking about the public criticism of a design. Social media and the easy access of design software for all is having a huge impact on graphic design and how graphic designers are perceived and sometimes vilified. I assure you, people cared very much about the London 2012 logo and were very vocal about it. Problem is most of the people commenting aren’t equipped with the language or the experience to comment properly and give useful feedback.
The rhetoric used in the online comments I’ve all heard before; “you missed this out”, “you’ve ignored our heritage”, “it looks like clip art”, “my 5 year old could do that”. “It looks like a ” “heres my design” These just aren’t valid criticisms, they are misplaced and unhelpful.
It is a badge and not a logo, and it has evolved over time, and will continue to change. If you have an opinion and want to be part of the process, I suggest you do it in a positive, pragmatic way. So far most of what I’ve read has been destructive and unnecessary. I admire the passion, but that tends to get in the way of a well argued case.
You say the badge was designed by Liverpool fans. That sounds like mischievous rumour to give the design even less validity. Besides, you’ve never had a Liverpool fan play in an Everton shirt?
Regards
Ian
They may well have gone through a rigorous design process, but that doesn’t mean they got it right. That it persuaded tens of thousands of people to sign a petition demanding its removal demonstrates quite the opposite. When it comes to design consultancies being paid huge sums of money to do a job, using what they produced because they tried hard isn’t good enough.
I’m quite stunned that you think all previous Everton crests are ‘horrendous.’ I personally would prefer not to change it at all. I didn’t think the change was necessary in 2000, but I liked what they came up with. If they absolutely have to change it, it should be sympathetic to the wishes of the club’s fans, not because a global sportswear manufacture wants them to. As the shirts cost fifty quid each, one would hope that a badge that was seemingly easily reproduced by Puma, Umbro, and Le Coq Sportif wouldn’t cost the mighty Nike too much trouble.
Hi Graeme,
You can’t fairly criticise a design without looking at the brief and understanding the process used and taking in all the factors.
Your negative characterisation of designers is badly informing your opinion. That is a prejudice you have. You are assuming these designers don’t care and they are running to the bank laughing. I doubt that very much. I read that this was actually undertaken by the in-house team at Everton. I believe they do care, they are probably fans just like you. Even if they are not, they still have a lot of personal interest in this too, I assure you.
Redesigning the badge is a daunting task. Getting it through a management structure would have been a challenge in itself. But then to ask thousands of Everton fans too? In the timeframe they had? That’s unreasonable.
Change is inevitable, with each new season comes a new set of challenges and aspirations.
With the design of a well-designed “logo” comes the requirement that it should be easy to reproduce in many different methods. That is a good consideration. Yes, the previous ones can be reproduced, but how well? And how easy? A lot of them are complicated and fussy.
Sorry I used the word horrendous – that’s a little unfair, but most are genuinely quite ugly and badly considered. But that’s just my aesthetic judgment, albeit based on years of experience.
I think you have a lovely new badge to start the new season, hopefully you will grow to like it over time, but that might depend on how your season goes.
Good luck!
The Everton crest is not a LOGO. It is the coat of arms of our great club. Calling it a logo is what caused this problem in the first place!!!
What we need to remember is our famous saying Nil Satis Nisi Optimum without this on the badge it just wont be the same!!!
As a kid i was brought up knowing my team Everton Football club stood for something 1. we are the peoples club so listen to what we want were the people and 2 Nothing but the best is good enough to take that away from our badge will be taking away our values!!!
Rant over i think badge 2 is the one we could work with as long as we took that tower off and replaced it with the same tower on number 4 which incorporates everything we stand for!!
Or Bill use your head and get our old badge back
All 4 are an improvement on the new badge; 4th is best. That said, the new training top doesn’t look too bad with the new badge does it?