Leeds United FC of the English Football League (EFL) recently unveiled a new crest. Just days later, after being raked over the coals by social media, the club threw the veil back over the design and went back to the drawing board.
The Crest
The new crest, redesigned to celebrate the club’s centenary in 2019, was meant to honor the fans. It featured a figure holding the right fist to its heart, the ‘Leeds Salute.’ After reading that description, you may be thinking, “Oh, great! That’s a nice gesture.” In theory, yes.
In practice, however, the figure appears to have been borrowed from Gaviscon package. Gaviscon was perfectly willing to play along, but the fans have spoken. The ‘saluting’ figure has been returned to his home club – er, box.
What went wrong?
The club claims to have consulted 10,000 fans during the design process, but there seems to be some concern about who those ‘fans’ were. So after more than 77,000 fans signed a petition against the crest, the club pulled the design. Once a shortlist has been compiled, the fans will vote.
Consulting fans
Leeds is just one in a long line of recently re-branded clubs to feel these growing pains and even a fan vote is not a new concept in badge design (Everton did it in 2013 and Mpls City SC, albeit on a much smaller scale, in 2017).
But how involved should the fans be in the design process? What elements make one redesign good? What elements make a redesign bad?
You tell us!
We want to hear from YOU. Fill out this short survey for a chance to see your responses appear in a handy little guide to rebranding (because TDIK is obviously every club’s first stop in the redesign process).
