A football badge is more than just a marketing symbol — it’s a statement of identity, community, history, and pride. It should represent the club today and tomorrow, while also recognising the glories of the past. To explore the intricacies of these visual symbols we used a thorough rating system to assess every professional football crest in Australia.
Creativity isn’t binary — there’s no definitive right or wrong. That’s one of the reasons why we’ve loved working in this industry for over 30 years. While our evaluations can never be completely objective, we’ve tried to apply a rigorous criteria that covers the seven key attributes that we think make up a successful crest. It might not please everyone, but we’re OK with that.
The process we followed was to carefully review each professional football club in Australia to gain a comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness and visual appeal of their crests. While our intention was not to inflame the code wars, we did want to assess if a particular code showed more expertise in brand design.
What qualifies us to evaluate these designs? Our credentials include over 30 years of experience working in brand strategy, brand execution and advertising for several leading brands, including Nike, Apple, Telstra, Channel 10, Foxtel, Aldi, and Vodafone. We’ve also developed multiple successful new brands and received numerous prestigious awards both nationally and internationally, including Australian Designer of the Year, Australian Advertisement of the Year, and Australian Agency of the Year.
Criteria for judging
Name: How well does the name represent the club’s location and identity?
Colour: Do the colours reflect the essence of the club and resonate with the fan base? Do they work well together? Are they versatile enough for different formats?
Creativity: How original and inventive is the design? Does it stand out among other crests?
Emblem: Do the symbols, emblems or mascot embody the club’s ethos, heritage and locale?
Typography: Is the typography clear, cohesive and visually pleasing? Is the hierarchy clear? Is it a good exemplar of the brand?
Technical: How legible is the crest? Can it be easily adapted to various formats in digital and print? Can it be easily identified in small formats as well as large formats?
Illustration: Are the illustrated elements skillfully executed to capture the essence of the club?