MARGATE FOOTBALL CLUB
Crest Redesign Concept
Passion project for the rebrand and design of the Margate Football Club crest.
Margate was founded in 1896 and currently play in the Isthmian League Premier Division.
Nicknamed 'The Gate', Margate is a coastal Kentish town, which is represented in their existing crest. The white horse of Kent is joined by the half English lion - half ship motif utilised by many cinque port locations (coastal towns in Kent, Essex and Sussex). Their colours are blue, red and white.
Existing Crest
The existing Margate crest follows a very basic template. All elements are set in a traditional shield border. Three main colours are used (I believe the blue they currently use is a darker shade as you can see on my design). The team name is centrally aligned at the top of the badge above the character elements. The Lion ship and white horse are separated by a white chevron through the middle. The characters adopt a red outline in the same manner as the shields outer border.
The look of the current badge is already very bold and uncomplicated; a style that is becoming ever so more favourable. All the elements of the crest are already there for me to use. In my own attempt at designing a new crest I intend to make the shield more dynamic whilst incorporating the team name into the border design. As far as the character elements, my plan is to display them in a much clearer fashion; I believe removing the red outline would enhance the look in a positive manner.
All the components from the existing crest have been utilised in this new design. Already having a strong foundation and elements that represented the identity of the club; these components have now been illustrated in a simplified manner and brought together to form a modern crest design.
Set inside a more dynamic shield border then its predecessor, the clubs name has been merged into the border element of the design. Maintaining the shields red border, the upper segment has been enlarged to encompass the teams name rather than having it inside the shield as in the former design. The curved nature of the shield gives the crest that more dynamic/ modern representation.
The white chevron has stayed centrally, acting as a divide between the two main character elements. The Lion / Ship halves have been simplified from its former; ensuring that it is easily recognisable. The Kent white horse has also adopted a similar approach. A big factor to ensure these characters were more visible was removing the red border outline that was part of the existing crest.
The main colours have stayed the same to ensure the clubs historical identity; however, the tones have changed in regards to the red becoming deeper and the blue, as stated earlier uses the darker tone now used on the Margate kit.
Single Colour Variant (1)
Single Colour Variant 2 (Outline)
The way the logo has been constructed means it can be displayed in a single colour variant. This is very important as having too many colours can be hard to construct a sleek final design when it comes to embroidery or being put on other mediums. By being able to use only one colour over the whole design also means it is easier to change; for instance on home and away kits the background colour of the shirt would define what colour the crest will be.
This new logo has been created by taking aspects from the existing crest, reworking them into a simplified form whilst still ensuring their representation remains genuine and meaningful. Presenting these elements in in a modern, dynamic format that is structured and minimal, brings Margate crest up to date with modern design.
Logo Variants Embroidered Mockups
