The nickname of the Hornets originates from 1959, when the club changed from playing in blue & white to yellow & black. It was chosen in a supporters’ vote and has stuck with the team ever since. In the 1960s & 70s, the club logo featured a Hornet, however this was changed to a red hart in the late 70s to reflect the county symbol of Hertfordshire, though the nickname remained. 

The aim of this competition is to create a new crest that focuses on the clubs nickname 'The Hornets'. This will be the main badge for the club and be used on the football kit and for general branding. This badge should include one of the following: "Watford Football Club", “Watford FC” or “Watford” (in a modern font).

The brief stated that the main focus for this new crest design that visually represents the clubs nickname 'The Hornets'. The clubs colours also had to be incorporated. So the main component of my crest was the hornet. 

Looking back at how the club have used the hornet emblem in the past (above) you can see they have gone from a basic birds eye point of view to almost a cartoon interpretation. For my hornet design I wanted to give it as much vibrance and life as possible without going down that cartoonish looking route.

To ensure I obtained the desired look I focused on the angles and positioning my hornet would be depicted in. That side on angle my hornet is displayed in gives the overall crest that more dynamic feel as apposed to the style of hornet used on the old 1968 - 1972 crest. By having the hornet resting on a vintage football directly relates the crest to the game of football as well as representing the longevity of the club.

The brief stated that the badge could be any shape, but it should be a distinctive shape. My interpretation of this was they didn't want the generic circle or shield type of crest seen on most modern rebranded team crests. However, looking at the the vintage crests used by the club in the 50s, I chose to utilise a similar style with a modern twist. Whilst the shield border acts as the structure to the majority of the crest; including the team name and founding date, Aspects of the hornet and football break from its boundaries. This feature ensures the crest does not follow a traditional shape but still unites old and new styles.

Other aspects include a subtle honeycomb background feature inside the shield boundaries that directly relate to the hornet and also gives a slight hint of texture. The required red shade has been used on the type elements representing the founding date of the club. 

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 could define what colour the crest will be. This goes across all mediums, where the backdrop defines what colours are needed to ensure the crest is at its most visible.