Villa's crest is more than just a badge

A newly-minted trademark of a potential upcoming Aston Villa crest is causing quite a stir:

It seems that this badge, most likely, will be the new AVFC badge presented to fans this year.

My take? It's relatively inoffensive, it is extremely 2007, there's a bold and divisive use of drop shadow, the use of white is a little strong (white numbers, white border). Later on, I'll get on to why I think Villa have made this exact badge, but right now my thought is that it doesn't warrant a change, there's no mandate for a change, and there are some design choices that I don't really gel with.

My main worry is that the badge has been put to fans, without fans being involved in the process.

Yes, yes, fans aren't designers, and yes, yes too many cooks do spoil the broth, but we are Aston Villa. There is nothing to the club without us. NSWE own the stadium, the club's form is reliant on a manager (and that position is very temporary at the best of times), and players (who don't often stick around as long as badges, nor fans). All these parts that make Villa the club that it is, in theory, could disappear overnight - but not fans.

So yes, I do think fans should be central to a vote. Not integral to the final say, nor call the shots, but it is bloody important to involve fans in things like this. Their thoughts should be heard, and they should be listened to. They shouldn't be called 'negative' for calling the club out about its processes.

I don't think it's negative to A) criticise a badge or B) the process that led to the creation of a badge. To suggest so is entirely reductive, and lacks thoughtfulness. Fans give a shit about how their football club looks because it represents them, and they it. They are entitled to, within reason, 'have a moan'. Everything a club does is up for criticism, from design choices to stadium moves to player signings and tactics. To say it isn't is happy clapping bollocks. You can enjoy a football club, love it to death and sing its praises while being unhappy with some elements. You can hold two competing ideas in your head.

Fans get excited with new kits, new kit manufacturer reveals and design changes. These things, yes, are meaningless. I've seen a lot of big-brained tweets (you're so smart when you're contrarian, kings) like that that dismiss one key thing: Fans give it meaning, and again, fans give a shit because they like these silly little developments.

When it comes to a badge debate, there are emotions. The badge represents an entire club and community, you, me and a heritage asset of Birmingham - and we should be communicated with when it comes to a new badge for those very reasons.

This badge is mid, but the process behind it feels bizarre...

In 2022, a survey was launched to deliver a new Aston Villa badge. The surveys resulted in two final products being put before Villa fans in a vote, with a round badge winning over a shield shape with 77% of the vote. There was plenty of criticism thrown at this process at the time, but both badges are different enough from the existing badge to validate the process. The 2023 badge, the right option below, grew on fans.

However, it was quickly tossed to the side when Villa's regime changed. Out went Christian Purslow who oversaw the overhaul and in came Chris Heck as President of Business Operations and Ben Hatton as Chief Operating Officer. It was only fair that they didn't stick to the vote, as they clearly had a completely different roadmap for their version of Villa. They're the gaffers, they shouldn't sign up to something they don't like simply because it was there.

'Subsequent to the previous consultation process, the results of which currently adorn the 2023/24 playing and training kits, the club has been assessing the impact of the change from local, global and commercial perspectives and have concluded that the current crest has not had the impact which had been hoped when it was introduced," said Villa at the time.

'Using the results of that original process as the foundation, the club will again engage with supporters over the coming weeks in order to arrive at a permanent identity for Aston Villa, which delivers the required impact.'

So far, so meh. Villa fans voted between two badges they didn't really fancy, came around to like the winner, but it was taken away by new bosses who seemingly didn't want it to happen. Villa's 2016 badge stayed on digital platforms and in the stadium, Villa's 2023 badge found a home on the 2023 kit and merchandise. Another survey was launched, and change was on the cards.

We're now at the point where the permanent identity for Aston Villa which delivers the required impact for stakeholders is set to be revealed. All signs point to it being the badge at the top of this newsletter.

What is that required impact we're looking for? Is it an American lad in a box with no football knowledge that puts his thumb up or down at suggestions akin to Emperor Commodus? Is it filtered through loads of paid-up blue ticks to get an appropriate amount of 'Hmm' and 'looks good' to satisfy commercial needs? Who knows. I really want to know what exactly didn't work with the last badge (2023), though, from a place of genuine intrigue and curiosity.

And how has this badge delivered? I'm genuinely curious and I'm looking forward to seeing what the thinking is here.

I think the process could've been way better, and way more open. Again, I don't think fans should be all over the process, butting in and wrecking the incubation of good ideas - but it is only right they are involved in some way. A vote is the easiest thing to do, and Villa got that right last time out.

This time, I feel they aren't getting things right and I'm being led by the Fan Advisory Board (FAB) on this as, love it or hate it, they are our reps.

Here's a section from their recent meeting with Villa's leaders from My Old Man Said, relating to the change of badge. Please read the full article from them:

AVFC on new badge:

'The club outlined to the group thoughts on the previous consultation that resulted in the round crest, reasons why it was felt that a change was needed and confirmed results from the fans survey which have played the major role in creating our new crest.

A video was shown to the group which outlined the results of this process and introduced the new crest. Discussion was held around the consultative process, and the club confirmed that the FA have been consulted throughout.

The video highlighted that the Club had 16,000 responses to the 85,000 survey mailings with the suggested crest being designed as a result of those responses.

81% of respondents wanted the name of the Club in the crest whilst 85% wanted the European Cup commemorative star incorporated. The majority of respondents felt that the shield shape was preferable and within that the left facing lion rampant completed the responses.

The Club presented a draft crest for discussion and whilst not universally popular neither was it universally unpopular. There were no suggested changes.

Having now completed the detailed consultation process, the Club will look to announce the new crest in approximately two weeks from the meeting, and the crest will then be rolled out across the summer.'

FAB reply:

'Considering the FA’s new rules on fan consultation to protect club’s heritage assets like badges, we were not happy with the approach taken by those at the club pushing for the badge to be changed again.

At the meeting (and in previous recent meetings), Chris Heck and Ben Hatton, at no stage actually asked for any suggested changes on the crest from the FAB. They didn’t even ask, if group members liked it.

In fact, in previous meetings it had been stated that no feedback would change the badge that is presented, as it would be ‘left to the professionals’.

This contradicts the statement made in the recent Chris Heck interview that the badge is now with fans for feedback before it’s unveiling. The FAB is not aware of this happening and stated this in the meeting.

The FAB voiced it’s concern with the consultation on the badge, stating it specifically was not as extensive as for the previous new badge. The club identified that it has already spoken to the FA about the compliance of the consultation, as a precursor to showing the badge to the FAB.

The FAB voiced it’s concern on the shape of the badge not being right for Villa. In essence, it’s an update on the current yellow lion shield. In the first survey for the badge, supporters clearly stated they were not happy with it, to quote the club, ‘given that only 19% of fans who filled out the survey claimed to like the current shield shape’.

Also, a move from a yellow lion to a claret one was clearly stressed throughout the badge consultation process and embraced by the club.

In a vote of 21,500 supporters only 8% of fans voted to keep this shield badge.

Regardless of views on the current round badge on the shirts, it has a clear mandate from Aston Villa supporters with 77% of the vote the club.

In that respect, the bare minimum of supporter consultation required to give any new badge a similar mandate, would be for it to face and top the round badge in a renewed supporter vote.

It is not satisfactory for executives that have been at the club a matter of months, to create a badge that ‘they believe’ is what the majority of fans want, without getting supporter approval first, as per the new FA rules.

The round badge this season also has the potential of being associated with a huge upturn in success for the club, unmatched by the period experienced by the previous variations of the recent yellow lion shield design.

The initial mission of the club changing the club badge was to signal a new future for the club, and to break away from recent serial underachievement.'

I think there's a few key things there that worry me. Supporters were not at all consulted, there are some key contradictions in Heck's language, there's a 'like it or lump it' feel to the back and forth (well, mainly forth) conversation, and there's seemingly very little room for the FAB to have any input at all.

You might think the badge thing is a small issue, you're probably right. It's complicated when this dynamic continues on stadium issues and ticket prices. I don't like that at all, and as an outsider feel like it should be a more collaborative process. I hope I am wrong, but it feels like in the opinion of club leadership that fans are a problem to be solved than a community to work with. There are worries there and I hope Chris Heck can correct them during his reign.

What would I have done? Thanks for asking.

I'd have invited agencies and individual designers (ideally with connections to local area) to pitch and put together briefs. I'd have shown these briefs to the FAB (obviously pushing the ones I like best) and formulating a set of 9 or 6 'final' badges. These badges would have their day in the sun, and fans would be allowed to download the full briefs. At the end of that process, there would be a big informed vote to remove 3 or 2 at a time until a final few remain. Then, I'd use a weighted vote between the board, FAB reps, season ticket holders/members, and fans to find a final badge. I think that'd be fair, right? Ideally all of the initial 9 or even 6 would fit the brief for the club from a business sense, with the vote only there to really enhance the process and finalise a brilliant badge from a set of solid contenders. It's a long, potentially expensive, and probably unrealistic process, but I'd like to imagine that'd result a in 20-30 year badge for the club. What do I know, though?

Well, I know that Lee Haynes and 1874 (formerly The Villa View) knocked it out of the park when they tried their hand at it. You're telling me that the United Kingdom's creative talent, or even Birmingham's couldn't come up with a bunch more?

All this being said, I will wait to see what Villa say when they reveal the new badge, that is only fair. It'll likely be paired with a stand-alone lion rampant, which will be a fan favourite. It can't not be.

As for the new main badge, it just feels very much 'theirs' rather than a collective 'ours' - and the FAB notes only helped seal that though into my head.

Appendix: What even is a Villa badge anymore?

What actually makes a 'Villa badge' though? It's tough to say, because the clubs who had it 'easy' in branding terms won a shiteload of stuff with resilient and time-tested branding. Worldwide appeal comes easy with that.

I think that is the big truth behind football club crests/badges. The experts and professionals who are talented and experienced in branding, marketing and design don't get to define what a 'good' badge is. Not truly. Really, it's down to the success of the club and history. A badge that doesn't change, to put it bluntly, is the best badge of all - as long as the football club succeeds while that badge exists.

See below:

With Liverpool and Manchester United, core ideas at the front of the badge barely changed after the club was established as a sporting force. They tweaked and improved a core tenant. You can genuinely see the evolution.

With Villa, I'm not so sure that you can. While there are a few radical tweaks to LFC and MUFC's crests, they came decades ago. (The 1960's substitution of the red devil, and the change from a shield to an oval crest to house the liver bird).

In comparision, Villa's badge history looks completely fluid:

To take the same cut off point of the 60s, Villa's badge changed form six times - from a shield to roundel and back again with a number of huge changes in the shape of the mascot lion and colour mix. Through three/four footballing peaks of the 80s, early 90s, late 00s and 2023, the badge of Villa has been entirely different. This is why making a Villa badge is so divisive, everyone has their own favourite. You cannot make that argument with Manchester United or Liverpool, you can only keep tweaking what works. Making a new Villa badge means a fight between four different 'proper' crests. You cannot say there is a proper claret, a proper blue, a proper font, a proper shape

If Villa were to follow Manchester United or Liverpool, they'd have stuck with the roundel from the 70s until now and tweaked. In 2023, that is what Villa tried to do - I've come around to it personally - but the colour mix is too bold, and it also scraps 33 years of the last brand they tried to build - the shield - which was arguably close to being perfected bar a few details and tweaks.

With the leaked badge, they are sticking to the shield and tweaking, but my feeling is that it is simply a poor man's version of what we already have. In theory, that is the correct move - you can see what football clubs like Liverpool and Man Utd have done. In practice, we know it'll be changed within a decade if Villa do stick.

I'll never claim to be an expert on graphic design, but this is a weird cross-section where fans, genuinely, are the experts. No, not in all cases, but a badge MUST appeal to the fanbase. If it doesn't, it has already failed in one key area.

Only time will tell.