Brand Identity

Lewes Football Club

Helping a tiny grassroots club to make a huge ethical impact.

When it comes to innovation and ethics in sport, Lewes FC kicked things off while the rest of the world was still in the changing rooms.

Sector

Charity & Nonprofit

What we did

Discovery & Definition

Audits
Consultation
Workshops
Digital strategy
Brand strategy
Brand proposition
Site architecture
Naming

Design Development

Creative concepts
Brand identity system
Brand engagement
Messaging and tone of voice
Brand expression
Campaign communications
Content creation
Digital expression
Digital design, UI and UX
Packaging design
Print design
Art direction

Delivery

Brand guidelines
Brand toolkits
Brand activation
Front end development
Motion design and video
CMS training

Context

The story of Lewes FC is the stuff of sporting legend. It was founded in the Royal Oak pub in 1885 and, since 2010, is entirely fan-owned and not-for-profit. Most significantly, it is the first football team in the world to pay their women’s and men’s teams equally. This tiny, grassroots club is now challenging the rest of professional sport to follow suit. Lewes FC needed our help to ensure it was communicating as compellingly and consistently as possible.

Charlie Dobres Director Lewes FC

Entrusting a brand you’ve spent a decade creating to an outside agency is a big moment. But we didn’t need to worry. Not one bit. From their initial interpretation of our brief, through development sessions to the end result was both a professional and, importantly, joyful process too. The resulting website, app design work, brand guidelines book, and work on our first-ever ad campaign have been superb and really well received by our fans and owners.

Solution

Our aim was to radically develop the club’s visual identity, without losing sight of its history. Retaining and subtly tweaking its historic crest, we focussed on the clubs iconic red and black kit, building a suite of dynamic patterns. Through research into East Sussex’s role in the history of print and typesetting, we introduced a bold woodblock typeface as a suitably gritty typographic voice for this gritty little club. Our collaboration culminated in the redesign and relaunch of a new club website. Throughout the design and build process, our aim was to give Lewes FC a site as sophisticated, flexible and dynamic as any Premier League club.

Impact

Fans all over the world can now see live match results, keep up to date with fixtures, invest in community shares and share their stories. Sport loves a David and Goliath story, and they don’t get much more David and Goliath than this: a tiny club challenging perceptions, attitudes and prejudices all over the sporting world.