Rebranding

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
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Michael Farthing
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Rebranding

Post by Michael Farthing » Wed Jul 04, 2018 1:39 pm

The ECF newslatter has just announced a rebranding of the ECF:

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-cont ... anding.pdf

I usually find changes of logo disappointing, but in this case it strikes me as quite an exciting new design

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Jul 04, 2018 2:28 pm

Any news of the cost?

Mike Gunn
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Mike Gunn » Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:25 pm

The squares think doesn't work for me.

If you count the squares from the left it should be "EBE" not "ECF", surely?

(And the top left square should be white, not black!)

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:43 pm

Could someone preserve somewhere the old logo? (Hopefully the ECF will preserve it somewhere as well). Sometimes it can be hard to find these old logos again. Two red knights head facing each other either side of a red queen with ECF (initials and full words) in white below. I am sure there was a discussion here about that new logo when it was launched (but cannot find the discussion right now).

FWIW, the company (Create Services) that did this new logo counts the London Chess Classic and the London Chess Centre among its previous projects:

http://www.createservices.co.uk/?p=projects

Presumably English Chess Federation will appear on that listing at some point (you have to click the links at the top to see the brandings).

EDIT: Aha. Here is the earlier discussion from August 2010:

Vote for an ECF logo

It was a vote to keep the existing logo, versus two new designs from the same company (Create Services). Someone could look up in the accounts what they charged in 2010 for that (if anything).

Anyone know the history of the red knights and red queen logo? And what logos did the BCF have? I think it was the same or similar, wasn't it? I have found an example here on a 1993 BCF yearbook, with a youthful-looking Nigel Short as a bonus!
Last edited by Christopher Kreuzer on Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

David Gilbert
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Re: Rebranding

Post by David Gilbert » Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:50 pm

Pretty cool and quite inspired. I might buy the T-shirt. Done that.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed Jul 04, 2018 5:02 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:43 pm
Anyone know the history of the red knights and red queen logo? And what logos did the BCF have? I think it was the same or similar, wasn't it?
Two Knights and a Queen was the BCF Logo, not greatly different from the ECF's version. It's on the 1981- 1982 Yearbook. How much further back it goes in time, I wouldn't be sure.

Mark Rivlin
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Mark Rivlin » Thu Jul 05, 2018 10:07 am

Hi all
I'm Mark Rivlin, editor of the ECF e-newsletter and a partner in Create Services. I'm also secretary of Hackney Chess Club. Thanks for your feedback. Just to clear up a couple of points. We actually did this work gratis. I raised an invoice for £300 plus VAT but the amount of work that went into various presentations, a trip to a meeting in Birmingham and the final tweaking added up to a lot more than the £300 charged. The actual cost of doing an exercise like this can run into thousands, the most extreme example being Wolff Olins who scooped £490,000 for the Olympic logo in 2012 and IMHO was a dreadful piece of work.

Christopher, you are right. We did an initial presentation in 2010 but the board then rejected the two proposals. This time round the board were clear about the brief and it was a reasonably smooth process. And yes, we have done all the publicity work around the London Chess Classic including stage layout. The large format graphics have worked well there.

We have worked with a lot of start-ups with their branding and I am pleased to say some have become very successful businesses. One example is Make Believe, a performing arts company. A young 16-year-old lad called Joel Kern walked into our studio in 2004 with his business idea, we did his logo and 14 years on he has become one of the leading players in this market (makebelievegroup.co.uk) still with that original top hat logo.

Occasionally I will do jobs like this at low or even free rates. In the case of ECF, it was more about my determination to replace the rather dated red logo and help the Federation move more into the 21st century.

Please do keep the feedback coming.
Mark

Reg Clucas
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Reg Clucas » Thu Jul 05, 2018 3:40 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:43 pm
Could someone preserve somewhere the old logo?
Anyone can. Just go to the grading database website, right click the logo and save it on your computer.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Thu Jul 05, 2018 3:59 pm

Thanks Mark

"We actually did this work gratis. I raised an invoice for £300 plus VAT but the amount of work that went into various presentations, a trip to a meeting in Birmingham and the final tweaking added up to a lot more than the £300 charged. The actual cost of doing an exercise like this can run into thousands, the most extreme example being Wolff Olins who scooped £490,000 for the Olympic logo in 2012 and IMHO was a dreadful piece of work. "

I was worried it was nearer the bigger figure! (The company for which I used to work kept going on about cost-cutting, then announced new logo, letter-heading etc., costing thousands.) £300 is really low. And I agree the Olympic one was awful...

Well done.

Mark Rivlin
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Mark Rivlin » Fri Jul 06, 2018 11:46 am

Thanks Kevin
Mark

Bob Kane
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Bob Kane » Fri Jul 06, 2018 2:33 pm

As a chess player my eye is immediately drawn to the black square top left and the potential black square bottom right :?

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Michael Farthing
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Location: Morecambe, Europe

Re: Rebranding

Post by Michael Farthing » Fri Jul 06, 2018 4:45 pm

As a designer (not) I notice that the board is in the top right corner of the design and therefore deduce that it is intended to be cut off at the left. The top right corner is appropriately black.

Bob Kane
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Bob Kane » Mon Jul 09, 2018 10:44 pm

Mark ,
What happens about the juniors logo, is that changing? Will new kit be required?
Final question when is this "re branding " being rolled out? the old logo is still in daily use
thanks

Nick Grey
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Nick Grey » Mon Jul 09, 2018 11:57 pm

When will the shirts, hoodies, caps and branded vacuum mugs go on sale?

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Andrew Walker
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Re: Rebranding

Post by Andrew Walker » Tue Jul 10, 2018 12:33 pm

Reg Clucas wrote:
Thu Jul 05, 2018 3:40 pm
Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:43 pm
Could someone preserve, somewhere, the old logo?
Anyone can. Just go to the grading database website, right click the logo and save it on your computer.
The 'old' logo was one that I built to replace the out-of-date original some years ago, largely unnoticed :D so I have saved it in large sizes and many formats for posterity ...

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-cont ... /older.jpg

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-cont ... /newer.jpg

You may need to paste these links into your browser if you're at all interested ...

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