By Grimsby Town launch new club crest and new website
The Mariners have kicked off 2022 by not only delivering a new website but also a new refined club crest, 50 years after the current style was introduced.
The new crest has been designed by Grimsby fan Rich Lyons, who works for global tech giants Apple, and has previously worked on the iPhone design and software.
Rich reached out to the club prior to the takeover by 1878 Partners Ltd and began making tweaks to the design throughout 2021.
The club have also launched a new website, one of the things fans were crying out for in the fan survey launched by the owners in the Summer.
Created by local firm SourceFour, the club say that it has been “designed and built from the ground up” with a focus on a “more integrated user experience across all platforms”.
The Mariners have also launched their first-ever official brand guidelines, which the club say will “help align the Club’s image and ensure continuity and consistency, creating an instantly recognisable brand
we can all be proud to be associated with.”
Chairperson Jason Stockwood said of the new revised crest and new club guidelines: “On behalf of the Board, I’d like to say how grateful we are to Rich for the excellent work he’s done to
refine and subtly upgrade the Club crest.
“The expertise and talent he has brought to the project is an amazing gift to the Mariners, marking this New Year, new era and a brand new chapter for the Club.
“This work sits neatly with our new responsive website and the first-ever Club brand guidelines. All part of the continuous improvement we are committed to.”
The new club crest
50 years after it’s introduction in 1972 by George Palejowski of The Carpathian Lancers, the broad design of the crest is recognisable but has had small tweaks and changes throughout the years.
Rich spoke of the challenges of revising such an iconic crest which means so much to so many passionate fans: “our crest is one of the most loved and recognised in the English footballing pyramid.
“Any attempt to over-simplify or reinvent it would understandably be met with scrutiny. The reality is, things have changed a lot since 1972, and our current crest needed some love to
work better in a digital age.
“That’s why I challenged myself to improve on the current version, without destroying its legacy – making it fit for a club with incredible history and ambition for the future.
Rich, who has previously worked with brands such as Deliveroo and Airbnb on rebrands, called this a “dream project” and his former agency, DesignStudio, also worked on the famous Premier League rebrand in 2016.
My dream was becoming a reality” – Rich Lyons
Rich continues: “At the start of 2019, I started to tinker with the current Grimsby Town crest, more out of curiosity than anything else. I was eager to figure out a better way to draw it geometrically, to improve on the many inconsistencies that had occurred due to hand-crafted modifications and analogue reproduction.
“My full-time job at Apple prevented me from dedicating enough time to working on it properly, so over the course of two years, I intermittently went back to it whenever I could.
“When rumours of a takeover came around at the beginning of 2021, I decided to reach out to the club with a proposal to update the crest.
“Much to my delight, it was well received and the philosophy behind it married well with the plans 1878 Partners had for the club moving forward. My dream was becoming a reality.”
He says he was keen to not completely overhaul the design, akin to the proposed Leeds United crest change in 2019 which was scrapped after outcry from the fans.
The new badge has been built up from the ground up, but has kept many of the basic elements that make the Grimsby Town badge so recognisable.
There is now an 1878 flag on the boat, acting as a tribute to the club’s long history as one of the oldest clubs in professional football.
Rich says that the new badge, while not a massive overhaul, can be used much better for other uses in merchandise and on social media, allowing the club and fans to pick out specific iconic pieces from the badge.
“Around Christmas 2020, I was paying a visit to my dad’s grave in Holton-le-Clay cemetery,” Rich continues.
“As I walked around the grounds, I noticed a fair few headstones featured the Grimsby Town club crest – a clear indication that there was a die-hard fan buried there. It was a stark reminder that our crest is such an important symbol of our passion for the club, and I hope my improved version is loved by our fans for decades to come.”
The new website
Local design consultants SouceFour remodelled the new website from the ground up, incorporating the new branding and allowing for much easier navigation and access from all platforms.
There are five major changes to the website that the fans will notice:
Updated branding
The website will feature the new club branding as well as the the club’s first-ever Brand Guidelines which will become recognisable in the coming months as the club will be ‘drip feeding’ the new branding.
Full Control
The previous website was hosted and designed by EFL Digital, meaning the club were limited with a set structure and design which the EFL provided, and can be found among many other clubs in the second, third and fourth tiers.
Grimsby say that this new website will allow the club to “continually amend and design our site to suit and ensure our newly created brand guidelines are adhered to at all times”.
It will also allow for “continuous growth, additions and future-proofing.”
Club-managed mailing list
The new website means that the club have full control over their mailing list, meaning that they can bring the news about the club that the fans truly care about.
Fans will be able to customise the marketing they receive from the club, giving fans total control over what they see from the club.
Fully responsive
The website has been designed with mobile users in mind as 75 per cent of users view content on their phones first.
Digital enhancement
With the new website, digital content has been prioritised and this means that all of the club’s YouTube content will be able to be viewed on the home page.
Managing Director of Source Four Design, Robert Pritchard spoke about working with Grimsby on the new website: “I am born and bred in Grimsby and as a local businessman and lifelong Grimsby Town fan, I have fulfilled a dream to work with the Mariners.
“So what’s new? The navigation has been simplified, making it quicker and easier than ever before to reach the content you’re looking for. A new and improved League table and fixtures API, including a score widget, will make it easier than ever to stay in touch.
“We have also revamped the post pages, so pages such as club news, ticket news and fixture news have been revamped entirely to provide a greater user experience for your convenience. All the club’s latest news and ticket information is easily digestible from the new home page.”
There are also plans for a new club shop to be released in the coming weeks, as per the feedback of the fan survey stated the desire from fans to have one.
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