VCU Men’s Rugby Club
Logo Development Process
Intro:
VCU Men’s Rugby Club, founded in 1974, has only changed their logo once since then, in 1997. The goal of the executive board was to design a more modern crest which embodied the cultural changes and the success of the club in recent years.
To begin, the board provided a rough estimate of what they were looking for. Certain aspects, such as the ram horns and general crest shape, were to be improved. Others, such as the latin phrase and acronyms, were to be removed entirely. Similarly, because of strict university branding guidelines, any new logo had to include the club’s full title, “VCU Men’s Rugby Club”.
After the initial discussion, I provided some concepts for design elements, including an overlapping banner for the text, a ram’s head made from a rugby-ball shape, and the founding year as a nod to the longevity of the club. Further design elements were implemented during later iterations. Click here to view the logo development quick sheet.
Primary Colors
Design Elements
Secondary Colors
Former Logo (1997-2020)
Primary Colors
Secondary Colors
Design Elements
Process
Phase 1: Ideation
The club executive board was presented with four concepts implementing the design elements in different ways. The first and last designs emphasized the club’s relationship with the city of Richmond, VA, one using a vectorized skyline, and the other a simple rendition of the well-loved city flag. The middle two were in tended as simple, modernized crests, one using a two-tone shadow look, the other following a more traditional style closer to an american soccer club crest. Similarly, from a symbolism standpoint, the three stripes were a simpler, less assuming accent than the laurels, which celebrate triumph and victory. They chose to move forward with one of both styles of design, the 5-star crest and the city flag.
Focus Phase 1
From there, the discussion shifted towards color schemes and focusing in on one design. The latter sparked the greatest amount of conversation, as the simplicity of the first design was something that was widely appreciated. However, it was agreed that the symbolism of the second design was a priority, and they chose to move forward with it. Part of this agreement was due to finding a common ground with the color scheme. It was agreed that the use of white and other available secondary colors would be limited to smaller design elements to keep the logo relatively simple.
Focus Phase 2
The last round was straightforward and took little debate. The board was presented with four very similar crests with small differences in the proportions of gold and white. It was agreed that the white being limited to the banner and stars would be the best choice for maintaining the cleanest color scheme and the most readable logo. See below for enlarged version of the final product.
Final Logo:
