Process

I was browsing the web when I saw the opportunity to create a crest for a soccer team supporter's group. I first sought to create a crest based on the existing Everton crest for a Chicago supporter's group. My initial thought process was in finding out how to best tie a sense of Chicago identity into the crest while keeping the overall Everton feel. After some research, I decided on replacing the Everton Lock-Up with the Sears Tower while incorporating elements of the city flag of Chicago on to the crest. Keeping with the classic style of the Everton crest, I was able to create an outline silhouette of the Sears Tower that looks both modern and classic. Two white bars and four red 6-pointed stars incorporated the flag to further diversify this crest from the original.

The second crest was requested by a Hong Kong based supporter's group. In keeping with the first crest, I looked for an appropriate building as a focal point and settled on the Bank of China Tower. I then looked to try incorporating the flag of Hong Kong in the design but had no luck fitting the design in a way that was aesthetically pleasing. Looking elsewhere, I settled on using a Chinese Junk, a common sight in the port city.

Problems

I was pretty proefficient in using Photoshop prior to taking on this project, however I did encounter a few design problems. This was as much an exercise in keeping to a fixed aesthetic as it was fitting that aesthetic to different identities. The bulk of my time was spent researching about the different locations more than I had done before, however it was fun learning about the different locales.

In addition to research, I had a little problem in getting the correct font to display perfectly in the crest's banner. Using Photoshop's warp tools to bend the text created some streching and kerning problems. In the future, I plan on spending more time researching ways to optimize displaying of curved text in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and time-effective.