A new crest for Stoke City

A club crest is never just a badge. It sits on the shirt, the stadium, the season ticket and the tattoo on a supporter's arm. So when Stoke City Football Club decided the time had come for a change, the brief carried real weight, and we were proud to lead the creative from first sketch to final rollout.

We've worked alongside Stoke City for over a decade, but this was something else. Updating a crest means becoming part of a club's history, and the city's too. It has to work as hard for the lifelong supporter as it does for the staff and the wider community, which made it one of the biggest tasks we've taken on for the club, and one we relished.

The last update came back in 2001, when the club opted for a simplified design built around the red and white stripes. Twenty-five years on, fan research told a clear story. Supporters wanted something that spoke to the city itself, and the crest used between 1977 and 1992 came out as the firm favourite.

That gave us our starting point. We drew on the spirit of the 1977-92 design, bringing back the Staffordshire knot and the pottery kiln that nods to the trade the region was built on, then modernised the whole thing for the seasons ahead. At a moment when much of football is drifting towards near-identical circular badges, holding onto Stoke's distinctive shield felt like the right call.

Around the crest we built a full set of brand assets: mono versions, a refreshed colour palette, usage guidelines and new brand icons, all pulled together in an updated guidelines document. The change touches every corner of the club, with more than 400 instances of the old crest across the bet365 Stadium, training ground facilities, Clayton Wood, Wellbeing Park and The Dome set to be updated.

What made the project sing was the fans. Their voices shaped the design at every stage, through surveys, fan assemblies and ongoing dialogue with the independent fan advisory committee, Stoke City Connect. When the club put the new crest to a vote, independently hosted and validated by sports data experts Two Circles, supporters backed it by a majority of 68% to 32%.

Michael Wright, Senior Designer at Drummond Central, said:
“As one of the oldest football clubs in the country, Stoke deserves a crest that honours the history of the city its people are so proud to call home. Inspired by the much-loved 77-92 design, we brought back its local iconography, but modernised into a crest worthy of the city for years to come. This was a fantastic project to work on and we’re excited to see the new crest out in the wild”

Simon King, Chief Operating Officer at Stoke City Football Club, said:
“The crest is an integral part of the Club’s heritage and this will, therefore, go down as an historic moment for Stoke City.

“Our approach from the outset has been to put our fans at the heart of the process, allowing them to form an identity that truly represents them.

“A huge amount of hard work has gone into bringing the project to this point, from within the Club, from our design agency Drummond Central and from Stoke City Connect whose check, challenge and guidance has been invaluable.

“The end result is something that represents the history and tradition our supporters are proud of, and for which Stoke-on-Trent is renowned, and I believe that’s the best place to be.

“We are looking forward to our new crest becoming an integral part of the identity of our club from the 26/27 season and for many years to come.”

The rollout starts this summer with the launch of the 26/27 kits, alongside the club's digital channels and selected high-profile spots at the bet365 Stadium, before being phased in across several seasons.

For a club we've stood beside for more than ten years, there are few briefs that mean more than this one.