The Academy Project

The aim of this project was to create the branding for a concept football academy that inclusive to people from all backgrounds. In the preparation stages of my project I became informed of the issues of representation within Football for certain ethnic groups and other communities.

There is already some fantastic work going on in the industry to combat these issues, with campaigns such as the Enough Campaign, Kick it Out, Football Beyond Borders and the Rainbow Laces Campaign. However there was something that I did pick up on and that was the fact that a lot of these campaigns do not give a direct path into playing at a professional level, they either work in their own parameters outside of leagues or they try to beat issues within the current professional game. 

This is where I would like to step in with my project, I would like my project to take the form of a football academy, one that aims to give under represented groups opportunities to take their game further and hopefully onto the professional scene. I am going to focus the academy marketing more towards LGBT community as I believe that is what there is a major lack of in the game currently. 

To give myself a more rounded view and understanding of the issues, I have written some investigative pieces that you can find below.

With the knowledge I gained from researching the issues affecting the game I was ready to start creating the material for the Academy. Below are my outcomes and my journey into their creation.

The Academy Crest

Final Thoughts

Before I started work on the project I wanted to make sure that the posters were simple, contemporary and eye catching, and based on my feedback I have gotten I feel although I have achieved this. I was able to translate the original ideas and vision for the promotional material that I had in my head, onto the designs successfully. The crest I created brings in elements of my area of exploration and incorporates it into the design without it being too overbearing, the subtleness is something people commented on and praised, the crest might be the best part of the final design work in my opinion. I wanted the kits to look like the kind of kits you would see people adopt into streetwear culture, I believe I have achieved this as many of the people who answered my survey said that they would purchase the kit for themselves.

All in all I feel I have achieved the goals of my brief but if I was to change or add some things in the future, I would say that I could look at producing some real kits (jersey) as if I could have some people modelling those, it would really bring this project up a notch. I also feel like if I was to do this project again I would look to gain more feedback from ages 9-13 as I feel I might have leant to heavily into the older half of the age demographic that I was targeting, when in reality the younger kids are the true future. I have really enjoyed this project and have learned so much from it, especially around the less covered issues in football, when I begin my further studies I hope to use all the information I have learned throughout this project and use it to create a change in the game I love.