Umbro SA Crest Design

Umbro SA asked two top local designers to create a crest that represents South African football culture.  TwoShoes Graphic Design and Mingo Lamberti’s Brad Hodgkiss have been soaking up the country’s vibe during the World Cup to capture the essence and impact football has on our nation and our cultures.  These expressions have been produced as a limited edition collection that was exhibited alongside Umbro World Champions Collection this week at Neighbourhood in Long Street. Umbro also put the brief out as a competition to designers at Vega in Cape Town and the Red & Yellow School of Logic & Magic.  Two Shoes and Brad Hodgkiss selected the winning design submitted by Lauren Smith and Nikita da Silva of Red & Yellow, which has seen their designs being produced in this limited range as well.   Umbro asked them to a select a charity to which all profits from the South African range will be donated, and to keep it in the spirit of football the girls chose Oasis Place (http://www.charitysa.co.za/oasisplace.html). The South African designers were not short of inspiration being in the thick of the World Cup celebrations and this is clearly portrayed in their final designs, which capture some of the energy the nation has been experiencing as hosts to this tournament. TwoShoes Design: “Our emblem represents soccer as a uniting force for our nation.  Mzantsi United:  A statement and the peoples soccer club. 11 stars are for each player on the team and the 11 official languages of our country – 11 languages for a diverse nation”. Mingo Lamberti’s Brad Hodgkiss:  “I wanted the design to have a traditional crest shape and then add items to it that changed its overall feeling. For example, I took inspiration from the makaraba's and how they have circular shaped in their designs with little pictures inside. I also used shapes and line-work that is found in the African cultures to give it a vibrant African feel. My inspiration was the feeling of being at a soccer game. I wanted to create a feeling that the crest was vibrant, full with movement and colour.” Lauren Smith and Nikita da Silva, Red & Yellow School of Logic and Magic: “We drew inspiration from other SA artists, urban hair salons with their hand drawn stylized advertising, shweshwe fabrics that are traditional patterned African fabrics and stitching designs.   We chose to simplify our crest to make it more iconic.  It has a rural feel and the colours are natural and traditional.  We also used a typeface which looks hand drawn to carry through a traditional authentic feel”.  Abafana bam ba dlala kahle translated means “My boys are playing well” which elders of a community would commonly be heard saying in appreciation for the younger players. Check out the Umbro site here. More details and images of the event when you click through.