Portsmouth Referee Development Group Rebrand
In 2018, having become involved with the Portsmouth Referee's Association Referee Development Group - I felt a keen desire to help bring the group to the forefront. What the group provided referees of all ages was unparalleled, and with my media and communications background I wanted to help the group start to shout about themselves more. The group were also the only surviving part of the Portsmouth RA, who were in the midst of disbanding. So, with the group looking like they were going to go out on their own - what better time to rebrand completely and start afresh?
The commonly used 'nickname' for the Portsmouth Referee Development Group became the obvious name - and given the PRDG is a football based operation, what better basis than the shield for the main FA? This iconic logo is instantly recognisable, and with this being emblazoned on many referee kits - it was an obvious foundation.
My idea was simple - a whistle was too obvious to use and these also don't lend themselves very well to symmetry. So the idea of two Assistant Referee flags as the background came in immediately.
Keeping the locale was also key, with the top nameplate identifying the area and then the Spinnaker imagery which has become synonymous with the city could be front and centre.
My vision, was that the logo could then interchange with the area (the name plate changing and then the central icon also adapting to something in the city - for example Angel of the North would be for the Newcastle Development Group should that opportunity happen!) and leave the potential to create a uniformity across the country. The new brand EFL font was chosen as a good base.
A crude drawing on my iPad was seen by my friend and long time collaborator Dave Edwards - who not half an hour later produced the vector for the logo. And from there on in, the PRDG image rebrand was complete.
The tagline 'Develop and Enjoy Refereeing' came very naturally when Chris James (Head of Coaching and Development) described the group in a sentence - and that's what we also ran with.
A website was also then built and launched, and a PDF brochure also generated for prospective referees who are interested in joining the PRDG and being able to flick through it.
