Late last year, I was fortunate to be asked to build a logo design for the upcoming Great Lehigh Valley Soccer Festival through my freelance gig with Spectyr Media.
As a reference, here is the past logo that was attached to the original email request.
Looking critically at the old logo, it was clear that it was time for a change. The numerous colors make it a nightmare for printing costs, and it shared very little history with the valley itself.
Thankfully, the folks at Lehigh Valley United who requested the logo knew what direction they wanted to head in. They requested a red, white, and blue logo that incorporated the Bethlehem Steel Stacks into the design.
With that knowledge in hand, I drafted six logo variations that built in some additional inspiration from the former Bethlehem Steel company along with some iconography from the English Premier League. What good would a soccer logo be without inspiration from some of the most recognizable brands in the game?
The clients chose the first logo in the gallery posted above, so I set to work correcting the proportions of the Bethlehem Steel-inspired hexagon that serves as the base for the crest. From there, I had to begin the difficult but rewarding process of creating a flat vector image of the Steel Stacks. If you’ve never seen them, here’s a great color photo that I found online that served as one of my many references.
Through a few necessary revisions, including limiting the number and proximity of the details in the complex structure to make a more easily reproduced logo, the whole thing began to take shape.
Finally after some requested color alteration, I was able to deliver the final logo in the requested color version and a single color variant for other printing purposes.
The whole project took about a month and was incredibly rewarding. The thought of having this logo used for several years is a little overwhelming. All in all, I was happy to create a clean vector logo that will grace potentially hundreds of T-shirts and memorabilia for youth soccer players from the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
For more information on the festival that relaunches Memorial Day weekend in 2015, visit the Lehigh Valley United website.