The existing Whitstable Town Football Club brand needed a refresh, so we have worked closely with Andy Godden of the award winning design agency, ingredientTM, to produce a contemporary and unifying identity that can be applied across all interactions with our brand. We wanted to future-proof the brand image by developing a visual language that can evolve, whilst ensuring that the new identity reflects the club’s bold ambitions.

The design of a new club crest, fit for the digital age, considered many aspects of the club’s long history that we proudly wish to preserve, but also needed to reflect our vision for a positive and innovative future.

A look back into the history of the Whitstable football club since its birth almost 140 years ago shows several distinct periods and identities. The current club badge dates from around the 1950s, but its colours are predominantly blue, with gold secondary and a red accent colour; these do not align with the actual club colours. Its design can lead to some practical challenges when reproducing on digital media, playing kits and other forms of merchandise.

We have retained the three main elements from the original logo: shield, ship and banner.

Situated on the north Kent coast, Whitstable has a close connection with the sea, being especially famous for its oysters, providing a common nickname for the football team. There is another historic link between the sea, the club and its home ground. George Holden, a director of the Whitstable Shipping Company, lived in Belmont House and also built a schooner named Belmont that operated from the harbour for many years. He also owned a field used by the club that was subsequently gifted to the town for sport and became known as the Belmont Ground. It was therefore considered important to keep the ship emblem, which has been rotated to a front view, making the shape of a shield. The original banner has been re-designed to create a roundel with the name of the club and its founding year, 1885.

The new club badge has two versions: red and gold. This allows the badge to be used on different coloured backgrounds without using outlines.

The re-brand will cover all aspects of the club, as we continue to build connections with our members, our fans and our community. It will be seen in our home and away kits, matchday programme, fixture posters, stationery, website and social media, season tickets, merchandise and around the home ground.

The club is extremely grateful to Andy Godden for all of his hard work, expertise and guidance throughout this project, which we are sure will help Whitstable Town continue to grow and become the community club that the whole town will recognise and be proud of. We have come a long way since 1885, with the pace of change accelerating in recent years, but the journey continues.