Lewes Football Club

Helping a tiny grassroots club to make a huge ethical impact. The story of Lewes FC is the stuff of sporting legend. It was founded in the Royal Oak pub in 1885 and, since 2010, is entirely fan-owned and not-for-profit. Most significantly, it is the first football team in the world to pay their women’s and men’s teams equally. This tiny, grassroots club is now challenging the rest of professional sport to follow suit. Lewes FC needed our help to ensure it was communicating as compellingly and consistently as possible. Our aim was to radically develop the club’s visual identity, without losing sight of its history. Retaining and subtly tweaking its historic crest, we focussed on the clubs iconic red and black kit, building a suite of dynamic patterns. Through research into East Sussex’s role in the history of print and typesetting, we introduced a bold woodblock typeface as a suitably gritty typographic voice for this gritty little club. Our collaboration culminated in the redesign and relaunch of a new club website. Throughout the design and build process, our aim was to give Lewes FC a site as sophisticated, flexible and dynamic as any Premier League club. Fans all over the world can now see live match results, keep up to date with fixtures, invest in community shares and share their stories. Sport loves a David and Goliath story, and they don’t get much more David and Goliath than this: a tiny club challenging perceptions, attitudes and prejudices all over the sporting world.