A New Era: The Canary Returns

[CanaryHatter]

Introducing the new brand identity of Hitchin Town Football Club...

[australis flavum]

Take my name out of your blurb immediately. Aside from reappropriating a couple of my ideas, that badge is nothing to do with me.

MH

[CanaryHatter]

Take my name out of your blurb immediately. Aside from reappropriating a couple of my ideas, that badge is nothing to do with me.

MH

Morning Mark,

The mention was merely as an appreciation for your time during the early stages of the project, not that the final design was yours. Apologies that the committee did not opt to progress any of the designs you spent time working on. I've removed your name as requested.

Kind regards,
Stewart

[CanaryHatter]

Hi Stewart. I personally love it. The whole all encompassing innovation. It’s a Yes from me. I even got so engrossed in watching the video I spilt half a bottle of Diet Coke over my paperwork.

I don’t know if you recall back in 2015 I set up a second Facebook site as an offshoot to the Save Top Field Campaign site. It was called Hitchin Town Football Club - A New Era. It had the backing of the club and Andy as well. But in 2019 following discussion with others at the club I closed it down, around the time you and Matt came on board and transformed the whole social media platform for the club. Or at least, the site I closed down is not visible to the public. But you know what Facebook is like. No matter how much you try to close something down they don’t make it easy for you so it’s still archived in the Facebook virtual world, if you get what I mean. I don’t think it will cause a problem whatsoever, as this statement of a New Era is a video on You Tube and not a new Facebook site. But I thought it was only right that I should mention it in the unlikely event there is ever any future ambiguity with Facebook.

Hi Jackie! Thank you for the positive feedback - the video really is a fantastic overview of our history and the understanding behind the new crest - we couldn't be happier with both.

Also a big thanks for the heads-up on the Facebook page, I'll let you know if it causes any obstacles, but doesn't seem to have so far.

Perhaps the best thing about this rebrand folks, it's one Hitchin Town FC under one banner. Mens, Ladies & Youth.

[CanaryHatter]

This article may also be of interest to some. It details how we worked with professional football design Chris Payne to select each element of the new crest. Grab a cuppa and have a read. It's a great piece.

http://bit.ly/HTFC-RebrandProcess

[australis flavum]

The mention was merely as an appreciation for your time during the early stages of the project, not that the final design was yours. Apologies that the committee did not opt to progress any of the designs you spent time working on. I've removed your name as requested.

Kind regards,
Stewart

Morning Stewart

No apology needed (although if the committee did opt not to "progress" someone's work, perhaps as a basic courtesy they might like to inform the designer next time). It was quite apparent early on that we had differing views on what a new crest to reflect the town's club should include, and that is quite evident in the final design.

I did however strongly object to my name being used without my say so as a footnote in the furtherance of your badge. Thanks for removing it.

Anyway, well done on said badge. Some of the reaction it's getting is fantastic.

Regards
Mark

[Neil]

Actually, Stewart, you should probably remove my name from the credits. I played no part at all in the project, in fact I was not aware of it and wouldn't like people to think I am taking credit for something I wasn't remotely involved in. Cheers.

[anthony.brown]

Stewart and Mr Docking have revealed to us several interesting details about the Hitchin Club's early history; well done both. It would be good to see the new info included in the history section of our website, where a few small existing errors could also be taken care of?

[ClubAdmin]

Having finally got away from my packing duties ready for dispatch of new merchandise (some is on its way already), I've finally got time to read what's been put on here and thought I would add my thoughts and respond to a couple of comments made here.

From a personal perspective, the publishing of the new brand is the culmination of a phenominal amount of work and a need that I have continuously voiced my opinion on for about twenty years, for some like a broken record. It's finally happened! Fantastic!

I do have some reactions to some of the postings above:

Mark I am sorry that you seem to feel the way you do. All I can say is that I will always be eternally thankful and grateful for the 2015 badge that you designed for our 150 years of the foundation of the first Hitchin FC. But we do move on and we took the decision to engage with the services of a chap who already had proven successful experience with complete brand designs of a few clubs at our level of football, had no preconceived ideas of what a new brand for us should look like, and effectively started with no prior knowledge of the Club's history. His resultant rationale is there for all to see in his launch video.

All I can say is that as a Committee, we have had our own challenges of communicating with each other during the pandemic. We were at absolute pains to ensure that the launch of the new brand was kept fully under wraps so as to maximise its impact, whatever that took. Also, as a member of the Management Committee, I am not aware of having had sight of any specific ideas for a new brand that you had submitted?

But in the best interests of the Club, the initial results of the new launch are there for all to see. We have already sold more merchandise online in three days than I used to sell in a whole season between 2000-2010! I hope that explains a few things from my perspective.

Neil I understand that you don't want to take any credit for the new brand, and that you say you played no part in it. But for me you take credit in being the first person to stand up and make it clear that some brand image and consistency was needed within the Club. You tried very hard to encourage this with the publication of a document in 2011 setting out the rationale behind this. Having worked for a fairly large corporate like yourself, I had a clear understanding of the power of establishing a company/organisation brand, but moreso the need that if you do, it needs to be applied consistently. Unfortunately, and with no disrespect whatsoever, it needed the support of others who understood what you were trying to achieve back then. Sadly this did not materialise at the time, and when you ceased your direct involvement with the Club, as I got more involved I tried to carry that message of consistency on. The days of disparity, individuals making up their own signs and doing their own thing would eventually need to come to an end as a prevailing culture......So for me Neil, you were the one who set this on the road ten years ago. I haven't and won't forget that.

Anthony Totally agree with your comments. Stewart has already said about developing the history side of the website to correct any anomalies and to capture all of the fantastic information you've researched and shared. But before he does this, I think he'd welcome a well-earned break! So although this may take a bit of time coming, it'll get there eventually I am sure.

So I'll end by saying that the feelgood factor around the Club has never been better in all of my time of involvement. Let's now hope we can strive for more. We are grateful for every bit of volunteer involvement, but truth is, we still will need more. More to follow on that in due course.