Work

NYCFC

A unsolicited brand proposal for NYC's new Major League Soccer team, designed a year before the official brand was released.

Service
Brand Refresh
Capabilities
Close-up of the New York City Football Club logo featuring a stylized circular emblem with "New York City" written on the top half and "Club" on the bottom. The interior hosts a blue hexagon surrounded by light blue and dark blue rings.

This is an unsolicited and unofficial conceptual sketch unassociated in any way with NYCFC’s owners, Manchester City and the New York Yankees, or Major League Soccer. It was released May 31, 2013, almost a full year before the official NYCFC badge was released on March 20, 2014. Evidently, NYCFC liked our subway token reference. You can read a review of our concept here.

Background

New York City is finally going to have a first division football (soccer) team playing in the five boros. Major League Soccer will incorporate New York City Football Club as the 20th franchise in 2015 and it will be owned by the English Premier League’s Manchester City with the New York Yankees as minority owners. The franchise was announced prior to being properly branded, so we couldn’t resist proposing our vision for NYCFC.

Image displaying seven football club logos. From left to right: New York Cosmos, Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, New York City Football Club, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea. The word "Context" is written below the logos.

Two sports giants give birth to a new club

NYCFC is starting with a blank slate but it already has some big boots to fill. With the legacy-rich, retro-cool New York Cosmos long favored to be the logical choice for expansion, the NYCFC announcement came as a surprise. The name chosen by the owners creates an intentional symmetry with the Manchester vs. Manchester City rivalry by enabling a New York vs. New York City derby.

Image showing the "Brand DNA" consisting of five elements in a sequence: the Manchester City FC logo, the New York Yankees logo, a soccer ball, an MTA subway token, and a Five Boroughs emblem. Each element is separated by a plus sign.
Two circular logos for the New York City Football Club are shown. The primary mark features a hexagon and "New York City Football Club" written around it. The secondary mark has a simpler design with "NYCFC" in the center of a hexagon.
The image shows the logotype for NYCFC, featuring large, bold letters "NYC" in dark blue and "FC" in light blue against a white background. Below the logo, the small text reads "Logotype.
Five variations of the New York City Football Club logo and text in different color schemes. Each column shows a circle with "New York City Football Club" at the top of the circle, a pentagonal shape in the center, and "NYCFC" text below. The logos are in blue, white, black, and gray.

Encoding the new club's DNA

“New York City Football Club” feels big in scope. It is unfettered by associations to mascots or natural phenomena, which is refreshing for an American sports franchise. The only clear inheritance is the blue color palette of the parent organizations. Other than that, this brand is completely wide open.

Aerial view of New York City, showing a vast expanse of buildings and skyscrapers with waterways and bridges visible in the distance. The New York City Football Club logo is superimposed at the top center of the image.
A large spherical metal structure resembling a globe, situated in the middle of fountains at dusk. The globe is overlaid with a blue and white NY City FC (NYCFC) logo in the center. People are seen walking and sitting around the fountain area.
A yellow taxi cab in an urban setting features an advertisement on its roof that reads, "BROOKLYN BLEEDS BLUE," with branding for WHC. The sign is blue and white, situated in front of a beige building with trees and other storefronts visible in the background.
Pattern of alternating logos of Manchester City Football Club and the New York Yankees baseball team, including their team crests, logos, and the Manchester City stars. The background is white and the logos are arranged in a grid format.
A large billboard with a blue and white emblem featuring the year "2015" is displayed on the side of a brick building in an urban area. Cars are parked below the billboard, and buildings with various wall art and graffiti are visible in the background.
A large, illuminated billboard on a city street at night displays the message "WE BLEED BLUE." in bold white and blue text against a light blue background. The New York City Football Club logo is at the bottom right corner of the billboard.

The Goals

We set out to create the club’s identity with the following simple goals:

  1. Build a globally recognized football brand that captures the attitude and visual iconography of New York City.
  2. Embed the legacy of the ownership partners: Manchester City and NY Yankees.
  3. Create a modern classic – a clean identity that appeals to both young and mature New York City football fans.
Two blue hoodies with the New York City Football Club logo, displayed side by side on a white background. Both feature the Adidas logo, front pockets, and drawstrings. One has a round emblem with a lighter blue circle, while the other showcases the full club name in text.
A side view of a blue and white NYCFC branded bus is shown on the left. The bus features the NYCFC logo and text. On the right, the back view of the same bus displays a large NYCFC logo with a hexagonal soccer ball design and the full name "New York City Football Club.
Three soccer jerseys: one is light blue with black trim; one is dark blue with light blue trim; and one is white with black trim. Each jersey displays a circular logo on the left chest and an Adidas logo on the right chest.
A digital sign near a subway entrance in an urban setting displays the text: "säkə noun Football, in New York City." The sign has a dark blue background with white letters, and the subway entrance is surrounded by buildings with brick walls and large windows.
Three men are wearing different NYCFC (New York City Football Club) t-shirts. The left man wears a navy blue shirt, the top right man wears a light blue shirt, and the bottom right man wears a gray shirt. Each shirt displays a version of the NYCFC logo.
A close-up of a hand holding a New York City Football Club card, scanning it at a turnstile. The card features the club's emblem and a blue background with a black stripe. The scanning device and a blurred background are partially visible.
Split image: Left side shows the back of a navy blue baseball cap with "NYCFC" embroidered in white. Right side shows the front of the same cap with the "New York City Football Club" logo embroidered in white and blue.
A large banner on the side of a building features the text "New York City Football Club 2015" with a soccer ball graphic and the NYCFC logo. The street below has shops with visible signs, and a few cars and pedestrians are present. Trees partially obscure the view.

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