Singapore Premier League: Savage, Unhinged, Hungry

We should have a Kallang Roar too.

This is good news for the local football community. After all, it was just months ago when local football was in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Never mind that people have been talking about how poorly our Lions are doing in regional matches, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) actually experienced a scandal which involved its president, general secretary and a local football club chairman.

Local football needs a win desperately, and this might be a turning point for them. 

S-League's logo(s)

Strangely, despite being marketed as Singapore's only professional football competition, S.League's graphics would remind you of a company which uses Microsoft Paint for design work. It's official logo consists of 3 logos - the S.League wordmark plus the 2 other logos of the league's sponsors. Up till 2017, it was known officially as the Great Eastern Yeo's S.League, and for last year's season, The Great Eastern-Hyundai S.League. 


Of course, logo rojaks are a big no-no, because there is no focal point when each logo is screaming for attention. The only acceptable situation where logos can be placed so close to each other is when they are listed as sponsors for some event, at the bottom of posters and collaterals. 

S.League's sponsor logos aside, let's talk about the S.League wordmark. There are consistency issues such as an right-angled 'L', a circular dot in a wordmark of sharp angles, and different degrees of angulation, most notably seen in the 'S'. 

Despite all these quirks, it still looks palatable, having gotten used to it thanks to years of football advertisements on Okto and Channel 5. Besides, they won't be the only sports competition to feature a futuristic, heavy-duty identity. 

Singapore premier league identity

"(The) new logo features a red and blue roaring lion - the colours of Singapore and the FAS respectively - to symbolise the king of beasts charging forward, reflecting the league's urge to move ahead."
-The Straits Times

SPL's lion is not only roaring - it seems ferocious, seemingly warning those who are planning on twisting the rules. Heck, the police should use this logo to scare off criminals. I like it - the emotion, the rawness, the savageness. Looks like the league is hungry for success.

Sometimes, the logo has the embossing effect (the picture above) but in most applications or in the absence of backgrounds, the logo would look like this:



I prefer the cleaner look as the emboss work doesn't exactly elevate the appearance of the logo. 

The red/blue gradient helps to add depth to the lion graphic, and might also prevent lawyers from knocking on FAS' door. After all, if they really mixed red and blue, you'll get purple...



SPL's selection of a display font for its logo, as compared to any trendy geometric font is a smart move. A bland geometric font should stay away far from the emotive lion. This way, there is synergy between the 2 elements of the logo. 



Just because the logo doesn't feature a geometric font, the rule does not apply to the identity's applications. Using a standard geometric font is sufficient enough to convey the message - the gradient background is visually interesting enough for such applications.



Sadly, the monochrome version of the logo outlines 'Premier League' faintly, which is practically invisible when viewed from a distance. Perhaps using 'SPL' instead of the full league name would be a more effective way of showcasing wordmark, as viewers would be more focused on the lion, and 'SPL' would be easy to see even in small sizes.


  
Strangely, the watermark (top left) is different from the monochrome version of the logo. I can't decide which version is better as it would depend on the context, but I think we can all agree that thinly outlining a word is a foolish idea. 

So is it a good identity?

Understandably, some were upset about the logo change because of good ol' nostalgia. Some fans grew up with the S.League identity flashing on stadium screens and their televisions, and despite how disastrous the logo was, it became part of their childhood. 

Change a logo of more than 20 years without any advance warning and you'll have fans coming after the designers for 'not respecting the heritage of the organisation'. Just ask Juventus. 



It is also important to note how fans of Juventus quickly supported its new identity once the team started playing. The hate was temporary - it was merely a matter of adjusting to the new identity.

There's no denying that SPL's identity is a step in the right direction for the competition. I would recommend some changes in the nitty-gritty details, but I'm mostly thankful as this could be way worse than expected. 

Here's to hoping that there's a bite behind that bark - with this shiny new identity, all that's left is for teams to give us matches which we genuinely want to watch!

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