This project went deeper than just the brand visuals, so we began the process with a deep dive into the organization, interviewing key staff and MLS players, and then auditing other major players associations for messaging, branding and marketing presence. We used all of this to inform our approach to Round A.

It was clear that the minimalist translation of the existing brand was the best fit into the aesthetics of the sport and culture. The minimalist crest was modern and classy, and continued to exemplify the concepts of unity and solidarity that is so important to the MLSPA organization.

With a strong direction chosen for the second design round, the focus was refining the details. We explored every aspect of the final mark, examining the shape of the crest, color, and line-weight amongst several other visual details resulting in hundreds of different variations of the final output.

With a broad understanding of what the organization stands for, we helped them to distill these big ideas into clear, specific messaging that would communicate these ideas to their audience. Then we took it once step further, drilling down to just 4 powerful words that captured the essence of why the MLS Players Association exists.

With the brand aesthetic and messaging in place, we developed a full brand guide that would help to ensure consistency across all touch points of the brand. Then, we were ready to use our brand toolkit to help them build out a new website to show it all off!