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Chicago Fire FC last Friday unveiled the club’s new primary crest and visual identity following a months-long, fan-focused project that saw more than 20,000 Fire fans, supporters and Chicagoans at large add their voice to the creation of the new identity.
New crest starts in 2022
The current Fire Crown badge will remain in use across all areas of the club – including on the team’s kits – until the end of the 2021 season. The new crest will be in full use at the start of the 2022 preseason as the club prepares for its 25th season in MLS.
Significant fan involvement
Crafted by soccer identity specialist Matthew Wolff, the new crest’s core elements were inspired by the collective voice of Fire fans through a series of roundtables, website submissions, surveys and social media responses. Wolff spent more than six months exclusively focused on the project working alongside the Club and its fans.
Fan involvement was significant and saw:
- 225,000+ words written via website submission
- 500+ hours of dedicated time from fans via roundtables
- 10,000+ fan responses via social media
“This was the most unique branding project I’ve ever been a part of,” said Wolff. “Hearing from fans — both new and old — while I was designing was so inspiring. I hope we’ve created something that can represent this historic club and city for generations to come.”
Chicago-inspired Details
The new crest features a number of elements inspired by the history of both the city and club:
- A pointed notch on the back of the “C” and the use of the Florian cross are both nods to similar features in the original club badge
- Much like Chicago after the Great Fire, the “C” at the center of the new crest was built on a grid system and was constructed using 45-degree and 90-degree angles
- The use of color in the crest was directly inspired by the color structure of the Chicago city flag in which the colors red and flag blue are fully separated by white
