The Traditional Approach

Respected football magazine FourFourTwo has opted for the traditional wallchart – big, brash, ugly and probably very popular. While it’s not as bad as some seen by Imagination’s Blackburn, who thinks that in general ‘[traditional wallcharts] are terrible, which is why I designed my own’ or Bisqit’s Diamant, who believes that ‘many have traditionally approached their audience from a fairly unsophisticated angle, based on the premise that the lowest common denominator is the most effective way to reach this market. It won’t be getting any room in my house. Not even the loo, where the Sunday Times supplement might squeeze in by virtue of its half-decent content rather than its predictable design.’

These large-format charts, and the hundreds of clones gracing walls all over the world, could take heed of Diamant’s closing words on the subject. ‘Most professional sports have undergone updating in visual aesthetics over the past five to 10 years. Some people may resist the change and rely on the nostalgia of bygone days and club logos, but change is inevitable. The challenge in design is to bring along the traditional fan base and reach out to potential new fans with a more modern, hip aesthetic,’ she says.