Redesign the symbol, not the values: what Team England actually did
Ahead of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Team England commissioned FORM Brands Studio, led by co-founder and creative director Alex Andlaw, to build a new identity under the banner 'Ready to Win'. FORM interviewed athletes, board members and staff, then redesigned how the St George's Cross was used, confronting what the symbol means in contemporary England rather than ignoring that question.
The tension it resolves
The St George's Cross was Team England's strongest recognition cue and its biggest barrier to belonging at the same time.
The challenge it solved for Team England: How do you keep a heritage symbol that gives you recognition when that same symbol pushes away the people you most need to reach?
The mechanism
A design studio interrogates the cultural weight a symbol has collected over time, then rebuilds it visibly and publicly so the redesign itself carries the message.
The lesson
Most brands treat a tainted asset as a problem to manage quietly: they soften it or quietly retire it. A stronger move is to redesign it in public, because the act of redesign is itself the statement. People trust a brand more when they can see it wrestling with the hard question rather than pretending the question does not exist.
In another world
A bank whose old logo was associated with a mis-selling scandal choosing to redesign it with a public explanation of what each element now stands for, letting customers watch the thinking rather than just announcing a new look.
Source: creativereview.co.uk
FAQ
What is the Redesign the symbol, not the values pattern?
A design studio interrogates the cultural weight a symbol has collected over time, then rebuilds it visibly and publicly so the redesign itself carries the message.
Which brand proved it works?
Team England, in national sports identity (England / United Kingdom). jugnu's Kosh tracks 497 such patterns across Indian and global brands.
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