WELCOME TO THE GAME

Singapore Youth League

Client: Football Association of Singapore (FAS)
Work: Visual Identity | Social Media | Website and Content

The Singapore Youth League (SYL) is a competitive platform for young football players to showcase their talent and gain valuable match experience and is a part of the Unleash the Roar! (UTR!) national football project.

The Brief: Develop the brand identity of SYL including Logo, colours, typography, and brand narrative. Develop necessary collaterals for the launch of SYL, including social media assets and web design.

The Team: A cross-border team consisting of designers, copywriters, and web developers from my agency’s Singapore and Malaysia offices.

My Role: As the senior Singapore-based designer, I worked with the Singapore client servicing team and our Malaysia-based creative team to develop the creative aspects of the brand identity. I was also the primary designer for the final logo concept, lockup, and colours.

The inaugural SYL season kicked off in February 2024, featuring over 200 registered teams from 52 clubs and academies across various age groups.

Ideation

In order to craft a suitable brand identity for the Singapore Youth League, we asked ourselves 2 key questions: Who does SYL speak to? And what does SYL stand for?

To Youth Players:

“Welcome to a league that’d help you live up to your potential.”

To Parents:

“Welcome to a league
that’d bring your child a step closer to his dream.”

To the football Community:

“Welcome to a league that’d nurture our best talents for the future.”

Reference and Inspiration

The SYL represented the future potential of Singapore football.

It should carry elements signifying its national football heritage, but at the same time look distinctively new — speaking to a new generation of players.

To get a sense of what that could look like, we looked at highly aspirational leagues not just in football, but E-sports.

The edgy lion cub

The chosen concept originated as the low-hanging fruit — if the adult players were lions, then the youth had to be cubs (duh?).

But as we played with the idea, the more it worked. We gave the cub sharp angles and spiky hair (every famous player is known for their hair). And suddenly our young cub has an edge to it.

Visual Identity

Social Media (Pre-launch)

Website and digital content

The team also designed and developed the official SYL website, and developed content to explain the Academy Accreditation System (AAS, a structured program designed to identify and develop young football talent) to our audience.