Populous Creates New Visual Narrative and Brand Identity for Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium

The 52,769-seater stadium – a new city centre destination both on matchdays and non-matchdays – will deliver top-flight football as well a host of major events and concerts for the benefit of the city region.

Everton’s marketing team have worked closely with global sports and entertainment design specialist Populous to develop a distinctive visual narrative throughout, helping to ensure the brick and steel of the stadium feels like a home for all Evertonians.

To do this, the Club engaged Populous’ EMEA Brand Activation team to undertake an intensive heritage study of the Club itself and the local area, as well as player stories and feedback following surveys with Everton fans, to create a unified visual language and identity. This design strategy reinforces a conceptual narrative of ‘The New Authentic’, with bespoke branding prominent throughout exterior, interior and movement spaces across the stadium, including player, GA fan and premium areas.

“We are extremely proud to have worked with Everton Football Club on this exciting project around the Hill Dickinson Stadium” comments Simon Borg, Populous EMEA Brand Activation lead. “Each stand has been given a distinct personality, rooted in location and history, while the players’ journey from arrival to pitch is designed as an emotional arc, going from energised empowerment to calm focus. The graphics and activation unify different elements across Everton’s heritage and the stadium itself. The result creates both an enhanced fan experience and sense of identity with their club, as well as operational flexibility for year-round activation across the ground.”

Steph Hughes, Everton’s Director of Marketing, said: “From the very beginning, our ambition has been to ensure Hill Dickinson Stadium feels unmistakably Everton. Working with Populous, we’ve been able to capture the spirit of our history, our fans, and our city in a way that is both authentic and modern. Every space – from the concourses to the players’ tunnel – has been designed to tell our story, creating a home that supporters will instantly recognise as their own.”

Specific elements include:

• Fan Engagement: Fan stories, quotes, songs, moments and memories of both Everton Football Club and the city itself
• Club DNA: Everton Giants, iconic moments, club chants and phrases
• Dynamic Branding: The use of lighting systems and LED will enable flexible mood-setting depending on matchday or non-matchday event

Reflecting elements of Everton’s history, the dock heritage of the city and the stadium’s unique riverside location, each stand has been given a unique personality through applied brand imagery, materiality, and experiential cues. The result sees fan stories, chants and journeys woven in with the club’s DNA across the stadium.

A further element is the branding and creation of a visual narrative throughout the player areas, with their journey from arrival to pitch designed as an emotional arc, going from calm focus to energised empowerment.

• North Stand: The Industrial Neighbour and craft before the voyage. Focusing on ship preparation and curation of sails, rope, shipping containers and the inclusion of the Tall Ships Race synonymous with the city.
• East Stand: The Goodison essence amongst a thriving and diverse city. Materiality references with touches of Goodison and an added layer of urban diversity reflective of the City
• South Stand: A focus on fan quotes, layered in heritage. Circling back to the generational heritage of many Evertonians and fan journeys. Synonymous with the new stadium location and combining city and club legacy.
• West Stand: The pulse of the Mersey, the choir of the fans. A celebration of bringing the Blues back to the Mersey in the Royal Blue jersey.

The brand strategy throughout the stadium is interwoven with its architecture and operations:

• Zoning each stand’s personality gives each space its own voice while maintaining cohesion across the stadium’s brand narrative
• Consistencies across the stands include colour and typography for a consistent thread of brand inclusion
• Fan stories associated with the relevant narrative are included throughout the concourse, creating a sense of discovery for fans attending throughout the season, (an ‘if you know, you know’ application)
• Use of textured materials (brick, steel, concrete) tied interiors to the site’s maritime heritage and individual stand personalities.
• Lighting and surface flexibility ensured branding is adaptable for 365-day operations.

The Populous Brand Activation team also helped the Club create an identity and a clear narrative for ‘The Arch’, a private, invitation only space within Everton’s portfolio of ‘Bars, Restaurants and Experiences’.

Making the space more relatable for the wide variety of guests that would pass through the lounge across the season allowed the Populous Brand Activation Team and the Club’s Marketing team to explore a clear visual identity in a different way that respected the Club’s heritage and former home. The result, The Arch, was inspired by the iconic criss-cross steel hallmark that features across Bullens Road, Gwladys Street and the former Main Stands at Goodison Park, all by celebrated stadium engineer and designer, Archibald Leitch.