Portsmouth FC: Celebrating 125 years
Number of days it took for the book to sell out
Client Overview
Portsmouth Football Club, one of the most storied clubs in English football, has a legacy that stretches back to 1898. As one of only five clubs to have been champions of all four tiers of the professional English football pyramid, the club’s 125th anniversary marked a significant milestone. The Pompey History Society, the official guardians of the club’s heritage, sought to commemorate this landmark in a special and enduring way.
The Opportunity
To celebrate this historic anniversary, The Graphic Design House was tasked with creating a limited-edition coffee table book that would serve as the definitive history of Portsmouth Football Club. This project was not just about documenting the club’s past; it was about capturing the essence of its legacy in a way that would resonate with fans for generations to come.
For a club with such a rich history, it was crucial to produce a work that honoured its legacy and connected deeply with its supporters. The coffee table book needed to be more than just a publication—it had to be a cherished keepsake that fans could proudly display, reflecting the pride and passion that Pompey supporters have for their club.
Our Approach
Cover Design: The cover design is the first impression of any book, and for this project, it was particularly important. We chose to feature the iconic Frogmore Road entrance with its mock Tudor architecture, a symbol deeply intertwined with the club’s history and its connection to the city. Instead of a straightforward photograph, we opted for an illustrative approach. This allowed us to creatively adapt the style and content, such as including seagulls to subtly reference the club’s coastal location. The combination of illustration and photography gave the cover an emotive quality, perfectly aligning with the personal stories and collective memories contained within the book.
Managing the Layout: With 424 pages of rich content, managing the layout was a significant challenge. We implemented a grid system to ensure a balanced presentation of text and images, allowing both elements to breathe. A visual timeline featuring the club’s changing logos was introduced to guide readers through the club’s history, with each era’s crest colourised to evoke immediate nostalgia.
Highlight Features: The book is distinguished by several standout elements, including rarely seen, specially commissioned colourised images. These images, celebrated with hero pages and chapter headers, transition from monochrome to vivid colour, effectively bringing the club’s history to life. Close collaboration with the book’s editor, Colin Farmery, allowed for daily refinement of the chapters, ensuring that the narrative flowed seamlessly and that the major hero sections punctuated the text effectively. We also suggested and incorporated additional features like ‘Terrace Hero’ profiles and ‘player cards’ to make the statistics pages more engaging and accessible.
“It is absolutely outstanding – far exceeding my expectations. I’m absolutely blown away. Congratulations to all involved. Proud and excited to be a subscriber!”
Nigel Beckl
Pompey fan
The Results
By focusing on both the visual and emotional impact, we ensured that the book would resonate deeply with Pompey supporters, providing them with a product that was not only visually stunning but also rich in content and meaning. The limited-edition coffee table book sold out within the first week of its release, an incredible testament to the interest and enthusiasm it generated among fans. The project received widespread acclaim from the Club, the Pompey History Society, and most importantly, from the supporters themselves. The book was praised not just for its comprehensive and engaging content, but for its ability to capture and reflect the essence of Portsmouth Football Club’s legacy. The positive feedback from fans underscored the success of the project, validating the effort and care invested in creating a publication that truly honoured the club’s rich history.
Next Steps
Building on the success of the limited-edition coffee table book, we moved forward with creating a paperback version to make the book more accessible to a wider audience. This involved resizing the book to standard paperback dimensions, adapting the cover design, and selecting durable, cost-effective materials.
The layout has been restructured to fit the new format while preserving the visual appeal of the original. To ensure broad distribution, the team at The Graphic Design House have established partnerships with bookstores and online retailers and developed a marketing plan to promote the paperback edition.
By incorporating feedback from the hardcover release, the team aims to enhance the paperback version, ensuring it maintained the quality and impact of the original while reaching an even larger audience. This is available from the Footbal Club Shop
“The first impression I got was of outstanding quality. And then I started to get a sense of the real depth of information and insights that are provided. This is definitely not a typical coffee table book, it’s so much more than that! And I think the illustrations and photographs are simply superb.”
David Willan
Chair
Board of Governors University of Portsmouth
Our Work in Action
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