Although the Scottish rugby strip had borne the thistle for 120 years, the emblem itself remained public property. So in 1990, when Scotland won the Grand Slam, they were using a plethora of thistles, as shown below, none of them registered, and subsequently the SRU did not make a penny from the subsequent sales of shirts and Grand Slam memorabilia.
As a direct result, they sought identity proposals from design companies. I clearly remember being briefed one Wednesday afternoon, going home that night and designing the new logo. Within the week, we had presented it and had it accepted.
This new identity was launched at a Murrayfield press conference on 22 November 1990, when SRU also announced that a £1M sponsorship deal had been agreed with Umbro. On 19 January 1991, the Scotland team took to the Parc des Princes against France wearing the new logo on their shirts – one of the proudest days of my life! Pity the French printer got it the wrong way round!
The proven success of the logo and SRU marketing material earned the project a national design effectiveness award in 1992.
The new identity and its colour scheme formed the basis for everything from the Murrayfield seating colours to the SRU tartan and the extensive range of SRU branded merchandising and souvenirs.