David Rudnick delves deep into Arsenal history for new Emirates Stadium designs

Arsenal has enlisted some of the biggest names in art and design to overhaul its home stadium. The project, almost a year in the making, culminates in eight new works by David Rudnick, Reuben Dangoor and Jeremy Deller that will cover the exterior of Emirates Stadium from today (12 January) for the coming months.

While each artwork is distinguished by its own theme, the designs all reference the club’s history, culture and community in some way. For example, Come To See The Arsenal features a bespoke typeface taking inspiration from Highbury as “The Home of Football”, a press release explains. The typeface is a modified version of Arsenal’s Northbank font, itself based on the lettering found across Highbury’s East Stand.

The stories behind other artworks are varied, with many involving detailed archival research into the club’s visual history. In one case, players are depicted in the neoclassical style of French revolutionary paintings alongside cannons in reference to the club’s identity, which has featured cannons since 1886. Elsewhere, We All Follow The Arsenal is a dense, typographic addition, harnessing the technique of tapestry to show off over 150 official supporter banners spanning all continents. In total, it collates 187 individually photographed handmade banners and flags to represent Arsenal supporter groups globally.

“Across the eight pieces of art we hope we've created something for everyone,” says Rudnick. “The type-based designs implement typefaces from a project we've been undertaking with the club and the supporters’ workshops, to craft a set of voices incorporating both patterns and symbols synonymous with Arsenal, and a clean typographic system that shows how our values are present not just in the future we are building, but all the way to the club's origins in Eighteen Eighty-Six.”

Rudnick, Deller and Dangoor collaborated directly with Arsenal supporters to develop each artwork and corresponding theme, hosting workshops and shaping contributions from over 100 Arsenal supporters, club legends and staff.