The Gurney Journey

2025 was the year I NEARLY was the designer for the new shirts and logo of the Northern Irish World Cup Winner Daryl Gurney

Whilst Superchin has gone with a different sponsor (and both Me and Daryl are on brilliant terms about it all, its just business after all) - this is the story of the design process I took when designing a brand new look for Daryl Gurney

Daryl has been Superchin for a long time and has had the superhero style shirts since approx 2016, so coming up to a decade, and a refresh was on the cards

The guidelines given were to create something along the lines of a 'grease monkey' and reference his love of cars.

Mechanic and worker shirts have a long history within style and design - so I created a mood board and drew up a series of options for Gurney and his team

THE LOGO

I wanted to maintain a reference to the SUPERCHIN moniker - and i have always loved a 'character' or 'avatar' in a logo (People remember and respond well to an IMAGE of a person)

I created a few different cartoons of Daryl in a superhero outfit and adapted that into a vintage car badge - experimenting with different font styles and colours

The car was a key element of the logo design and after discussions we added more Darts refenences and race flags and images of the three trophies Daryl has won in his career

I also offered a very minimal and vintage style logo - but we quickly moved past this

THE SHIRT

Inspiration for the shirt started with the concept of a mechanic. Making a darts shirt that looked like a set of workers overalls. Opting for a denim effect (because i have yet to see a denim darts shirt) and a classic brown workers shirt

I looked at Americana for the colours and design - opting for some stripes and name badges.

I also thought that moving away from the obvious dartboard and darts imagery - I would design those images to look like oil stains and smears on the 'workshirts'

Each of these shirts has an oil slick on the sleeve to add colour

Another option created was the look of 'Pit Crew' - Still within the remit of a 'mechanic' and 'grease monkey' and moved to a cleaner style and more of a racing car theme

After a careful review - we picked out the elements from each shirt that Daryl and his team liked - as well as the bits they didnt and pulled it all together to create the perfect shirt.

In addition, we went back to the drawing board with the logo - and removed the Gurney cartoon and focussed on the cars and darts motif instead

This is the final logo design - a classic shield design, with a retro font. Two chequered flags, all three of his trophies and a subtle dart board texture in the background

The new shirts combined all the previous ideas and mixed them up for a second draft

Both the mechanic work shirt and pit crew designs were adapted and improved to create these two options

THE FINAL DESIGN

I always create truely bespoke work and am always happy to work with people to create the most perfect piece for the client. In particular, when it is for a World Cup winner!

So I was happy to continue to take the feedback to continue with the Gurney Journey

This is the final design - the subtle gears and cogs for the mechanic angle, the Red and black colour scheme as it was the most eye catching combination. With the three trophies on the back of the collar and bottom of the shirt.

I added the chevrons - just to enhance the black shapes on the shirt and add to the over all design and look

With this being the final design, I went to the next stage and prepared a sample

Upon reaching this stage of the process - It was where the journey ended .

As I said before - There is no hard feelings on my part or Gurney's - But this journey was a real pleasure for me and the reason I have commited it to this blog is to have a permanent record of the process, and the designs which I am still proud of

And if anyone is considering a Maltman Designs shirt - this is what truely bespoke looks like - I will work with you to to create the perfect shirt for you