Elon Musk has been involved in some strange logo design decisions in his time. After all, he crowdsourced the creation of an X logo for his Twitter rebranding, and his electric car company, Tesla, has a logo that looks like an IUD.
Now, to add to the list, it seems that Musk's rocket company SpaceX has begun using a strange logo that bears an uncanny likeness to that of an amateur Scottish football club. It's not one of the best new logos by any measure, but the club in question wants to talk.
East Lothian's Haddington Town AFC began jokingly accusing Musk of "stealing" its logo after SpaceX posted a photo on X (the former Twitter) showing company employees in front of the Mechazilla launch tower at the Starbase spaceport and development facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The logo appears a long way in the distance, but zoom in on the base of the launch tower, and you'll see a design that shows the outline of part of a circle and a goat in profile. People soon began to point out the similarity with the small football club's badge.
It's @HaddingtonTown football club's logo pic.twitter.com/JHcyRjcbZISeptember 13, 2023
Haddington Town features a goat on its logo because the animal is part of the town's identity, appearing in statues and the coat of arms. What connects SpaceX to highland ruminants is less clear. It's probably a reference to the abbreviation for 'greatest of all time'... or maybe it's planning to send one of the animals into space. Either way, Haddington Town thinks Musk should sit down with them to talk business.
The Haddington Town logo (left) and a zoomed in image of the SpaceX goat logo (Image credit: SpaceX / Haddington Town AFC)
The club initially posted last week: "Why has @elonmusk stole our badge give it back!" It soon added: "Our DMs are open @elonmusk come fund our new tracksuits. The club later posted that it had been bought by Elon Musk in a joke that was briefly repeated as fact by the New York Post (irony, NYP!). It's now mocked up a suitably cosmos-inspired shirt design for a potential SpaceX sponsorship.
2024/25 kit? @elonmusk any thoughts🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/J2q93elKMPSeptember 18, 2023
It’s time to share our shirt and match ball sponsor, both have committed to the club this season! The Pheasant houses the boys after home games and O.A.R furniture recently got us a new match ball!Hey @elonmusk we still have space for #SpaceX don’t you worry. pic.twitter.com/OafjRrE8fESeptember 15, 2023
Musk and SpaceX have yet to make any response and it's not known whether the goat logo features anywhere else. In the meantime, people continue to laugh at the Tesla logo's unintended resemblance and the crowdsourced X logo.
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
