A collection of information and media files to do with the AHA brand and branding.
AHA logo
If you would like to use the AHA logo to show your club’s affiliation to our organisation, or to make an announcement about organisation, please feel welcome to use one of the following files:
- AHA logo 150 x 150 pixels (JPG file)
- AHA logo 250 x 250 pixels (JPG file)
- AHA logo 500 x 500 pixels (JPG file)
- AHA logo 1000 x 1000 pixels (JPG file)
- AHA logo 2000 x 2000 pixels (JPG file)
AHA banner
If you need something more like a horizontal or landscape banner image, then the following files include the AHA logo, our name, and our current motto / mission statement.
- AHA banner image 1200 x 628 pixels (JPG file)
- suitable for a Facebook post linking to another website
- AHA banner image 1640 x 856 pixels (JPG file)
- suitable for a Facebook group banner
- AHA banner image 1920 x 1005 pixels (JPG file)
- suitable for a Facebook event banner
- AHA banner image 1958 x 745 pixels (JPG file)
- suitable for a Facebook page banner
About the AHA branding
About the AHA logo
The logo shows a sword (to symbolise the historical fencing that our organisation teaches and promotes) over a book (to symbolise the historical and scholarly nature of our efforts), inside a laurel wreath (to symbolise the professionalism and quality that we endeavour to bring to our efforts).
It was designed by Ben Kerr in consultation with Keith Farrell and Samantha Lawrie, and brought into use over the course of 2022. It replaces our previous logo of the sword and quill.
About the AHA motto / mission statement
The current motto / mission statement is:
Historical fencing with professional, modern teaching.
This statement was developed by Keith Farrell in 2021 to define a goal for the organisation and the method by which we want to achieve this goal. An organisation without a goal or strategic vision ends up somewhat rudderless and without purpose, just existing, without any real sense of direction. Therefore, our statement should guide everything that we do, and should also help us plan our next developments within the organisation.
About the Academy of Historical Arts over time
The AHA was first conceived in 2010, as a simple constituted body. The purpose was to bring together a small number of like-minded HEMA clubs while also promoting historical crafts.
In 2011, it was subsumed into the Triquetra Services (Scotland) charitable organisation as the educational department of the charity. The purpose was largely the same, although on a slightly larger scale and with greater formality.
In the summer of 2015, it was separated out again, into its own limited company. This allowed the AHA to pursue more of the activities necessary to raise operating income, while also reducing liability and commercial influence upon the charity. It also allowed us to professionalise what we were doing further than we could previously, under the scope and rules surrounding charities.
In the autumn of 2015, we took on a warehouse in Glasgow, as our official premises and as a full-time training centre for archery, HEMA, and blacksmithing. This became known as the Vanguard Centre, and is still our headquarters today!
2016 was the final year when we were able to run any large scale events in Scotland. This was partially due to the time commitments and financial pressures of trying to make a commercial success of the Vanguard Centre, but also due to issues with finding suitable venues in and around the city.
In 2017, we opened another professional branch of the AHA, this time in England. The new school, known as Liverpool HEMA, has a much smaller scale and scope than the Vanguard Centre.
Since then, we have been making steady improvements in how professionally and efficiently we organise and run our organisation and activities. We have been moving further away from the early nature of our organisation and have been moving steadily towards a focus on professionalism and a higher quality of service.
In 2017, we began developing our own custom software for membership management. By late 2018, we began to be able to use it in our admin efforts, and in early 2021, it became available for use by our affiliated clubs! It is an ongoing project and there is still plenty of work required, but this is a huge part of our efforts to meet our goal of providing a professional and high quality service to our affiliated members.
In 2020, we began developing some online HEMA courses. Initially, these were not of a particularly high quality, but they were priced accordingly and they served to help us learn how to go about planning and creating such materials. There have been a few online courses brought to completion, and there are others under development.