Medina native designs brand for Cleveland’s new pro soccer team

In the years leading up to his work creating the brand image for the newest MLS Next Pro soccer team, Forest City Cleveland, the sport played an integral part in the life of Medina native Alex Kocher.

“I grew up playing soccer in Northeast Ohio, since age 4, with the Medina Rangers, Canton-Akron Premier, Cleveland United,” said Kocher, 37. “I still play today. It’s a huge part of my life and foundational to my world view.”

Now based in Richmond, Va., Kocher’s soccer-centric path back home began with the sort of shot-in-the-dark career move Hollywood movies are made of.

After graduating from the University of Akron with a graphic design degree, Kocher began his career with a “small design shop in Cleveland,” before he decided he needed a change.

“So I packed a car and my dog and took a seven-week trip,” Kocher said. “I headed to Portland with my resume and ended up at Nike.”

Though Kocher’s gig with the shoe giant was short-lived, he said it did get him work with the Portland Timbers soccer club and the National Women’s Soccer League Portland Thorns. He called the next eight years as the organization’s sole graphic designer, and eventually art and creative director, “eye-opening.”

When the COVID-19 pandemic threw professional sports – and the entire world – a curveball, it landed Kocher outside soccer for a period as he returned to Nike and also picked up work with companies like Taco Bell and Adobe.

After two years, soccer beckoned again and Kocher – again with his dog, but now also accompanied by his wife – hit the road bound for Richmond, where he founded his firm, Easy Friday Co., and found work as a freelance art and creative director with clubs including the Richmond Kickers and Chicago Fire.

As Kocher’s career and family continued to grow (he and his wife became the parents of a son in early 2026), his most personal job yet also came calling. In March, the nonprofit Cleveland Soccer Group announced the city’s new MLS Next Pro team – expected to open its first season in 2027 – would be dubbed Forest City Cleveland, with Kocher acting as the creative engine behind the team moniker.

“It started as a branding project at the beginning of 2025, with initial conversations in the summer before that,” Kocher said.

While his soccer background and understanding of Cleveland sports was a tremendous asset to the club branding effort, the project also had inherent challenges. Kocher was charged with creating a brand identity for a club and league that had yet to host its first match. Additionally, he said, American professional soccer teams often face credibility comparisons with their European counterparts.

Kocher said club ownership expressly requested the team name have a forward-thinking vision, instead of common Cleveland tropes reflecting the city’s gritty, resilient and working-class history.

“The brands should be aspirational,” Kocher said of Cleveland Soccer Group founder and Forest City Cleveland owner Michael Murphy’s vision. “When you are coming up with something brand new, it feels like wading into uncharted waters.”

The archetype decided upon, after surveys and input from thousands of soccer fans and other stakeholders, managed to straddle both the past and the future. Kocher said the image of a Moses Cleaveland tree against a distinctly European-styled crest “gives the feeling of a club that has been around a long time, but is also a force for change.”

Moses Cleaveland trees, incidentally, were identified and designated as part of the city’s sesquicentennial in 1946 as having been alive in 1796 when Moses Cleaveland founded the city. Kocher said this archetype, along with the art deco design of the logo, connects with fans as both a nod to Cleveland’s rich history as a professional sports city and a club that is “forging a new trail.”

Not for nothing, Kocher added, 12 different logos of the Forest City Cleveland image have been created, each allowing “FC” to denote both Forest City and football club, giving the team the ability to address the European-American authenticity argument while “not having to address it directly.”

The next phase of the Cleveland soccer branding project – the naming of a women’s team expected to play in the WPSL Pro League – is scheduled for May 4.

“We wanted the two teams to feel connected, but unique,” Kocher said, adding that he is “really proud of the work” that has gone into this branding effort.

“How it is perceived by the public is unknown yet,” he said. “But the response to Forest City Cleveland already has shown us we are on the right track.”