Thames River Race: Sports Vest Design

Project: Great River Race 2026 – Sports Vest Back Design

I’m looking for a graphic designer to create a simple, striking design for the back of a sports vest for our team taking part in The Great River Race 2026.

The race is 26.1 miles along the River Thames, from Millwall Slipway to Ham in Richmond.

Main design concept

I would like the main element of the design to be a stylised outline/map of the River Thames, following the race route from Millwall Slipway through to Ham.

Along the route, I’d like the key bridges and major landmarks represented in a simple, recognisable illustrated style.

The design should not be a detailed geographical map. Instead, I’m looking for a clean and bold representation of the route, with the important landmarks acting as visual highlights along the river.

Thames Route & Landmarks

Please follow the route in order and incorporate the following bridges/landmarks:

1. Tower Bridge — Tower of London
2. London Bridge — The Shard
3. Southwark Bridge
4. Millennium Bridge — St Paul’s Cathedral
5. Waterloo Bridge
6. Hungerford Bridge — London Eye
7. Westminster Bridge — Houses of Parliament & Big Ben
8. Lambeth Bridge
9. Albert Bridge
10. Hammersmith Bridge
11. Kew Bridge — Kew Gardens
12. Richmond Bridge

These should be recognisable but simplified, so the overall design remains suitable for printing on a sports vest.

Rowing / Club Elements

I’d also like the design to incorporate our Cornish pilot gig rowing identity.

Please include:

* Our two boats: Larkstone and Hocks — photographs will be provided as reference
* Oars incorporated into the design
* Ilfracombe Pilot Gig Club prominently included
* The Great River Race 2026
* 26.1 miles

I’m open to creative ideas for how the boats and oars can be incorporated into the river/route design rather than simply being placed separately.

Colours & Printing

The design will be printed on the back of a navy-blue sports vest.

WHITE should be the primary colour of the artwork, as this will provide the strongest contrast against the navy vest.

Please keep the design to white with minimal additional colours only if absolutely necessary.

It needs to be:

* Bold
* Clean
* Easy to read
* High contrast
* Suitable for sportswear printing
* Not overly intricate or detailed

The finished design should ideally look like a professional rowing team/race emblem, combining the Thames route with the landmarks and our Cornish gig rowing identity.

Final Files

Please supply the finished artwork as print-ready vector files, preferably:

* AI
* EPS
* SVG

And also a high-resolution PNG for mock-ups and general use.

I’m happy for the designer to use their creativity to decide the best overall composition, provided the key elements above are included and the design remains simple, bold and effective when printed in white on a navy sports vest.