It was artist Macdonald Gill who was commissioned to create the first cover for the magazine. He chose to depict a stylised sailing ship on the high seas, which was used for over 40 years, representing the notion of ROSL as an international organisation reach out around the globe.
The ship became the central feature of ROSL's crest, created by the College of Arms when the 'Royal' title was conferred by HM The Queen, on the Royal Over-Seas League's 50th anniversary in 1960. The Latin motto 'ubique navigavimus', roughly translated 'voyaging everywhere', reinforces the maritime imagery.
Another key piece of design associated with ROSL is the O enclosing the letter S. This highlights the importance of the hyphen in the name Over-Seas League, to express the idea of reciprocal travel between countries, rather than overseas without a hyphen meaning 'not the mainland'. This device was used extensively, with different typefaces, in printed materials, club pins, badges and other club merchandise.
The crest, the hyphen and the O enclosing the S survive to this day in the ROSL logo.
