Sports are an essential aspect of millions of people’s lives. There are those who follow professional sports teams, those who participate in a local sports club, or both. One of the easiest ways for sports teams to gain attention and loyal fans is through brand marketing — specifically with the use of a logo.
A well-designed sports logo should, in theory, allow fans to rally behind the associated team. Take the Denver Broncos logo as example. Their latest logo design is a significant improvement from their original 1960 logo. The new design is comprised of simple shapes, a functional color scheme, and no text. The logo signifies a rebirth for the NFL team and their fans have rallied behind the new branding initiative.
Fans should be able to pick out a logo from a distance, perhaps on promotional materials or on TV advertisements. Creating a sports logo requires a great deal of planning and editing to perfectly capture the message you want to send to your fans about your team. It’s vital to accept feedback from others and understand that you may need to go back to the drawing board more than once to get the design you’re looking for.
In order to avoid creating one of the worst sports logos, our logo design company recommends following these simple steps to make a logo for your sports team.
Designing a Sports Team Logo
Brainstorm. Before you even think about hiring a graphic designer or start using an online logo maker, brainstorm first. Brainstorm how you want your logo to look. Consider the color, shape, font, size, and layout of the logo. If your sports team is local, perhaps do some research about the geographic area it is located in. How can you incorporate elements from the town or city into the logo? Does the town or city have designated colors, or perhaps a historic or famous landmark the locals can identify easily?This is the point in the logo design process where you will want to decide what kind of emotions you want to convey to the audience and fans. Keep in mind any nicknames your sports team has been bestowed in the past and determine whether or not you want to keep any aspects of your existing teams’ logo.
Research. Now it’s time to head online and do some research! To start, head to a search engine such as Google.com and navigate over to the images tab and search for sports team logos. You can narrow your search even further by typing in the specific sport you want to view logos for, such as “soccer logos,” “baseball logos” or “swimming logos.”If nothing catches your eye, you can also head to a few logo design specific websites, such as Pinterest, LogoLounge, Dribble or DeviantArt. Keep in mind that whenever you’re looking at a sample logo, try to envision a similar design or color on promotional products such as t-shirts, hats, and bags. If you realize it won’t look great on marketing materials, then you should cross off that particular logo design and opt for another style.
Design a Logo. After you have taken notes about what aspects of other sports logos you like best, it is now time to start the design process. Using a logo design app is the easiest, quickest, and most affordable route to take. Many local sports teams are on tight budgets, so using a logo maker online can help save a ton of money.-Choose a logo style that you think will work best for your sports team. There are about half a dozen common logo styles, including emblem logos, icon logos, typeface logos, and a mix of each. The style of the logo is what people will notice first before anything else, so make sure you are 100% satisfied with the look of the logo before deciding on the next design elements.
- Select the colors for your sports logo. Sports logo colors are often bright and bold, signifying to their fanbase that the team is equally bold and worthy of loyal fans. Royal purple, gold, blue and bright reds are all popular choices among sports teams. Don’t forget that each color has some psychology associated with it. For example, red signifies passion, love, and dominance. Read up on some logo color psychology, and don’t forget to avoid making any color combination mistakes.
- Settle on a style of font that is both legible and unique. There are thousands of fonts to choose from — many of which can be downloaded for free. Many online logo makers also offer hundreds of fonts to choose from, not just your typical Sans Serif or Times New Roman. We recommend checking out sites such as DaFont, Google Fonts, and 1001 Fonts if you’re looking to do some research on this aspect of your logo design.
Seek Feedback & Edit. You may have read horror stories about professional sports teams or global corporations rebranding unbeknownst to their loyal fans or customers. Don’t make the same mistake Gap did by unveiling a logo that was most likely only approved by their executive board without asking for outside opinions first. Doritos, on the other hand, asked hundreds of customers across the world for feedback about their new logo. While you certainly don’t have to poll hundreds of people on their opinions regarding your initial design, don’t hesitate to ask members of the team and key employees for their feedback regarding the design.If you’re stuck on deciding on your sports logo design, take a step back and take a few days away from the design so you can look at it again later with a fresh set of eyes. After revisiting your new logo, make the necessary edits to color, font size or font style, and you can even swap out your icon for another one.
Logo Implementation. After you and your team have finalized the design for your new sports logo, it’s time to start putting the design to work. Add the new logo to your team’s website, social media pages, and don’t forget to let your local online news publication know you’ve rebranded by sending a story with the new logo that they can run. Don’t forget to order new sports equipment and promotional materials for the team and fans, too. Tote bags, baseball hats, t-shirts and pens are a great way to advertise the new branded logo for your sports team.
Why You Need a Logo for Your Sports Team
Just like businesses, sports teams need logos as well. Having a logo for a sports team will unify your players and help fans recognize and rally behind your team. Giving the team an identity via a logo is similar to the idea of rallying behind a country’s flag. Creating a sense of unity under one perfectly designed logo can both boost morale as well as improve local, regional, or national awareness for the team.
Are you ready to unify your sports team under a new team logo? Start designing a logo today using our online logo maker!
