Why the new Juventus logo is actually brilliant.
Agh! I woke up to the annoying sound of my phone vibrating on the bedside table. With one eye open, I checked to see who was the cause of this abrupt commotion. It was my mate Swedish Carl frantically trying to get in touch with me telling me some news that he knew I would be interested in.
After greeting Swedish Carl with a few aggressive and well-deserved swear words that highlighted my annoyance at being awoken by a vibrating phone at 6:14 in the morning, he told me the news.
“Juventus have redesigned their logo”.
At first, I thought that it was a shit joke, that his weird Swedish sense of humour was more than capable of thinking up. Then I considered the possibility that my sleep was deeper than I had initially thought, and I had woke up on April 1st, and this was an April fools prank — but the date on my phone told me it was not, it was January 17th 2017. And by the tone of his voice, this was real — Juventus has redesigned their logo.
Finally believing the english words that his Swedish accent was delivering, this news woke my brain up with intrigue. Now both eyes were open and fully functional, I hung up the phone and scrambled out of bed, bypassing breakfast and got in front of the computer to check out the latest football team to update it’s logo.
- At this point in my little story/review of the new logo, I must say that the reason this news excites me so much is not because I am a die-hard Juventus fan, but rather because I am a football logo designer — Swedish Carl knows this, and that’s why he chose to share this news with me. As a football logo designer, I am always fascinated by the design process and design decisions that go into creating a football team’s new logo. I know how difficult it can be to design a logo for a football club, and I have seen football clubs who have got it right, and football clubs who have got it horribly wrong.
As the computer was starting up and my anticipation grew, I was thinking that this is quite a shocking move by Juventus. Their now ‘old’ logo wasn’t one which necessary needed changing. It was in no way a bad logo design.
With the computer up and running I soon found a news article on the logo and saw the new Juventus logo for the first time.
Wow.
“Now that is a bold move!” I say to myself, as my brain in conjunction with my eyes are taking in all the visual information. I continue to look at the logo — “It’s a brave move! I think I love it! — wait, yes I do”.
Digging around the internet looking for more info on the design, and the design process and reasonings behind the logo, I see that this new logo is taking a battering on social media. Not even Luigi Buffon could stop the negative comments that are heading Juventus’s way.
As a football logo designer myself, I know that it is impossible to please everyone. But through the harsh tongues and tweets in social media land, you can get a good gauge of where the logo stands in the opinionated public’s opinion, and this new design was seemingly not the most popular of redesigns in recent years.
On the surface, it may not seem like there’s a lot going on with this logo — however, let me tell you — there is a lot going on and a lot to love about this logo.
I love the designer’s bravery and willingness to challenge tradition. This logo breaks everything.
I really love and admire how the designer has boiled the club’s visual identity down to its simplest and most iconic form — the famous black and white stripes of Juventus. The stripes that previously made players like Zidane Zidane and Alessandro Del Piero become icons of the game — now makes the club’s logo truly iconic.
Back to the harsh terrains of ‘social-media-land’, and many fans have ‘tweeted angrily’, telling their followers their disapproval of the disappearance of the ‘tiny horse’ that previously occupied the logo. To counter-attack their disapproving tweets, I would say that the removal of the so-called ‘tiny horse’ is a good thing — for a start, seemingly, no one is 100% sure exactly what that animal is. Historic Juventus logos (seen below) have shown it to be a bull, standing aloft on its hind legs, however, it has also been reincarnated as a horse, and even at one point, it was a zebra. I would argue that removing this graphic — which was too small anyway, strengthens and de-clutters the brand and brings more power to the black and white stripes of Juventus. — Ask anyone on the street to describe Juventus’s visual look, and they will instantly talk about the black and white stripes of the shirts. Would they mention the horse/bull/zebra/thing that sat in the middle of the previous logo(s)? I very much doubt it.
What’s the first thing you see?
Beyond being daring, the new logo is also very clever and versatile. I really hate using the term ‘modern classic’ — but I think that this logo could qualify as a ‘modern classic’. It has similar qualities to another modern classic logo — The American Airlines logo — which when launched also had bad reviews — The parallel between these two ‘modern classic’ logos is that the viewer can see and interpret a number of things within the design of the simple logo. Question is what do you see first? second? third? and even fourth?
The iconic stripes.
Juventus’ new logo with the tall though thick white lines that run in parallel to each other and placed on a black background — visually form black and white stripes, taking the viewers mind to that of the iconic Juventus shirt.
The J and the shield.
The stylish and crisp letter J (for Juventus, obviously) can easily be seen, with the letter J helping form a defiant and classic ‘shield-like-shape’ — this I could argue is much more ‘traditional’ and ‘football like’ in comparison to the previous logo’s egg or oval shape.
The footballer?
In addition to this, and I don’t know if this was intentional, or if t is just me, but I also see a footballer within the logo, with two white lines forming the left and right side of his body, and the arm, or top part of the J, forming the footballer’s arm, and the curved lower part of the ‘J’ creating the visual of this footballer going to kick a ball.
Mellow Yellow.
Many comments from fellow designers that have reviewed the logo state that they miss the touch of yellow that the previous logo had — While this is a good observation, I have to say that I think that it is a good thing that the new logo takes this colour detail away — The yellow was nice when used in conjunction with the black and white — however, the yellow ‘softened’ the logo and made it more playful — ultimately taking away the hard edge that the logo could have had. This new pure black and white logo design has a stark and aggressive feel to it, no playful yellows, no rounded oval (or egg) shapes, just a sharp black and white colour scheme and sharp corners subtly housed in a shield-like shape.
Typography
What can not be ignored in this new logo design is the custom typeface that the designers have carefully and masterfully created. Typefaces often live in the shadows of the full logo design, but they are a critical component of any well-designed logo. The new Juventus typeface plays a key role in Juventus’s new identity, and I am sure that the typography will have the longevity to play a vital role in the club’s future branding projects.
I love how the typeface is modern and aggressive. It feels sharp, and naturally high contrast. It has perfect weight and feels tall, athletic and slender enough represent a top class sports team. I really love how the designer has exaggerated the hight of the letters. I get the impression that this typeface was inspired by the black and white stripes of Juventus’s iconic shirts.
Well played Interbrand. Well Played Juventus owners.
The company, and the designers behind the logo design — Interbrand — should be extremely proud of this redesign. This is an extremely well-thought-out logo design, that fits the times that we live in, and will set Juventus up for future iconic brand campaigns across multiple channels.
Because the logo is so simple on first glance, it’s sometimes hard to imagine the hours that must have been spent creating this iconic mark. It is obvious to me that the design team put a lot of intelligent thinking into all aspects of this design, and should be rewarded for their immaculate execution of the design. Likewise and the owners of the football club/decision makers, deserve just as much credit for showing bravery in their decisions, and showing no fear when it comes to challenging traditions.
Swedish Carl’s call at 6:14am annoyed me, but, retrospectively I don’t mind waking up at 6:14 in the morning if I get to see football logo designs executed like this.
About me.
I am a football logo designer originally from Derby in England, however, I currently live and work in San Francisco. Graphic design is my passion, but football is my first and lasting love. I have designed football teams logos in England and more recently in the USA. I am always looking for more opportunities.
You can see my general portfolio here: www.chrispayneportfolio.com
You can see my football logo design portfolio here: www.chrispayneportfolio.com/football
You can follow me on the Twitter here: www.twitter.com/chrisypayne
