How to design a winning logo in sports

Watching the Tour de France, Euro’s, and Olympics 2024 reminded me of the technique and craft that goes into designing logos to ensure they stand out in the dynamic and exciting world of sports. Logos have to be heavy hitters on behalf of brand presence and exposure within sports as they’re applied across an incredibly wide range of media, materials, and assets, from physical touchpoints like team kits and signage to digital platforms for social media or jumbotrons.

Logos that are victorious across sports grab attention and are as instantly recognizable as possible – they need to be eye-catching and expressive to drive memorability and brand equity. Because sports events capture so much emotion and storytelling, they offer an opportunity to share these stories with the meaning behind your logo – and in best-case scenarios, create harmony between your logo and the event.

In my experience, there is a set of principles for designing and crafting a logo to enable it to do just that.

The biggest thing that can aid salience for a logo is to make sure it works in a single color (and/or black or white). The narrative and concept behind a logo are also relevant here but this is a whole other subject that deserves its own post. Logos in the sports arena need to work on any number of colors, and textures, with and without imagery and with moving images – so designing a logo that can adopt other colors or exist as a knock-out is a clear advantage that can help achieve cut-through and brand recognition in the sports space.

When we designed the Easypost logo and visual identity, we spent considerable time crafting the logo as an asset that consistently delivered a striking visual impression when placed alone. The Easypost team was sponsoring various sporting events and needed a logo that could thrive in this environment, so we went to work to ensure that whatever we crafted was distinct and delivered impact within a field of other sponsor and partner brands. Though the Easypost brand had a vibrant color palette, the Easypost logo was intentionally crafted to work in as many scenarios as possible.

The form and structure of the logo had to work without relying on color to be an intrinsic part of its recognition with an audience. As designers, we often talk about making sure the logo can work as a “knock-out,” meaning that the logo needs to work as one flat color (usually white) and stand out on most image types and textures (literally knocked out of the background).

Not only does a singular approach to color and the ability to knock out go a long way in helping a logo feel “on brand” at a sports event, but it also connects the brand to the values of the event. Easypost sponsors famous cycling events with the best cyclists in the world. The company itself is known for fast, efficient shipping, and logo placement at these races creates synergy between the exciting speed of the event and the promise of Easypost’s delivery capabilities. Though this one-color technique is powerful, there are other crafting techniques and design knowledge for logo creation that ensure further impact whenever and wherever they are seen.

I often refer to the “density” of a logo with the design teams and clients I work with. Designing a logo that is guaranteed to work across the most varied range of sizes and at different distances from the viewer means creating something that adheres to some general rules around density. Considering density was an essential part of the process when we partnered with XBTO for a rebrand where they would place their logo across jerseys for Inter Miami FC. The logo needed to bring a strong presence and visual stability to represent the exploding world of crypto finance while standing out in the high-energy world of soccer in the US.

‘Density’ involves achieving a visual balance across various attributes of a logo design – are the line weights used across the logo visually balanced or are there extremely thin and thick parts to your logo that will make smaller scale versions problematic? Are there predominantly dark or light areas of a logo (or heavy and lighter areas in your logo) that create an unbalanced feel in the eyes of the viewer? Does your logo have a natural directional pull (does your logo move within the eye in a certain direction, and which direction do you want it to move in)? – downward directions make a logo feel more grounded, upward directions give a feeling of potential, and an upward and towards the right direction always makes a logo feel even more uplifting and future-focused. Either way, you want to achieve a balanced feel through a logo’s density through consistency.

There are various ways to test a logo’s balance and density; the ‘squint’ tests and the ‘upside down’ test spring to mind – literally squinting your eyes when you view your logo gives you a quick representation of the “visual truths” embedded in its construction — instantly revealing the dark areas and light areas of the logo and where shapes merge into each other. This helps to tell you where you might need more negative space added or where to use a thinner line weight. It’s also a good idea to do this squint test while viewing an array of different sizes of your logo to see if the “visual truths” are consistent across different sizes. Usually, at smaller sizes near objects get even nearer each other, and at larger sizes far objects get even further away, so it’s a brilliant way of making a judgment call on the right averaged spacing to commit to.

Turning a logo upside down also helps to reveal whether a logo’s apparent balance is really there – quite often viewing a logo upside down makes you see aspects of the logo you hadn’t seen before and once you turn it right side up again – that new learning can help you adjust the logo to create an even more harmonious result.

Not all logos are looking for harmony and consistency – but, if you want your logo to be differentiated and hold attention in sports and across an ever-increasing array of media and sizes and scales, harmony, consistency, and a balanced density give your logo the best chance.

The core elements that construct a logo can offer the potential for new and unexpected applications across sports formats while still preserving brand recognition and connection.

Swisscom approached us with a need to create a new brand identity system that could work and adapt across all business units and sub-brands. When we re-imagined their brand using a single logo, we realized a need for fluid, malleable elements that could take on different combinations but still be recognized as a holistic, unified brand. Leaning on color and graphic texture for familiarity, we crafted a logo that was more expressive and bold for the brand’s next chapter.

When applying the Swisscom logo to a sponsored ski uniform, crops of, and elements from the logo were used to create a visual language that wrapped around the skier’s body. The color and texture create instant recognizability despite altered logo proportions. Though the logo itself defies some of the “rules” above — the logo leverages its own graphic language to create impact and distinction. The unique style made the uniform more memorable, creating a lasting connection in the minds of viewers between Swisscom and the world of Swiss ski sports.

Mercedes Petronas F1 asked us to redesign their pit experience and car wrap with a need for a tech-forward, slick, and modern feel that would embrace their brand. After much experimentation, we realized the iconic Mercedes offered shapes and angles that could be pulled apart and recombined into shards. Because the logo appears so frequently on a global stage, combining the logo shapes into a textural layer still preserves recognition. Many of these shards working in harmony could tesselate and map across the car as if in response to aerodynamic and wind flow – giving the car a speed-obsessed, futuristic look.

Well-considered logos need to integrate and hopefully, lead visual attention in an increasing array of moving formats across both physical and digital spaces. How will the logo work in tandem with the movement of the sports space? How does the logo work in synergy with other brand elements to better fit the theme of the event?

Logos in motion need direction. Guided by brand strategy and behavioral principles, logo motion can bring the brand’s values to life, landing and reinforcing the feelings associated with the brand. Though the Mercedes logo was static, it literally needed to fly by at 200 mph on an F1 car and not just be recognized but celebrated.

Designing a winning logo to win in sports requires a thoughtful approach to the unique demands and opportunities of the space. These logos are not only emotive and memorable, but versatile across a wide range of media and environments. Ensuring the logo works in one color, has a strong sense of density and balance, and offers creative applications with its core elements are foundational approaches that help a logo communicate a brand’s values and story in synchronicity with the sports event.