7 Tips for Designing a Unique Sports Team Logo

All sports teams need a logo.

It’s their badge, their brand, and, simply, their identity! The logo represents the team and provides an emblem upon which to rally around.

In fact, logos are important in any field. Almost 20% of small businesses would spend up to $1000 getting theirs designed.

However, not all logos are made equal. Spending a bunch of money doesn’t guarantee a quality design. The importance of the logo means you don’t want to mess up the design process.

After all, this is the image with which your sports team will be recognized and defined. It pays to get it right. Are you looking for some advice on how to do it?

Keep reading for some top tips for designing a unique sports team logo.

1. Brainstorm Ideas

The first step to designing anything is idea generation.

Creativity doesn’t come from no-where. More often than not, there’s a calculated journey from initial idea to end product. It starts as a fledgeling first draft and transforms through numerous iterations. Simply, it takes work.

The work begins by coming up with as many initial ideas as possible.

Sit down and pool your creative energy into a potential logo. Consider the crucial elements. What mascot does your team have? What colors would represent you? What shapes and styles should enter the equation?

The logo says something about your team identity. Think about what’s special about your team, and how to represent it. For instance, if speed and agility are key, then an appropriate animal (such as a cheetah, or falcon) might be a worthy inclusion.

2. Do Your Research

Totally stuck?

Search elsewhere for inspiration.

Head to the internet. Pinterest, for example, is a major source of design ideas. Likewise, you could simply Google ‘sports team logos’ to see how others have tackled the problem.

Think about your favorite sports teams and their logos. What is it about their designs that you like? There’s no harm in emulating them in your own. Obviously, you can’t copy it exactly. But you can absolutely model your team logo on it.

In reality, you’ll probably want a logo with a combination of font and image. This is known as a logotype.

These designs provide more bang for your buck! Images add an emotional level to a logo that words alone lack. In your research, look for particular combinations of words and images that you like.

3. Decide the Font

The font is a constituent part of all quality logos.

It can make the difference between a cohesive, powerful logo and one that simply doesn’t work.

There are masses to choose from. Again, your research will help in your decision making. Look into the options via all the same places we mentioned above.

Want a full and in-depth look at this topic? This 80-page report details typographic trends in American sports brands. It’s a comprehensive resource to draw upon!

4. Sketch It Out

Typically, your next step will involve sketching out an initial logo.

You’ve brainstormed logo ideas and researched the designs you like.

It’s time to take those efforts and turn them into a first draft. The quality doesn’t matter. No actual design or drawing ability is required! Just set about putting pen to paper.

Don’t stop at one. Get as many different designed down as possible.

Fine-tuning happens later. This process is purely about setting your ideas in physical form. That word is important: form. It’s the most important part to get right here. Colors come later. Indeed, the colors will probably match your uniform anyway!

Focus on the actual shapes and styling of the images and lettering instead. These are what truly make or break the logo.

5. Choose Your Favorites

Now comes the time to narrow down your selection.

Indeed, you may even pick your favorite at this point. But the main step is to hone down your long list of options to a few final ones.

The best logos should:

• Match the overall look you’re going for (i.e. be relevant)
• Be relatively simple and clear
• Have all the necessary information
• Stand out visually
• Be unique and memorable

Your shortlist of possible logos should tick all of these boxes.

Avoid the logo blues and discard any that don’t. Ask your friends, family, and team members too. What do they think? Which do they prefer?

6. Choose Your Favorite

Now it’s time to settle on a final logo design.

This may already be clear. Having spoken to other people, you’ll have an idea of the standout option.

Add some final touches if needs be. That prior feedback may have revealed glaring errors to amend. Equally, it may have simply showcased potential areas of improvement.

Make your choice and correct accordingly. Remember, iterations are a natural key to this process.

With final adjustments made, you’ve officially figured out the final rough! Congratulations!

7. Take It to a Professional

Your hand-drawn logo may already look epic.

You may even have already digitized it too, and transferred the final result to the computer.

However, unless you’re a pro designer, the logo is unlikely to look as good as it could do. Furthermore, if it’s still in paper form, then you need to get in on the computer.

After all, to get the logo emblazoned on team uniforms, posters and so on, you’ll probably need a digital version.

Find a professional designer to do this for you. They’ll be able to take a critical designer’s eye to the logo. They’ll fine-tune it and make it truly pop.

Then they’ll convert it into formats for you to use for practical purposes down the line.

Time to Design Your Sports Team Logo

There you have it: top tips for designing a unique sports team logo.

Logos are important in almost every field where brands are involved. In the sporting world, logos distinguish one team from another and provide an identity for fans and team members to rally around.

It’s important to get the logo design right! Hopefully, this post has highlighted exactly how to do it.

Looking for a professional logo made the easy way? Contact us today to see how we can be of support.