What does it take to rebrand a huge sports team? GQ finds out. Join design expert Justin Thomas Kay as we look at the evolution of La Liga’s FC Barcelona logo, from their founding diamond logo to the current Barça shield hallmark that has stood the test of time. What are the key ingredients of FC Barcelona’s logo? What elements will be anchored in Justin’s modern rebranding? GQ settles the score, as FC Barcelona get rebranded.----------Director: Cole EvelevDirector of Photography: Eric BrouseEditor: Brady JacksonTalent: Justin Thomas KayProducer: Camille RamosSenior Producer: Lizzy HalberstadtLine Producer: Jen SantosProduction Manager: James PipitioneProduction Coordinator: Elizabeth HymesCamera Operator: Carlos AraujoGaffer: David DjacoSound Mixer: Rebecca O'NeillProduction Assistant: Erica Palmieri; Ashley VidalPost Production Supervisor: Jess DunnPost Production Coordinator: Stella ShortinoSupervising Editor: Rob LombardiAssistant Editor: Andy Morell
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00This is a logo for FC Barcelona.
00:02It's one of the most iconic sports brands in the world.
00:05Today we're going to analyze the logo, review the logo history, and give it a rebrand for the future.
00:16So this logo was adopted in 2002.
00:21Before we dive into the exact history of the logo and all the different narratives that are being
00:26brought together, I think it's worth kind of, you know, dissecting from a purely aesthetic standpoint
00:31what the challenges might be.
00:32On first glance, you have this shade of red, which is different from the deeper shade of red,
00:38which has been present in the uniforms of Barcelona since the team's inception.
00:42There's also two different shades of yellow, you know, you got white and black.
00:47So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven colors happening in one logo.
00:54That gets really complicated really fast.
00:56The different elements of the logo as I see them are obviously the shield,
01:00which pulls everything together.
01:02The second thing is the lettering in the middle for the team, which has changed over time,
01:07but for the most part has really stayed with this idea of FCB.
01:11But when we get into the logo history, you'll see how that has kind of like evolved and changed.
01:15Then you have St. George's cross, the patron saint of Catalonia,
01:19the red and yellow stripes of the Catalan flag.
01:22And then you have the bottom, which does represent the team itself.
01:27You have the stripes of the uniform and then the ball,
01:32which again has been largely the same over time, but has had some subtle changes.
01:38The main organizing concept behind the logo on a whole is obviously referencing,
01:42you know, vintage heraldry.
01:44So as opposed to being more of a modern sports brand where it's around a simple iconic singular
01:49visual that gets applied to the uniforms, the logo, the stadium, whatever it's going to be.
01:56This is based in the history, not just of the team, but of the city and the richness of that
02:02history that goes back, you know, even before the creation of Spain.
02:06If I was given the brief to rebrand Barcelona, my first point of inspiration would be looking at
02:11a team like InterMiami that really built their visual identity around a singular visual signifier
02:18and a story that made things very clear and understandable to the people who were fans of the team.
02:23All right, so that's the current logo.
02:25Let's take a look at some past versions outside of the first logo.
02:29Obviously FC Barcelona has been pretty consistent over time, subtle changes with the shield,
02:35subtle changes with the lettering, but for the most part, it's remained largely the same.
02:40We're going to look at a few key moments over time and talk about how those have informed
02:46where they've ended up today.
02:47Obviously where they started, the transition into the shield, and then you have your current logo.
02:53Let's take a closer look at these three.
02:55Okay, so this logo was established in 1899 at the founding of the club.
03:00For the most part is based entirely in the city crest of Barcelona.
03:04There's a few key elements in here.
03:06You have the St. George's cross present, the stripes of the Catalan flag,
03:12but then you have some other elements that didn't transition.
03:15You have the bat, which is present in heraldry elsewhere in the region,
03:20something that you see in other team logos, such as Valencia.
03:24You have the crown and the laurels.
03:28So in 1910, the team hosted a competition for a new logo, and they ended up with this,
03:32which was actually designed by one of the players at the time who won the logo design competition.
03:38As I said earlier, there's different elements that were carried over from that original logo.
03:42St. George's cross.
03:44You have the Catalan stripes, and you have, which still persists to this day as well,
03:50the team stripes and Val.
03:54The original lettering had periods in between FCB, a subtle distinction,
03:59but just something that got simplified over time.
04:01The shield is obviously a little more ornate,
04:06which is something that has evolved over time as well through subtle changes as time went on.
04:12This logo was designed in 2002.
04:15Despite there being almost a hundred years between these two logos,
04:18there's really been no modernization that has been taken into account for the way modern media works,
04:24for the application to the uniforms, for modern storytelling needs,
04:29and the way that these brands and teams need to be representing themselves to the public in 2025.
04:35It's just ostensibly the same logo that has its own charm.
04:39But I think if you were to look at this with fresh eyes,
04:42there's definitely some pretty substantial changes that you would make.
04:45So when I was doing research for this project,
04:48I picked up some merch just within the last week directly from Barcelona.
04:52So they're still producing merch with the vintage logos on it.
04:55Obviously you have the iconic stripe, which is how it appeared in this original form.
05:00And then you have the 1899 seal.
05:03So then here we have the current jerseys that were just released.
05:08They moved the crest, used to be in the upper left chest.
05:11They moved it here, centered it above the sponsor logo.
05:14So there's a lot of different ways that we really need to be thinking about
05:18how does this logo live in a truly modern context,
05:21when realistically you need to be figuring out how to telegraph that history
05:25and talk about what's important to the team, but used in this very modern way.
05:32So here I also picked up a vintage ticket from 1974 for this special 75th anniversary logo.
05:38They pulled out the stripes from the uniform,
05:40which is obviously the iconic stripes and the bottom of the logos.
05:44You know, it does live to my mind still in competition with so many other things
05:48that are going on in the shield, which gets reduced down to the smaller size.
05:51You know, they brought the laurels back.
05:53So there's these kind of like nods that they keep making to the logo history
05:56that I think, you know, is indicative of how much pride they have and where the team came from.
06:02So we've looked at past logos, the new logo, some merch. Let's make a new logo.
06:19Part of what I'm trying to do to think about modernizing and simplifying things a little bit,
06:29the FCB is going to be moving away from the middle of the logo.
06:37Not totally sure what style of lettering I want to go with here,
06:42but I think right now what I want to do is use the letters more as like anchors to the shield
06:48so that they can set up a frame.
06:53Looking at the history of the logo and thinking about something that could operate more as a
06:58specific visual anchor point to a more modern interpretation of the way the brand can work,
07:04I decided to focus my efforts around the bat, which I think could work nicely as kind of like a mascot
07:12as opposed to the way that it worked in the original logo. I just think from a visual standpoint,
07:16it gives something to kind of like hold on to something that can also break out from the logo
07:22and stand alone on its own as a visual that can be used elsewhere.
07:26Dealing with an animal, it's difficult because there's a lot of like energy and spirit and the
07:36specific ways that that animal is drawn, the facial expression, the placement of the eyes,
07:41all of that plays into it. So I'm going to have to do a lot of finessing on the computer.
07:49The hard part is going to be figuring out, okay, we have our key visual, but then there's a couple
07:54other elements that I know I want to bring into here. One, the stripe, which I think would be a good
08:01backdrop to bring in the deep red and the deep blue, and I'll keep that to the shield. Something
08:09that we explored in the first episode with the clippers was some sort of container on the outside
08:15to hold the lettering.
08:32One thing I do want to bring in is the ball in the background as well, but in a more textural way.
08:39The goal too is to try to simplify the shapes and think about how to make this so that the logo can
08:45hopefully, you know, reduce down to let's say four colors total. Okay, so I think this is close enough
08:51to bring it onto the computer and start drawing. Something that was recently released that I think
08:55would work really well for this project is this typeface called Contro, which was drawn by Michael
09:00Cina and Harsh Patel, sold through public type based on Italian modernist typography. This is specifically
09:06a style called OpenType. Each letter can have a bunch of different options within it.
09:15There's like a propensity in a lot of modern branding to kind of reduce things down to a really
09:24simple way when it comes to the type that to my mind, it tends to be influenced by almost like tech
09:30branding where things are just kind of like a simple zero personality lowercase typeface. It's not
09:37really saying anything and it's not trying to communicate an attitude. And I think with this part of
09:41my, you know, challenge to myself was how does the type also bring its own distinct attitude to the
09:47equation?
09:59This is a good use example of how, you know, you can have the letter A rendered twice in the same
10:23word. It just adds like a little bit of personality and it's challenging in the right way.
10:29I feel like I'm in a good place with the logo now. I want to show how I can work, you know,
10:32on a kit, on a scarf, on the field, in the stadium, you know, like all the different use cases that you
10:38can imagine the logo coming to life. There's just like a lot of different ways this thing needs to
10:42live. And I think that's the real test of whether or not it works. Let's see how the logo looks printed
10:47out. I feel good about it. You know, it accomplishes my initial task, which was to simplify, reduce the
10:53elements, reduce the colors and, you know, bring it into the future and really root an identity in
10:59the team itself while still being mindful of the history. This, I think, is just kind of like a cool
11:05secondary piece and something that they don't really have right now, which is more of like a fan and
11:11merchandising based mark, something that people can rally around. You know, I think you could imagine this
11:17being on like a long flag hanging off of someone's balcony or large across the front of a t-shirt
11:23on a scarf. However this is going to live, I think there's a lot of different places that this could
11:27come to life. And it's not just on the field. It's not just on the jersey, but it's a part of a larger
11:32thought around how the brand can come together. It really isn't about the team on its own and a team
11:38identity. It's more of an identity of place. It's more like a crest. Thanks for watching. Had a lot of fun
11:44working on this one. Let us know what team you want us to take a look at next.