Cleveland Browns Logo PNG
The emblem of the football club, founded in 1948, demonstrates the commitment to its history. For more than half a century, the Cleveland Browns logo has changed only in detail, reflecting the current evolution, and the name has become a tribute to the first coach.
Cleveland Browns: Brand overview
| Founded: | June 4, 1944 |
| Founder: | Jimmy Haslam, Dee Haslam |
| Headquarters: |
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Website: | clevelandbrowns.com |
Cleveland Browns is a professional football club based in Cleveland; they compete in the National Football League as a member club of the AFC North division. Its history started in 1944 when the sports editor Arch Ward decided to create a league All-America Football Conference and chose eight potential team owners.
One of them was a businessman from Cleveland, Arthur B. McBride. After purchasing the franchise, he asked a sportswriter John Dietrich, to hire at the position of coach. Dietrich suggested Paul Brown. In 1945, Paul got a share of stocks of the football club and became its co-owner.
Fans wanted the team to be named Browns, but the coach rejected this idea. McBride then held a contest to name the team and promised to give a war bond of $1000 to the winner. In June 1945, the committee chose the nickname Panthers, which lasted two months. Paul Brown rejected it because the old Cleveland Panthers failed.
McBride gave in to popular demand and christened the team the Browns. He didn’t want to engage in controversy against the coach, so he made up a town legend that Cleveland Browns were named after a boxer Joe Louis also known as Brown Bombers. Paul never stuck to the alternative story and admitted that they were named after him.
McBride sold the team to a group of Cleveland businessmen for $600,000 in 1953. These businessmen were: Saul Silberman, owner of the race track, Homer Marshman, an attorney, Ellis Ryan, a former Indians president, and Dave R. Jones, former Cleveland Indians director. In 1961, Dave sold the team to a group led by advertising executive Art Modell. Bob Gries, who once held a stake in Cleveland Browns, got 40% of shares.
In 1995, Art Modell announced plans to move the team to Baltimore. He met fierce legal action and was faced with an interesting compromise. Modell was allowed to keep the contracts of his Browns players but needed to form a new franchise. Today, that organization is known as the Baltimore Ravens. The Browns’ intellectual property, including team name, logos, training facility, and history, were kept in trust.
NFL temporarily deactivated the old franchise in February 1996. Browns started to play again in 1999 under new owner Al Lerner. In 4 years, he died, and his son Randy Lerner took over the Browns franchise. Randy sold Browns to a businessman Jimmy Haslam for $1 billion on August 2, 2012.
Meaning and History
Cleveland Browns have had seven logos in over 70 years, aside from one unused one. Their entire evolution can be divided into two periods: before 1969 and after 1969. The first period is the so-called Brownie Elf era, which the artist Dick Dugan portrayed in a cartoon style and “awarded” a soccer ball.
The second period is the longest. It began in 1970 when the team started using the first orange helmet emblem. This version changed several times: the developers were chasing a modern design so that the drawn sports attribute corresponded to reality.
What is Cleveland Browns?
The Cleveland Browns are a team that joined AFC North in 2002. They have played in the National Football League since 1950, and before that, they participated in the All-America Football Conference. There was a slight hiatus in the club’s history when Arthur Bertram Modell decided to move the members to Baltimore but leave the entire Browns legacy in Cleveland. The original franchise was reinstated in 1999.
1948 – 1958
Debut, Cleveland Brown’s logo, features the original character Brownie Elf. There’s a wordplay in its name: “Brownie” is assonant with the team nickname “Browns.” The image is credited to the artist Dick Dugan, who became the sports cartoonist for Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Elf stands up with a football in his left hand. There’s a crown on his head – a symbol of power. The figure is turned to the left. All elements have a dark outline with ragged edges. The design of this logo portrays the classic style of animation.
1959 – 1969
In 1959, Brownie Elf changed: he was turned to the right, the royal crown was replaced with a cap, and the football was in his right hand. His clothes became black and orange, and his arms and face turned white. They removed shadows, which are typical for animated images. The character is portrayed sketchily without detailed elaboration and outlined in black.
1965 (unused)
When Art Modell bought the franchise, he believed that the Cleveland Browns emblem was too childish and did away with it. In the mid-1960s, a new logo was created: a dark orange helmet with a white stripe on top and a black outline.
This sportswear is depicted from the side. It has a grey faceguard and is decorated with interlocking letters “CB” in brown with white trim, representing the city and the nickname – Cleveland Browns. The font is without squiggles. This version of the Cleveland Browns emblem was never used in games.
1970 – 1985
After the merge of AFL and NFL in 1969, the football club left the cartoonish Brownie Elf behind. In 1970, they used a logo, which looks like the unused version of 1956. Only small changes were made: three grey dots were removed, the internal black outline widened, and the facemask became white. They removed the wordmark “CB” because Cleveland Browns stopped decorating the helmets with the team branding and decided to make it their thing.
1986 – 1991
In the new Cleveland Browns logo, designers put aside the accustomed side-view and made ¾ view. Change of the angle allowed us to draw the facemask in detail and 3D. Dark lines, which are going along the white fixtures, highlight the three-dimensionality. There’s a double white and grey stripe on top of the helmet. Orange became one shade darker.
1992 – 2005
In 1992, another modification of the Cleveland Browns logo was approved. Designers made the shape of the facemask modern. The colors remained the same; they only became duller. The additional element – round white ledge appeared in the lower part.
2006 – 2014
In 2006, Cleveland Browns gave up on the dull color scheme and went back to the orange color. The only change to this logo is that the facemask is now grey. Shapes, ratio, and thickness of stripes weren’t changed.
2015 – today
The current logo is the result of a long evolution of the helmet, introduced back in 1970. Its creators have tried to keep the basic elements, such as the two black and white stripes at the very top. Also, they adhered to the original palette, which was always dominated by bright orange.
The current brand name was adopted in 2015. It depicts the same helmet that has become an integral part of the players’ equipment and part of the visual identity of the Cleveland Browns.
Font and Colors
For all NFL teams, without exception, the helmet is an important sporting attribute. But for the Cleveland Browns, it means a lot more because it has been depicted on emblems since 1970. The painted helmet looks almost the same as in reality if we close our eyes to the most authentic style. The artists paid attention to details: the exact shape of the headgear, the number and location of the crossbars in the protective mask, fasteners so that everything was close to reality.
There is not a single inscription on the helmet or around it. And all because the owners of Cleveland Browns consider it superfluous to mention the team’s name – in their opinion, the logo itself is quite recognizable and does not need text additions.
And this is true if you pay attention to the combination of colors. The iconic orange helmet with dark brown and white details is currently associated with only one NFL football club. At least until he completely changes or recolors his iconic logo.
Cleveland Browns color codes
| Brown | Hex color: | #311d00 |
|---|---|---|
| RGB: | 49 29 0 | |
| CMYK: | 1 33 85 94 | |
| Pantone: | NFL Cleveland Browns (Custom PMS) |
| Orange | Hex color: | #ff3c00 |
|---|---|---|
| RGB: | 255 60 0 | |
| CMYK: | 2 93 100 0 | |
| Pantone: | PMS 2028 C |
What is the Cleveland Browns logo?
The Cleveland Browns logo is an orange helmet with no insignia because the club’s players are the only ones to wear helmets without graphics or lettering. Only the top of the headdress is decorated with a white stripe.
What does Browns mean in Cleveland Browns?
This is a tribute to Paul Brown, who was the co-founder and first coach of the team. He spent a lot of time with Cleveland Browns before the NFC / AAFC merger.
What is a brown mascot for Cleveland?
Cleveland Football Club’s mascot is called Brownie the Elf. He is a funny little man in an orange shirt with striped sleeves and a big cap. His characteristic ears are pointed. Where this cartoon character came from, no one knows, and even research has not yielded results.
Where did the Cleveland Browns name come from?
The Cleveland Browns name was suggested by fans in a competition for the best name. Thus, they decided to immortalize the name of the first coach of the club – Paul Brown.
