Gorillaz Logo

Gorillaz LogoGorillaz Logo PNG

For a musical group, the Gorillaz logo does not differ in creative flight. It consists of an inscription with the band’s name and expresses the inner state of their songs: art-pop, postmodernism, alternative rock, hip-hop, punk, electronic music, and more. The letters are varied and jumpy as if sprayed onto a concrete wall with a paint can.

Gorillaz: Brand overview

Founded:1998 – present (hiatus: 2012 – 2015)
Founder:Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett
Headquarters:
London, England
Website:gorillaz.com

Gorillaz is a unique phenomenon in the world of music, unrivaled and recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the best and most successful virtual band. They don’t exist in reality; this is a project by Damon Albarn (permanent co-author) and Jamie Hewlett (comic artist). They “settled” the band members in London and supposedly keep them hidden from the public eye. The program was launched in 1998. The animated group includes:

  • Russel Hobbs (drummer).
  • Noodle (keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist).
  • Murdoc Niccals (bass guitarist).
  • 2-D (vocalist, keyboardist).

Meaning and History

Gorillaz Logo History

The virtual band started with an obsession for MTV. Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett watched a lot of it, which eventually seemed hellishly monotonous and boring to them – lacking some kind of twist. So they teamed up and decided to create animated musicians. It is believed that they based their visual style on The 16s – a comic that had failed in its time. Hewlett came up with the idea along with co-author Alan Martin. The first recorded song of the fictional band was Ghost Train. In reality, the graphic members are replaced by real musicians, although the lineup may change occasionally.

Of course, the manner and atmosphere borrowed from the rejected comic are reflected in Gorillaz’s emblem. Its DNA is a mixture of many styles. However, the prevailing feature is its dissimilarity to any other signs. The logo is characterized by blurriness, streaks, aesthetic incompleteness, negligence, and varying letter sizes. However, there are also strict versions with geometrically accurate glyphs and even lines – as, for example, on the 2005 album cover. The band uses one general emblem, but each collection also has its own individual symbol.

What is Gorillaz?

Gorillaz is a virtual animated band that plays music in various alternative styles. These include art-pop, postmodernism, rock, hip-hop, punk, electro, and many other directions. Its creators are Damon Albarn (a constant co-author) and Jamie Hewlett (artist). The unconventional collective appeared in 1998. The presumed location is London.

1998

Gorilla Logo 1998

The logo was initially text-based and resembled an inscription left on the wall of a house, like graffiti. However, it initially featured the word “Gorilla” – without the letter “z.” The “z” was absent in the prototype and appeared in the project’s name much later. The glyphs were uneven and at different heights. Moreover, they had streaks – as if the paint they were applied with was fresh and flowed down in long drops. Due to the difference in lettering, it seemed that they were done by several people: one drew one symbol, another – another, and so on. The logo was monochrome.

1998 – today

Gorillaz Logo 1998-present

Then a permanent emblem appeared. Although it also represents an inscription, its style is entirely different. For example, the last two letters are much larger than the first ones, and the double “L” is arranged in a ladder-like fashion, as if they are connected to each other like chairs. The text is red and goes slightly upward. The glyphs also have uneven lines and droplet-like streaks, but they are not as evident as in the prototype.

2005

Gorillaz Logo 2005 (Demon Days)

Gorillaz chose a straightforward logo for the Demon Days cover with virtually nothing remarkable. The font is uppercase, thin, and angular, with sharpened outer corners. The letters are even and stand at a slight distance from each other. The inscription is black, and the background is light.

2010

Gorillaz Logo 2010 (Plastic Beach)

The album Plastic Beach has a completely different style: playful, unconventional, and provocative. This can be seen in the form of the letters used for the band’s name. The glyphs are again at different levels and vary in size: they do not match in width or height. However, most of the signs are grotesque and bold. The largest is “G,” “a,” and “Z,” as in the 1998 version.

2010

Gorillaz Logo 2010 (The Fall)

In the same year, another collection, The Fall, was released. Its cover is adorned with a caption set in a very bold sans-serif font with capital letters. However, they are not as tall as before but rather squat, wide, and even flattened. Notably, the glyphs are jumpy, meaning they are arranged unevenly in a row. However, this is not so apparent due to their boldness. The lowercase “A” is now uppercase, and “G” and “Z” are larger than the other signs.

2018

Gorillaz Logo

In the recent album The Now Now-Cracker Island, the musicians used their most unusual font of all. It resembles the red version of the 1998 logo; that is, it is adapted to the general design that is still in use. The inscription is made as if with black paint on a concrete wall, so the lines are uneven and periodically disappear. The letter “a” is again in lowercase, while the others are in uppercase.

The animated band Gorillaz’s name, reflected in the logo, was chosen because its founders, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, were born in the Year of the Monkey. The inscription is often accompanied by an image of a skull with very large eye sockets and a large mouth showing white teeth. Sometimes, it is supplemented with silhouettes of animated characters.

Font and Colors

Gorillaz Emblem

Their signature font is called Gorillaz 1. It was designed by Kasper van de Laar and is freely distributed. Another version was created by Nikolai Rebel 2 called Plastic Beach. Other fonts resemble Limerick Serial Regular by SoftMaker, Chantilly UltraBold, created by FontSite Inc., or Humanist 521 Ultra Bold by ParaType. The color palette is simple and unpretentious – it is either red or black on a white background.

Gorillaz Symbol

Gorillaz color codes

BlackHex color:#000000
RGB:0 0 0
CMYK:0 0 0 100
Pantone:PMS Process Black C