The simple yet memorable Juventus logo symbolizes the path to victory, the path that professional footballers must take to become famous. There is also a reference to one of the team’s old nicknames in the emblem. Minimalistic style speaks of the desire to comply with fashion trends.
Juventus: Brand overview
Founded: | 1 November 1897 |
Founder: | Agnelli family |
Headquarters: |
Turin, Piedmont, Italy |
Website: | juventus.com |
Juventus (full name Juventus Football Club, abbreviated Juve) is a professional football team from Turin’s Italian city, founded in 1897. She is the most titled in Europe, belongs to the Agnelli and Mauricio Sarri family.
On November 1, 1897, 13 students of the Turin D’Azeglio Lyceum sat down on the bench between King Umberto and Prince Victor Emmanuel’s lawns. And it dawned on them to organize a football team. According to their language, it sounded “Calcio Fiorentino.” The club was called in their honor – Juventus.
But there was a dilemma with the headquarters; they had no place to gather together. 20-year-old Eugenio Campari offered a parents’ shop for bicycle repair for meetings. Also, he went down in history as the first president of Juventus.
Turin is translated from Latin (Taurus) as a “bull.” This horned creation ‘trampled” its place on the coat of arms of the Piedmont capital and the club emblem. And in the year of the Bull in 1985, Juventus won the first of two of his Champions Cups. In the bloody finale on “Heysel, “where 39 fans died, the Turanians beat Liverpool with the score 1:0.
Speaking of footballers’ form color, the Juventus team started playing in pink t-shirts. In 1903, at the factory, by mistake, instead of pink, black and white t-shirts were made. But there was no time and money to make new ones, and it was decided to leave the defective ones for the next 112 years. According to another version, they refused pink, because they did not tolerate washing. The Englishman John Savage (one of the team members) brought the black and white stripes of Notts County. Thus, the oldest of the world’s currently playing clubs have turned Juventus into a “bianconeri.”
For many years there was a zebra on the Juventus logo, and the team players were called “zebras,” too. But the most popular was the nickname of Vecchia Signora (the Old Lady), obtained, according to a legend, from the fans of “Torino.” In the 30s of the XX century, juveniles played in t-shirts for a couple of sizes more, which in the wind created a hump. That’s why they were nicknamed “the Old Lady.”
Meaning and History
A bright, well-recognized emblem has always distinguished the legendary European football team. She is one with her visual identity, reflecting her spirit, essence, and personality. The logo was designed in 1905 but still contains the original version and the original color palette. At the same time, it changed several times.
The Juventus 2004-2007 logo consisted of an oval shield with seven vertical strips inside: three black and four white. A dark inscription ‘Juventus” on a light background was located in the upper part of the emblem. The furious white Bull from the bottom of the logo, the symbol of Turin, was placed on a dark background and decorated with a black crown. Gold stars were removed because they were recognized as the property of sports results but not an element of the club’s personality.
In 2012, Juventus removed the stars from the logo. From the principle, after all, 2 out of 33 club’s scudetto were recognized as purchased.
In mid-January, Juventus introduced a new logo. There is no point in trying to find any parallels and connections with history. Now you couldn’t find Bull, zebra, or shield there. The fans are shocked by the new Juventus logo. However, the club’s management insists that the new logo will make Juventus a real-world club. Like, now, “Juventus” should not be associated only with Turin, but actually, it is quite a controversial decision. Only time will tell whether “the Old Lady” brings any benefit or not.
What is Juventus?
Juventus is an Italian football team that participates in Serie A (the top tier). It ranks sixth in Europe in terms of the number of confederation titles won. The club is located in the city of Turin, where it was founded by a group of students in 1897. Its kit is adorned with black and white stripes, a design that has been predominant since 1903.
1905 – 1921
The opening version looks like a heraldic sign. It has a striped vertical oval with a bull standing on its hind legs, above which there are a large crown and the inscription “Juventus” on a white background. Centerpieces surround curved, goblet-shaped elements. Above them is a stylized ribbon with the Latin motto “Non coronabitur nici qui legitime cartaverit.” The main colors of the logo are black and white.
1921 – 1929
A colored emblem belongs to this period. The designers removed unnecessary details from it, focusing on the elongated vertical ellipse. All elements have received dark yellow edging. The designers have simplified the second logo by removing everything except the oval and its elements. The outlines, letters, crown, and bull are now gold, and the geometric shapes are blue. Remarkably, the color blue is of great importance for Juventus, because the bull, represented on the city’s coat of arms.
1929 – 1931
Almost all emblems that were in use before 1970 are similar in structure. But the 1929 version was an exception. Italian journalist Carlo Bergoglio proposed replacing the Turin bull with a zebra so that the logo would reflect the club’s unofficial nickname, Le Zebre. The designers listened to his idea and made minor corrections. In 1929, athletes again switched to a monochrome black and white version of the logo, changing the central bull to a zebra. The striped animal on the striped background looked inimitable and catchy, so at that time, the team received the nickname Zebre.
1931 – 1977
After years of zebra presence on the logo, it was finally removed, replaced by a powerful, energetic bull with massive withers. It stands on its hind legs, stretching its head forward with sharp horns. The designers also enlarged the crown, giving it the appearance of an impregnable fortress wall, and changed the style of the letters, making them geometric. The developers abandoned the typical typeface and came up with their own. Elements that were golden yellow in 1921-1929 are now light brown.
1977 – 1982
The stereo logo belongs to that period. It looks like the stereo, with blurry outlines that seem to be superimposed on each other. At the top in front of the oxtail horse is a white five-pointed star, and below it is the inscription “Juventus F.C.,” derived from the Juventus Football Club’s full name.
1982 – 1989
The developers have changed the proportions of the logo elements. The horse is now smaller. The animal surrounds the team name in which the letters “F” and “C” are placed to the right and left of the central stereoscopic figure.
1989 – 2004
After a small upgrade, the emblem returned to its origins. The crown is almost the same as on the 1905-1921 logo. The bull also looks like the old version, but the artists have changed its shape, so it’s difficult to tell from the silhouette which animal it is. There is a golden line along the outer contour, which makes the graphic sign look like the 1921-1929 version. The two five-pointed stars that were previously to the left of the zebra are now placed above the oval shield.
2004 – 2017
Specialists developed the new club emblem from the Interbrand agency. They tried to create a stylized emblem while preserving the historical symbols of Juventus. The design corresponds to the canons of our time: simple forms, smooth lines, symmetry, and minimalism. They managed to achieve this using only three colors: white for the background, yellow for the line under the team name, and dark brown for all other elements.
The variant dating back to that time looks stylish and modern. It is adapted for progressive features to look spectacular on all electronic, print, and advertising media. The background is three black stripes that do not reach the edge of the oval. Above the middle is the club; below it, there is a yellow arched stripe. At the very bottom is a white bull inside the shield. All this is a 3D version. In the same year, other options were presented – in 2D with and without stars.
2017 – today
On January 16, 2017, the team unveiled the logo without the crown, Turin bull, zebra, and oval shield. All that remains is the word “JUVENTUS” and two jagged black lines, separated by a blank white space.
The current logo is the most stylish one. It is radically different from its predecessors and looks like two parallel stripes curved in a “J” shape. The right character is associated with an uppercase letter; the left character is associated with a lowercase letter.
She went through several stages of transformation, which brought her major changes. The first happened in 1921 when color appeared. The second was in 1979. Then the image of a white horse appeared on the logo – the third – in 1989, with a return to the previous design. Fourth – in 2017, when the logo became radically different from the original but as close as possible to the time requirements. Either way, they all have black and white stripes that reflect the club’s visual identity. Also, most periods are characterized by a vertical oval with a crown.
Font and Colors
For the first seven decades, the Juventus logos remained almost unchanged, except for the period from 1929 to 1931, when the visual identification of the club was decided to be associated with the nickname Le Zebre. The zebra came back again in the late 1970s, but it did not last long: the oval with the crown and the bull remained the team’s honorary symbol until 2017. As a result, the design agency Interbrand developed the infamous J logo, which caused a wave of criticism.
The employees of Interbrand invented the unusual font of the word “JUVENTUS.” Judging by the characteristic letter “N,” they were based on the old spelling of the name, which appeared on the logo back in 1921.
The name of the Italian team is written in a sleek, elongated sans serif typeface. All letters are uppercase. The club’s basic colors are a combination of black and white, dark blue, golden yellow.
The modern club emblem is black and white. In previous versions, additional colors were used: blue (as on the Turin coat of arms) and gold (a symbol of glory).
Juventus color codes
Black | Hex color: | #000000 |
---|---|---|
RGB: | 0 0 0 | |
CMYK: | 0 0 0 100 | |
Pantone: | PMS Process Black C |