Millions of people have soccer fever this summer—each match is projected to have up to 125 million viewers worldwide, with the championship game expected to surpass the 2006 numbers (715 million) and draw the biggest audience of any sporting final in history.
Here at Studio SC, we’ve been talking a lot about how not only the designs of the jerseys are important, but also the typography. When these jerseys are seen by millions of people across the globe, you want to be sure they’re a good representation of your country.
Around the office, the Nike jerseys, specifically, Netherlands and England (whose kits were created by Umbro, a recently-acquired subsidiary of Nike) are favorites. The typeface used for the players’ names appears similar for all the Nike teams, but the different number sets for each seem to be good representations of their countries and their teams. (We can’t seem to find any information about the name of the typefaces used, so if anyone can, we’d love to know!)
Take the Netherlands, for example. Their bright orange jerseys really stand out against the green turf. You can see them move as a unit, how in tune they are with each other. The orange is aggressive and in your face—you either love it or you hate it. The typeface is sort of the same: blocky, stocky, and mechanical—which is pretty similar to the playing style of the Dutch team (these guys are nicknamed Clockwork Orange for their precision passing). The typeface reminds us of the Dutch De Stijl style, with its blend of simplicity, primary colors, and cubism.
By contrast, the typography on the English kits is far more of a humanist style. The clean lines and openness of the text and are quintessentially English: formal, tailored, and refined. The all-white uniforms hearken back to the kits of 1966. On Umbro’s blog, kit designer David Blanch says he loved that design because it embodied the team: “it’s not about branding, it’s about team identity.”
Paul Barnes designed two fonts for Puma kits: Olembe and Crepello. He describes the Crepello, which is used by Italy, Switzerland, and Uruguay, as a “no-nonsense technical form.” It resembles an italic font and has very classic numbers with sharp edges. Italy and Switzerland use all lowercase letters, while Uruguay uses both lower and uppercase. The Olembe, which is used by Ivory Coast, Ghana, and several other African nations, is on the other end of the spectrum. Barnes wanted it to look organic, so he created letters and numbers with visible brushstrokes, so they appear hand-painted or drawn.
Brazillian designer Yomar Augusto crafted a font for Adidas called Unity, which appears on the Argentinean and Spanish shirts, among others. Augusto drew his inspiration from the rounded triangles of the official World Cup soccer balls, and the typeface is featured on all Adidas 2010 World Cup products and advertising. Unity is all rounded—both the numbers and the letters—no blunt edges here.
What do you think? Do you have a favorite World Cup typeface, or one you can’t stand? Which kit best represents its home country? And can you believe Brazil lost today?
