The Umbro Diamond
You may have noticed the new Umbro logo in the top left of this blog. This is our new company identity which will be on some of our product and advertising from next month. Inspired by this blog post which details the logo evolution of dozens of famous companies, I decided to take a look at how the Umbro logo has changed over the last 75 years.
I have searched through our archives and put together a potted history of the logo. Unfortunately, whilst I have the visual identity and how that’s changed I don’t have much documentation about why it was designed the way it was for example, I can only speculate why the designers chose a diamond as a base shape:
The logo hasn’t really changed much over 85 years it’s been around (started as “Humphreys Brothers Ltd.” in 1924). The logo started as the company name framed in a diamond, an iconic shape for years to come. Over time, it shape-shifted, with lines disappearing or multiplying and fonts moving from formal to playful. All the while, the diamond shape remained a solid and confident mark. Whilst searching through the archives I came across these logos from a 1973 brochure. As you can see, the range of sports covered tennis, cricket, hockey, athletics and even gymnastics.
The logos from the 50s and 60s took on different colours (this was after all the age of technicolour!) and the shape became a container for the name. The 50s and 60s threw up some amazing logos (see this set by the legendary Paul Rand)
Over the years there have been many other variations. Our office favourite (I mean my favourite 
) is the 66 logo, which was used on back neck labels throughout the 70s.
) is the 66 logo, which was used on back neck labels throughout the 70s.
I have uploaded all of these logos and more to our flickr profile. As with a lot of our history, bits have been lost along the years, but in a way that makes joining up the dots more interesting.
Which is your favourite?
