How to Design a Football Logo

If you're passionate about football, you might be called upon to help out with a local team's startup, communications or publicity efforts. You've got the equipment, the field and the players---but what about the symbol that will tie everything together, from the team's image to uniform patches to programs? You can come up with a dynamic design that everyone from the cheerleaders to the quarterback will be proud to call their own. Get off the bench, boot your computer and grab a beer---the new season awaits your handiwork.

Things You'll Need

  • Computer
  • Design or word processing software
  • Copyright-free images of football symbols
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Scour the Internet for free or inexpensive football symbols that will form the base of your logo. The most obvious are a hash-marked field, goal posts, a football and mascots that other teams have adopted to set them apart. Save the symbols to your computer desktop. Label each as "Helmet," "Ball," "Field," or "Blue Jay" for easy retrieval.

    • 2

      Understand the rules of logo design. You get to pick the elements that make up the design, but for a logo to be truly memorable, it should tell a story and look sharp even when you shrink the size and remove the colors you used to design it.

    • 3

      Check out other football team logos for inspiration. Look at NFL websites to see what the big boys have done. It's illegal to copy a design, but graphic artists are always looking at logo designs of others to get ideas. Another great place for inspiration is Logopond.com.

    • 4

      Open a blank document in whatever software program you prefer so you don't have to learn new commands while you're in creative mode. Microsoft Word is a great fallback if you don't normally use any sort of drawing or page layout software.

    • 5

      Draw a shape and use it as your football logo background. Choose from a circle, box, triangle or anything that strikes your fancy based on the designs of others. Alternately, retrieve the art you found in Step 1 and copy it on the page.

    • 6

      Import a second graphic image to enhance the logo. For instance, if you used a football field as your background, import a drawing of the mascot you chose, then superimpose it on the field. Experiment with background shapes and images with other graphic elements to achieve a great design.

    • 7

      Write the name of the football team in big, chunky letters across the boxes or images you combined in Step 6. Great font choices are Impact, Arial Black and Gill Sans Ultra Bold. Adjust the copy by stacking it or spreading it across one or two lines. If you prefer only the team name without any type of background, you can still make the logo stand out. For example, if your team has an "I" in its name, spell it out and then use a football graphic to dot the "I."

    • 8

      Output three of the best football logo designs you came up with and share them with the team, boosters and other interested parties. Have everyone vote for his favorite, then adopt that design for team use.

    • 9

      Save the logo in its native software format, then make a PDF of the design so you can share it with everyone associated with the team.