Jan
06
For any big Football Fan, January has a very special meaning attached to it. Is that time of the year again when you start developing bonds with your TV and your Fridge, more than in any other time of the year.
It’s even more special if you happen to be a Design Junkie, not only because the next 5 weeks will be filled with the Cream of the Crop in Advertising, but also because it’s time for the National Font League Playoffs.
No one can deny the important role that Marketing and Design plays in today’s sports, but I think we can all agree Football has a lot more of this two than any other sport. What’s even more, Football Fans love to consume Marketing and Design. It’s not a coincidence the millions they spent in merchandise every season, nor it is the millions the league invest rebranding the Super Bowl every year (which is also the most expensive air time in the history of TV).
So last night I was watching the AFC Wild Card Game between one of my favorite National Font League’s Team, the Steelers and the Jacksonville Jaguars. As they were playing the 3rd. quarter, I was thinking to my self “It must’ve been hard to fit the Roethlisberger on the back of that jersey”. There’s definitively a kerning and size difference between Big Ben’s jersey and the other team mates jerseys. It’s funny that most people won’t even notice it, but behind Ben’s difference in Kerning and Size, there’s a designer solving a problem in a creative way.
This morning I started researching more about it and I couldn’t find almost any information about the subject. What I did found was a lot of people trying to figure out the name of the font used on their favorite team’s jersey.
So today I decided to play a tribute to one of the most important elements in the NFL. The jerseys, and more specifically, to the font used by every NFL team.
Unlike with it’s cousin, the Real NFL, on the National Font League there’s no need to root strictly for your hometown’s team, in fact you can root for as many teams as you want, as long as you like their font. This are my favorite National Font Teams.
I love their whole imagery. They have an excellent use of font, with both vintage and modern looking fonts as well as their Flying Elvis Logo, which is by far my favorite on the league. Plus, they are also my favorite team on the Real NFL.
Despite having the most boring logo in the league (seriously, hypocycloids on a logo?) The Steelers definitively bring something else to the table. Back in 1967 they experimented with a uniform based on the Batman TV Series and even as of today they are the only team in the whole league to sport their logo only on one side of their helmet. The excellent choice in typography (Futura) and the great high contrast color scheme in their uniforms, makes the Steelers one of the best team in the National Font League.
I have very good friends and colleagues in Albuquerque and they told me if you’re from New Mexico you can only root for either the Cowboys or the Broncos. I happen to like both, but when it comes to the National Font League, there’s clearly one favorite. They say third one is a charm and this team knows more about that than any other team. Back in the 60’s their original uniform wasn’t not well received by the public. It consisted of brown helmets, brown pants and white and mustard yellow jerseys. It think it’s safe to say they were running hot dogs. By 1962 they redesigned their image with white pants and orange jerseys. But it wasn’t until 1968 when they debuted the orange, white and blue horse. Finally by 1997 they introduced a radical change, incorporating a new logo, new font and greater use of navy blue. I really like the whole package of the Broncos, but I think most importantly than anything, I like the way they pay attention to the little details, like the stripes on the top of the helmet or the font outline on the back of the jerseys. If I would ever buy merchandising from a NFL’s team, Broncos would be it.
Although it shares a lot of the attributes of the previous 3 teams, the Titans have an Ace under their sleeve. Simplicity. They achieve the same quality the other 3 have, with a lot less effort, which translates into a strong logo with a great two toned blue and red accents color scheme. They are also one of the few teams in the National Font League that broke the mold and decided not to fall into the University-looking-font cliche for their jerseys.
If you would like to pay your own tribute, grab this ZIP File with all the fonts used by the NFL teams. You can use it to do wallpapers, posters or even your design your own t-shirts.
Click Here to Download the NFL Jerseys Fonts
1
Great find and thanks for the research into this! I wish I had found this a long time ago.
2
LOL at National Font League. The fans just get crazier and crazier.
3
Thanks for the great research input put into this..! I’ll be looking forward to the start of the playoff’s..!
