Udinese Calcio: rebranding operation

Disclaimer: this project was not carried out in collaboration with the Udinese Calcio but is the result of nss sports imagination.

After the first project on UC Sampdoria, made by Heygraphic studio, nss sport publishes the second chapter of the project that proposes possible graphic restyling of the Serie A teams. It's up to Udinese Calcio, a team that has been struggling to reach the high ranges of the rankings for some years now, despite a competitive squad, composed of talented players. The turnaround, after the construction of the new Dacia Arena in 2016 - the second modern stadium owned by a football club in Italy, after the Allianz Stadium in Turin -, could come precisely from a possible rebranding strategy. The graphic designer starts from the symbols of the Friulian team as the black echelon and proceeding to design new merchandise and an editorial plan for the club's social networks.

The crest actually consists of a shield, inserted within a gray circle and surrounded by two golden laurel branches, completed by the club's foundation date, 1896. The composition is very classical, does not seem different from other examples of European football, so we have to explain the reasons that led us to think that Udinese Calcio needed a new crest. In addition to the use of a boring font, which crushes the lettering inside the circle, there is a chromatic question. The gray circle, as well as the bay leaves, have neutral and dull tones, the gold does not shine and the shapes do not stand out. At this point, the function of the color seems to lose meaning and for this reason, the new proposal seeks a greater incisiveness: a simple but decisive logo, in black and white, powerful and complete both in the references to the club and in the city.

In order not to completely distort the composition, we started from the symbol of the Savorgnan family and the city of Udine, present in the team crest since 1980. The most decisive choice is to remove the laurel, recovering the form through the curved line, narrower, identifiable as a letter U. These two lines, one broken and one curve, have been combined to find a final trim, proportioned in size, as shown by the geometric study tables.

Starting from the logo, the main sign of identity of a company, the new brand has been studied in all details, including the color proposals, which take advantage of the club's social colors: black, gold and white. Even the font has been modified, the graceful one has been replaced by a bolder version, versatile on a graphics level, as can be seen from the proofs of proportion and composition.

The new crest seems to adapt well to the design of the Macron uniforms, both in the official home kit, with vertical stripes black and white, both in the gold model. Inside the third kit jersey, the new crest is inserted in volt, like the rest of the tee details.
For a total renewal of the Udinese brand, one could not think of regardless of the merchandising, especially the one for the fans, for whom have proposed a series of tees with the club's symbols, such as the date of foundation. Within a hypothetical sweatshirt model, a geometric pattern created ad hoc, black and white, was added, similar to the zebra skins, a symbolic animal and the nickname of the Friulian team.
To conclude the graphics part there is a series of creative proposals for posters and advertising campaigns, in which are inserted slogans and players symbol of the team, like Rolando Mandragora.

To grow as a company it is essential to have a social strategy curated and catchy. In order not to follow the example of the Serie A league, the graphic designer has redesigned the homepage of the club's Facebook page, with a new profile and cover image, as well as a whole series of contents that seem even more interesting when viewed in the Instagram feed. A cool way to keep fans informed about the news, statements and birthdays of De Paul, Okaka, Behrami, Lasagna and all the others Udinese's players.