This is World Cup Typography.

OK, we’ll admit it—we’re suffering from World Cup withdrawal. We had a ton of fun watching games with both family and friends. Along the way, we also heard several comments about the typography, from designers and non-designers alike. Let’s take a closer look at the stories behind some of it.

Pictured above are Germany national teamers Lukas Podolski and Thomas Hitzlsperger. The typeface is called Unity, and it was designed for adidas by Brazilian designer Yomar Augusto.

Yomar says:

Adidas had a vision that every element of their football identity was to be linked and unified by one basic shape. This shape can be found as a design element on the official match ball of the World Cup, so the first drawings came from the product designers at Adidas. We at 180 had the task to bring it to life and inject its personality into the whole alphabet.

Paul Barnes, on the other hand, designed two custom typefaces for Puma, Crepello and Olembe. Pictured below is Italy national teamer Fabio Cannavaro’s number 5 shirt:

If you think it looks a little, um, odd, you’re not alone. This typeface, Crepello, has the outer forms of a typical grotesque while the counters are very angular. We’re not particular fans, but Erik Spiekermann seems to like it:

…at last a typeface for sports designed by a proper designer.

Barnes’ other typeface, Olembe, was used on the shirts of African teams. Below is Salomon Kalou’s number 8 Ivory Coast shirt:

Barnes describes his inspiration for Olembe:

For the African series of numbers I was interested in making letters that had an element of the handmade and the brush stroke. I had seen at previous African Cup of Nations how the fans enjoyed displaying loyalty, by painting their bodies and writing the names of their favourite players. These letters—whilst copying traditional sans forms for example—express a wonderful kind of joy and exuberance.

Sketches for Olembe:





Read more about Yomar’s story and Paul’s story at The FontFeed.