Designing the Perfect Sports Betting Logo

Coming up with a logo for your brand is one of the most important parts of building a business. It is potentially the first thing your future customers will see and know about your service and needs to be something that stays in the memory – for all the good reasons. Fans my well read a sportsbook review to help find the best play for their money but a good logo gives any betting operator a head start.

The sports betting industry is arguably one of the most competitive out there. There can be less brand loyalty than in other industries – with elements like prices and offers enticing customers away from one sportsbook to the other. And the huge impact that the easing of gambling laws has had on the US market, in particular, means that there are plenty of new brands and names battling for a slice of the action.

So, designing the perfect sports betting operator logo is incredibly important. There needs to be instant recognition of what the logo represents and what it is for – but something that stands out from the crowd at the same time. Not all sportsbooks have gotten this right but the best ones definitely help with the operator’s success.

Sports Motifs 

If you take a look at most logo generator sites it will tell you that some kind of sports motif is necessary to make sure that everyone looking at it knows exactly what it’s for. But if you then look at the examples of the biggest sportsbooks and betting operators in the US and around the world, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

 Many of the old bookmakers in the UK have more traditional logos that have served them well for decades, from the days of high-street establishments. Even newer, online sportsbooks tend to shy away from using sports balls, bats, or gloves as part of the brand logo. Maybe using one particular sport would confuse potential customers into thinking that the sportsbook was strictly for one sport only.

Color Scheme

The vast majority of logos use primarily blue or red with white. Blue is thought to evoke feelings of calmness and trust, while red is used to convey action and decisiveness. Red would seem to be the first choice for potential sports betting logs for this reason – but there is also a problem with failing to standing out from the crowd.

Some of the most famous sportsbooks, like Ladbrokes, already use red and have done forever. That is perhaps why many of the newer operators look to choose a color of their own. In the UK, Paddy Power went for dark green, while bet365 chose green and yellow. There is the same distinction in the US with FanDuel and DraftKings. What seems to be more important than color choice is that the color is used boldly.

Typeface

As with any other industry, the main thing to remember with typeface is that a logo is easy to read. Even a more traditional typeface, like the one used by Coca-Cola, is still easily understood.

Many of the new US sportsbooks have affiliations with established casinos, so the typeface is already decided. However, there is the possibility for new sportsbooks to utilize the traditional sports typefaces that are familiar from sports merchandise and team logos. Again, this is not used as much as many of the logo-generator sites would suggest, but it is a good way to establish what the company is all about.

Simplicity

We have already mentioned that the color and typeface should be as bold and clear as possible. But if the most successful sportsbook logos are anything to go by, simplicity is key. Potential customers need to be able to quickly and easily read the typeface, notice the color standing out, and understand immediately what the logo is for,

Designers may be tempted to include a lot of sports motifs and use a lot of imagery. But simplicity is best here. A good sportsbook logo should work just as well on a billboard as it does on a mobile phone screen. Many of the top companies around the world have simplified their logos in recent decades and new sportsbooks now have the opportunity to miss out on all of that evolution and go for simplicity first.

Figure 2 Sportsbooks apps need to work in all kinds of sizes

Make it Memorable

There is a very important balance to be made for sportsbook logo designers between coming up with something that stands out from the crowd but also is instantly familiar as representing a betting brand. Potential customers need to know straight away what the logo is for.

Researching existing sportsbook logos is invaluable in discovering what is successful in this industry. But simply altering a color or a typeface is not good enough. With sports betting fans able to move between sportsbooks so easily, making sure that the logo is memorable is one of the most important aspects of the process.