UEFA EURO 2012 logo revealed

Dec 15, 200932 appreciated comments

The logo and slogan of next European football championships, EURO 2012, were unveiled yesterday at a ceremony in Ukraine’s capital.

UEFA President Michel Platini (centre), Poland Soccer Federation President Grzegorz Lato (left) and Ukrainian FA president Grigoriy Surkis (right) took part in the official presentation in downtown Kiev.

The logo is shows the stalk of a flower with three branches. A ball is depicted around the central flower, with the left flower being red and white (the colors of Poland’s flag) and the right flower being yellow and blue (the colors of Ukraine’s flag).

“The vivid colors of the logo are a perfect fit with the image that Poland and Ukraine want to give to the world,” said Platini at the ceremony.

“The symbolism of a plant that grows is fully in line with the aspirations of the two host countries, and I am sure that we will be creating history together, with the staging of the UEFA European Football Championship in central and eastern Europe for the first time,” he said.

Quoted from People’s Daily Online.

The following is excerpted from the UEFA website.

Visual identity
The purpose of the logo is to give UEFA EURO 2012™ a personality of its own, with the visual identity to be applied across a range of promotional applications from tickets to web banners. The objective is to help promote the tournament – one of the world’s biggest sporting events – by providing an easily recognisable identity with a flavour of the host nations. The logo takes its visual lead from ‘wycinanka’, the traditional art of paper cutting practised in rural areas of Poland and Ukraine, as a tribute to the fauna and flora of the region.

EURO bloom
The ‘bloom’ logo has a flower representing each of the co-host nations and a central ball symbolising the emotion and passion of the competition, while the stem denotes the structural aspect of the competition, UEFA and European football. Nature has inspired other features of the visual identity, with woodland green, sun yellow, aqua blue, sky blue and blackberry purple being the crucial tones of the palette of colours to figure in official tournament branding.

Uniting ethos
The event slogan, meanwhile, is ‘Creating History Together’. The staging of the UEFA European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine, a first for Central and Eastern Europe, will have a place in the history books, with everyone involved in UEFA EURO 2012™ – organisers, host countries, host cities, players and fans – contributing to another exciting chapter of European football.

I’d love it if the organisers moved back to a style of design similar to the ’84, ’88, and ’92 championships.

UEFA EURO logo design

They weren’t perfect, but I reckon they’re stronger than the cartoon designs that have followed since.

Lovely video, though.

Update: 15 December 2009
As stated on Creative Review, the design is by Portuguese group Brandia Central, ~~with strategy and creative direction by Futurebrand~~ who worked alone on the project (thanks, João).

A video of the unveiling presentation can be viewed here.

Image credit: Daylife

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32 appreciated comments, click here to add one

mircha69

i think it looks okay and it represents the cultures of both countries in a way
it’s strenght will be given by the branding , and while i don’t know if it will be as “iconic” as other previous logo i think it heading in a good direction
a bit too complicated and most likely will be remembered as the “flower” … if remembered :)
i also think that all those colors in it and intricate design on the ball are a bit of overkill and when used on promo materials the logo will get lost in there unless used on white

Dec 15th, 2009
Plamen

I’ve just finished writing my review of this logo… Some basic points:

- UEFA has been following a line in the design for competitions organised by them – see the identities for Euro 2008 and 2004, and the logos for the Champions League finals in the last 6-7 years. They’re all based on the same idea and the result is always closer to an illustration, rather than a logo;

- The flowers mean and stand for absolutely nothing in Poland or Ukraine – the video shows how the design started from the traditional Slavic folk embroidery, but then ended up as having nothing to do with it. It looks nice, but more feminine than it should do and, apart from the flags colours is not related to the host countries;

- What are the jumping men pictographs doing in the logo? That’s such a cliche…

Btw, David, here’s a better image of the logo itself:

Dec 15th, 2009
Tom

Does anyone know if there is any ‘bad blood’ (football supporter wise) between Ukraine or Poland?
not sure if its some diplomatic way of settling things prior to the tournament :P

i like to see how it will be used on branding though, the logo looks a little awkward sat up there all alone.

Dec 15th, 2009
Douglas Bonneville

Verdana on the banner!! This is all IKEA’s fault.

Dec 15th, 2009
Martin Boath

This is pretty much the sort of look I expected for this.

They have spent some time on updating and creating a bespoke type marque, rather than the previous Futura bold/light combo which I think is pretty nice really.

But it’s the actual logo/icon itself that is of the ‘look’ I expected. As mentioned by Pamen, these UEFA logos have been edging closer to illustrations more than logos of late. The use of the flower is twee, though I’d be hard pressed to think of a well-known cultural connection between Poland and an ex-Soviet nation. I know they share a border but not much else; not anything iconic. Holland/Belgium 2000 are the famous low countries, part of the Benelux nations; Austria/Switzerland 2008 share the alps; Poland/Ukraine share paper cutting?

And yes, whilst the jumping men are clichéd and clutter the logo, aren’t they are part of UEFA’s Fair Play logo or something?

Dec 15th, 2009
Jakub Frej

@Plamen: flowers may mean nothing in Poland and Ukraine, but the way they are presented highly resembles Polish wycinanki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wycinanki), have a look here: http://www.perfekt.krakow.pl/galeria-wycin.php/pl/wycin-low

Wycinanki are made by glueing one layer to another and most of them look just like the flowers in the logo. It seems to be the same with the pattern in the background.
But I agree that it looks too feminine.

@Martin Boath: yeah, I don’t think Poland and Ukraine share paper cutting. It’s more Polish. And anyway, it wouldn’t be a very good link.

Dec 15th, 2009
Plamen

Jakub, indeed wycinanki are common for both Poland and Ukraine – you see some in the beginning of the video even and the logo looks quite like:

But come on, flowers and football? Why from all wycinanki styles, exactly flowers?

Poland and Ukraine share centuries of unity in the Rzeczpospolita with the resulting cultural, lingual and social similarities.

Oh, one more thing on the video – how would Belarus and Romania feel about disappearing under the Baltic and Black seas respectively?

Dec 15th, 2009
Sun Pietro

I really like this logo. It has beautiful colours.
Maybe there’s no connection between Poland and Ukraine on this logo, but in my opinion, flowers mean that those countries have risen from the Soviet occupation and right now they are strong and beautiful countries.

Dec 15th, 2009
Brian Yerkes

I’m wondering when Mario and Luigi are going to appear.

Dec 15th, 2009
Insaneman

I dont understand the flowers with football thing. But the logo looks ok to me! not bad at all, just that its more like an illustration than a logo.

Dec 15th, 2009
Raja Sandhu

Seems to be that this logo has found a common place in lieu of a story. Perhaps the message requires precedence over purpose?

For some reason the famous Oscar Wilde quote comes to mind
“All Art is Quite Useless. So is a Flower”

- Raja

Dec 15th, 2009
Abbas

As usual for a UEFA/FIFA logo it’s overdone.

As for the competition, knowing a few Polish lads and seeing some programs on the hooligan problem – it could be an absolute car crash.

Dec 15th, 2009
Victor G.

Not bad, dont know if itll be a memorable one…i do enjoy the typeface however, and now that I think about it, the U and O are “tangled” with each other, sort’ve like the flower’s branches. I also think they could’ve done something more with “bloom”…maybe a subtle photo of Orlando Bloom in the background? :D

Dec 16th, 2009
David Airey

Nice chat, folks. Thanks.

Abbas, have you seen the Ross Kemp on Polish gangs video? Pretty hard-hitting.

Raja, nice Oscar Wilde quote. He came off with a lot of corkers.

Plamen, the use of flowers does seem strange to identify a men-only tournament. Good of you to list those image links. I edited your comments so they appear here.

Brian…

Dec 16th, 2009
Stephen Webb

This is a refreshing design in some aspects, but also quite irrelevant in others. The general layout of the design, with the central ball and red and blue either side, reflecting country flags works well. However the flowers have little to do with the countries represented, and I don’t believe they convey the countries in question in any way.

I’d also like to know if there will be a flattened version of the logo, as the one previewed here clearly has 3D shading effects on it. In some ways I think this would be a better version of the design, as the shadows can take away from the impact of a logo.

It’ll be interesting to read the comments regarding this design, and how it is received in the design community.

Dec 16th, 2009
Sanik

The type of the flower used in the logo is extremely relevant and traditional specially for Ukraine, and colours as well. There is no other type of flower comes up to my mind when I think of my country.

Really like the traditional feel and style. Video is very nice. This flower remins me of upper body of a goal keeper with just hands and head trying to catch a ball which hits his face. Anyone else sees that?

Dec 16th, 2009
adamgf

The Mario comment is so true. Maybe next time they will use a mushroom and a gold coin? Oh, and a football.
I understand the designer has to weave and integrate a lot of symbolism into the logos (flags, colours, football symbols) but this tends to result in a piece of artwork… rather than a logomark.
I agree David, it would be nice to return to some kind of uniformity in the branding of these events.

Two things to question on the logo I feel:
1. Is there a need for the ‘R’ and ‘O’ in ‘EURO’ to connect when none of the other letters do? Don’t see the relevance of this.

2. Anyone else sick of the little happy man that seems to appear in all non-commercial branding? (he’s hidden in the flowers!)

Dec 16th, 2009
Giulietta

Hey all,

It feels kinda retro 60′s & 80′s. Colorful. Interesting. Different yet familiar. I don’t mind the man figure in the flowers or the R & O connecting. Does feel a tad unbalanced to the right with the text centered but the flowers not centered or aligned with the left side. Maybe that signifies the action of the football being kicked?

I agree with whoever said it’s more of an illustration. Think the football (is it soccer or rugby?) looks pretty cool.

When I look at it in total, it works in a funny way. Just more over the top than we have been told logos need to be. Maybe the designers were just “coloring outside the lines?”

Giulietta

Dec 16th, 2009
Phil

I really like this logo. I don’t think a soccer logo has to be manly. I find form of the flower or wycinanki quite calming and beautiful, while the two buds and the soccer ball in the centre definitely spell competition. I don’t think the logo should be a stylized flag. I’m guessing these people are tired of politics and just want to enjoy a football match.

Dec 16th, 2009
Jason Schwartz

@Brian Yerkes
Totally agree.This looks like it’ll fit perfectly in Warioland.

Dec 16th, 2009
Fabrizio Van Marciano

Wow this is something else not expected steering away from the conventional corporate look of recent times, I like very much so, love Warioland too lol, awesome thanks for sharing.

Dec 21st, 2009
don_dada

the european championship 1976 was held in yugoslavia, the coming tournament will thus NOT be the first to be held in central and eastern europe.

Dec 24th, 2009
Ivan Tolmachev

I dislike the way the logo was carried out very much, as I’ve written at my blog about a month ago, “cartoonish” style isn’t something the organization like UEFA needs.. very disappointing, even more than sochi2014..

Jan 12th, 2010
Sam Logan

Good attempt, unsure whether it will stand the test of time. Love the comparisons to Warioland!

Apr 12th, 2010
Anne

Really like this logo. These flowers are actually a symbol of both Poland’s and Ukraine’s folk culture, so the use of them is very justified. IMO it may be also an attempt to promote their heritage this way – not a bad idea. Good branding.

May 20th, 2010