The Story Behind the Premier League’s Lion Redesign.
Stuart Watson, former Executive Creative Director at DesignStudio, led the Premier League’s identity rebrand in collaboration with Robin Brand Consultants, shaping a visual system rooted in the people who power the game, fans, communities, and players. The process was far from cosmetic. A six-month audit revealed that 90% of stakeholders wanted to retain the iconic lion, reinforcing its role as a symbol of strength, heritage, and authority within global football. From there, the team explored over 600 sketches, using eye-tracking technology to understand how audiences engaged with different variations, ultimately refining the lion into a more confident, modern mark focused on its face. The updated wordmark, set in a custom title-case FF Mark font developed with Monotype, introduces a more approachable and balanced tone, improving legibility and alignment across platforms. This evolution marks the league’s third identity in 24 years, less a reinvention, more a strategic refinement designed to future-proof one of sport’s most recognizable brands.
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