Chicago Bulls

2022

25 years after he Bulls logo was first designed, they won their first title.

As of 2023, it has been 25 years since their last.

Logo Refresh
Brand Design
Typography

Inspiration

After watching “The Last Dance” for the 5th time I had the brash idea to redraw the 57 year old Bull for the modern era. A thorough brand audit revealed many of the heritage brand’s collateral have stood the test of time; the Bull’s simple but sophisticated uniforms serving as a prime example of the timeless brand design I wanted the logo to feel at home with.

Benny the Bull, the Chicago Bulls mascot logo has remain untouched since it’s creation in 1966. Given the franchise’s illustrious history with Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippin, and Michael Jordan in the 90’s, it’s easy to understand how certain elements of the brand have been assigned “lucky” qualities that shouldn’t be trifled with. And honestly, I get that. The Bulls logo is synonymous with “triumphant dynasty,” so the fear that that characteristic might be lost or forgotten in any kind of update is a real one.

Modernize Respectfully

The most important aspect of this undertaking was to ensure none of the legendary character was stripped from the Bull’s legendary logo.

No doubt an impossible task, but one attempted nonetheless.

Typography

In the process of baking all of the new graphics together, it became clear one of the best ways to do this was to iron out typography inconsistencies with a new champion typeface.. and what better name for it than “Black Cat” (shoutout Reggie Miller for the name inspiration), a Bulls-inspired twist on their condensed slab-serif. And for all of those hard-to-reach places Black Cat can lean on its handy accent sans, “Anti-Gravity.”