Genoa Cricket and Football Club boasts the oldest of all currently playing football teams in Italy as its history dates back to 1893. The club’s brand identity is connected with the symbols of its home city, Genoa.
Meaning and history
1893 — 1980
The very first Genoa logo was introduced at the end of the 19th entity and featured an elegant heraldic emblem, with the gradient green rampant griffon placed on a classic crest, vertically divided into red and black halves. The upper part of the crest was white and had a thin Red Cross placed on it, with its horizontal bar elongated, and coming from left to right parts of the frame.
1980 — 1980s
The redesign of 1980 brought a bright and modern emblem to the club. It was now only the heat of the Griffin, executed in Ted and dark blue and placed on a plain white background color without any heraldic elements or crest framings. The creature looked sharp though funny and playful. And showed the progressive approach of the team.
1980s
Later in the 1980s, the Genoa logo was changed again. This time the football club decided to come back to the roots, using the initial holder griffon on a crest concept but redrawn the creature more simply and stylishly and adding a golden football into its hands. As for the background, it was kept as on the logo from 1893, but the upper part now became a bit wider, so the Red Cross got more massive and visible, as well as the thick gold frame of the logo.
1980s — 1991
A few years later the griffon badge was redrawn again, and now it was truly a masterpiece. The new crest was professionally executed, with every small detail on the dark gold body of the mythological creature outlined in black and accented. The color palette of the background became a bit darker, which made the whole insignia look stronger, and started evoking the sense of seriousness, royalty, and nobility.
1991 — 1998
The redesign of 1991 made the badge lighter and simpler. Less royal touches, though the character of the club is still there. First of all, the shape of the crest was changed to a triangular one, and two flags were added to its sides. The griffon was still there but redrawn. The upper part of the logo was now taken not by the Red Cross on a white background, but by a gold “Genoa” logotype in the uppercase, set on a dark burgundy background.
1998 — Today
A side-by-side comparison of the current Genoa CFC logo adopted in 1998 and its forerunner adopted in 1991 provides a better understanding of the club’s brand identity.
The most prominent part of both the current Genoa logo and its previous version is a yellow creature with wings, sharp claws, and a long tail. That’s a griffin, which was borrowed from the crest of the city of Genoa. There’re two griffins here, which appeared in the late Middle Ages. Interestingly enough, originally the griffins were facing backward.
The red cross on a white field, which can be seen above the griffin on the current logo, is the famous St. George Cross. It’s a symbol of quite a few countries and cities, including Genoa.
Colors
In addition to the colors borrowed from the coat of arms of the city of Genoa (red, white, and gold), the Genoa CFC emblem also features dark blue and black. Black has been used to provide the finishing touch, while blue presumably symbolizes the sea (Genoa is a port city).
Genoa Colors
RED
PANTONE: 2350 XGC
HEX COLOR: #AD1919;
RGB: (173, 25, 25)
CMYK: (22, 100, 100, 15)
DARK BLUE
PANTONE: 303 C
HEX COLOR: #05232F;
RGB: (5, 35, 47)
CMYK: (91, 71, 56, 65)
YELLOW
PANTONE: YELLOW 012 C
HEX COLOR: #FFD400;
RGB: (255, 212, 0)
CMYK: (1, 14, 100, 0)
WHITE
PANTONE: P 1-1 C
HEX COLOR: #FFFFFF;
RGB: (255, 255, 255)
CMYK: (0, 0, 0, 0)