Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is the name of a famous anime series, created by Hirohiko Araki. The first issue was released in 1987, and the series keep running today. Jojo’s also grew into a video game and a series of comics, famous and loved all over the globe.
As for the original Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure manga, its visual identity has been pretty modest, with just one redesign over the years, but the anime’s logo was refreshed and redrawn several times, and its last version is completely different from all the iconic Jojo’s badges we used to know.
The logo, designed for Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure in 1993 featured a light pink Japanese lettering in a thin black outline, placed above narrowed red hieroglyphs. It was the same emblem, as used on the original manga of the franchise. As for the English version, it was completely different — straight serif lettering, with the upper line in gradient ring, and the bottom in red, placed on a background depicting a scene from the anime. Though the color palettes of the two versions were alike, the style and mood varied a lot.
For the Lost Movie chapter, released in 2007, the logo was slightly modernized by adding a line with the complementary lettering under the main badge. It was executed in thinner lines yet with wider contours of the symbols.
In 2012 the English version of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure logo was redesigned according to the original Japanese one, so now the bold gradient pink “Jojo’s” lettering with the first letters enlarged and their lines a bit elongated, was placed above an outlined and italicized “Bizarre Adventure” in red and white.
For “The Animation” series the logo of the franchise was slightly refreshed a few months later in 2012, by adding a purple italicized tagline in an elegant yet bold serif font under the main emblem. It was a delicate yet confident addition, which looked balanced and strong.
With the release of “Stardust Crusades” Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure visual identity was changed again. The additional lettering was placed under the emblem, executed in a bold yet narrowed and italicized sans-serif typeface where the gradient gray letters featured a thick black outline. As for the main part of the visual identity, it remained untouched.
In 2016 the “Diamond Is Unbreakable” was released, and the bottom line of the logo was changed again. The inscription was executed in the same style, as the one from the previous version. Yet had its letters more narrowed and condensed, to fit under the main nameplate.
The redesign of 2018 brought a completely new visual identity concept to the famous anime. Even though the pink remained the main color of the emblem, it became darker and was now accompanied by black. The new “Jojo” lettering in all capitals is executed in an elegant serif font and has solid letters placed pretty far from each other. The second “O” is replaced by a new emblem of the franchise, a solid black circle with a fuchsia abstract sign on it.
The logo is underlined by two lines of additional text — the upper one in English, written in black, and the bottom in Japanese, executed in fuchsia.
The “Jojo” capitalized inscription from the new franchise’s visual identity is executed in a sleek and bold serif typeface, which looks pretty similar to such fonts as Pradell Bold and Mireille Medium, but with contours slightly modified.
As for the color palette, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure logo is based on a combination of fuchsia and black, which evokes a sense of passion, mystery, and power. The color palette makes the clean and traditional lines of the anime’s logo look stronger and brighter, elevating the whole image.