The London-based boy band One Direction has been rather consistent in terms of its logotype. In addition to the script One Direction logo, there is also an icon “1D.” Both can be seen on the band’s merchandise and the covers of its music albums released in 2010-2016. Occasionally, arrows are used as the band’s emblem, yet it is not an official logotype.
The band members met each other and sang their first song together at the singing competition The X Factor. Prior to it, all of them took part at the “Boys” category, but failed to gain success. In summer 2010, they were put together to perform at Wembley Arena in London. After that, they spent about a fortnight rehearsing together. The name “One Direction” was the idea of one of the band members, Harry Styles. The band has been on a hiatus since 2016.
This version of the emblem features two stencil glyphs, which go well with the band’s laid back style. The glyphs are identical in height and rather bold. Most the angles are straight. The original version of the 1D symbol had two straight lines (beneath and above the letters), yet now the logo without the lines is more common. Sometimes, the icon is given inside a circle. To make it easier for a person to understand whom the logo belongs to, the designers sometimes put the full name of the band on the right (it is written vertically).
The name of the band is given in capital letters looking unique, joyous, and relaxed. Such letters could have been painted on a wall as an element of street art. It is hardly possible to see either the top or the bottom border of the line, as the characters vary in height. This emphasizes the “street art effect.” The emblem is only seemingly casual, as the letters that are used more than once have the same shape.
Most certainly, the One Direction logo was created from scratch by a designer rather than made up out of an already existing typeface. However, later, a font imitating the lettering style was introduced by a designer nicknamed boobearsarse. The type, which can be easily found on the web, includes capitals, several diacritical letters, and punctuation marks.
The icon and the script logo typically use the black-and-white color scheme, but are also often given in white against the black background. Other versions are also possible, including the British flag pattern, purple, pink, and blue letters.