The Queensland Reds play in the Southern Hemisphere’s Super Rugby competition representing the Australian state of Queensland.
Before 1996, the Queensland Reds were a representative team formed from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland.
The very first logo for the Australian rugby club was introduced in 1882 and stayed for more than a century. It was a simple yet bold and memorable badge, with the black image of koala placed inside the bold and stylized burgundy letter “Q”. The color palette of the emblem evokes a sense of solidness and stability and looked great on the team’s jerseys.
The redesign of the 1980s kept the original badge, but made some additions to it — the “Rugby” lettering was now set over the koala image. Written in the uppercase, the wordmark was executed in a bold serif font and complemented by two thick horizontal parallels. The color palette remained unchanged.
A completely new logo was introduced by the club in 1996. It was a bright red stylized inscription placed diagonally and accompanied by a monochrome rounded element with a small image of a koala, on the right of the insignia. The additional “Queensland Rugby Ballymore” inscription was set in bold capitals around the perimeter of the black and white rounded framing.
The Queensland Reds logo is dominated by two elements. On the top, there’s a side view of a koala’s head. Below, there’s the lettering “Reds.” The text occupies a slightly larger surface, but it doesn’t dominate the emblem as the koala is also rather large and is positioned on the top. The two parts merge rather well.
The koala was chosen as a native Australian animal. The logo looks dynamic and energetic due to both the choice of color and shapes.
During the 2007 season, the team wore a shield comprising the four emblems used by the QRU over the past century. At the top left corner, you could see the Northern Rugby Union emblem used from 1882. At the top right corner, there was the crest used from 1910. The second row started with the 1935 logo, while the current logo depicting a koala could be seen at the bottom right corner.
The extended end on the “R” and the way it curves helps to merge the wordmark with the soft outline of the koala above.
Throughout its history, the Queensland Reds logo has featured various shades of red/maroon.