The WNBA’s typographic identity is getting a new look and the league is resetting its brand for the upcoming season.
The league unveiled its plans in April 2019, intent on embracing the optimism of the women across the WNBA in building the next generation of fans. More specifically, “the 16-to-34 millennials, who are very diverse, very socially conscious, engaged in issues of today” said WNBA chief operating officer Christy Hedgpeth.
“We believe we’ll do that by becoming more and more culturally relevant over time” Hedgpeth said. For this purpose, the league partnered with Sylvain Labs, an innovation and brand design consultancy. Sylvain Labs commissioned in turn Hélène Marian to land a bespoke type system that would reflect and echo the league’s new ambitions.
Marian scored with a typographic roster of 13 typefaces. A first pack of 6 typefaces (of regular width) serves classic text typography and readability purposes for board scores, long-running text for motion, digital and print medias. Another set of 6 typefaces (3 condensed styles and 3 extended styles) is primarily intended for impact, high-vis display type and memorable branding. Last, 1 varsity-style typeface is a winning assist for the player’s jerseys and more generally all narrow-spaced and numbered data.
Bouncy and punchy, the WNBA types score a season high by nailing the league’s new expressions of dynamism and inclusivity. Make way for the #WNBA typefaces!
