GBH x PUMA: gaffer font + italian football federation badge

balotelli set in the gaffer font by GBH (2012/13 italy home shirt by PUMA)

when italy take to the field later today in their UEFA EURO 2012 semi-final against germany, they’ll be sporting the latest PUMA home kit featuring names and numerals set in the ‘gaffer’ font designed by GBH.

left: giorgio chiellini wearing the 2012/13 italy home kit by PUMA right: gianluigi buffon wearing the 2012/13 italy goalkeeper kit by PUMA

2012/13 italy kits by PUMA the new home and away kits by PUMA have a vintage look but are packed with modern features such as 4-way stretch underarm panel mesh that enhances freedom of movement.

the blue home shirt has a 3D graphic embossed print with a flat knit rib collar in white that’s accented with the red and green of the italian flag.

the white away shirt has a ‘regular fit’ with a double v-neck collar, with a blue mesh insert across the chest to add contrast.

chiellini wearing the 2012/13 italy away kit by PUMA

gaffer font by GBH ‘make football anywhere’ mark by syrup

gaffer font by GBH the numerals and player names on the current shirts are all set in the gaffer font designed by GBH (with digitisation done by dalton maag).

the typeface takes its inspiration from the ‘make football anywhere’ campaign concept, which sees impromptu goal posts being hastily made from materials to hand, including tape. GBH were clear from the start that the spirit of raw, passionate enthusiasm expressed in the campaign needed to be communicated through the typeface. the result was that they set about designing a font made up entirely from gaffer tape…

simply entitled ‘gaffer’, the start point was to buy 150 rolls of tape and begin experimenting with folding, ripping and sticking the tape into shapes, to form a full roman alphabet and the all-important kit numerals. once satisfied with the look and proportion of each character, type impresarios dalton maag were brought in to help develop the full roman character set, and under the art direction of GBH, add all european accents before building a fully working, digitized font.

3D gaffer numerals on the front of the italy home and away shirts

the finished result is a typeface which stands out on the pitch for its legibility and brevity. the font allows the campaign creative to cross the white line onto the field of play, effortlessly uniting PUMA’s 2012 campaign push with the pro & amateur players via not only the kit design, but the vast collection of apparel & equipment currently rolling out.

jason greogory from GBH told us about the new 3D version of gaffer numerals as featured on the 2012/13 italy kits.

‘the 3D version of the numerals you see was designed specifically for italy. although the gaffer font is consistent across all PUMA sponsored teams, a distinction is drawn between the african teams who are classified as ‘speed’ teams and the european teams who are classified as ‘power’ teams.

a slightly different graphic treatment is given to the numerals for the speed teams and the power teams. the silhouette of the font remains the same, only the style within the shape changes for example the ivory coast numerals have a fade.

the 3D numerals are unique to italy, since they’ve won the world cup four times we wanted to do something special for them, our solution was to create a bespoke effect which references the classical, stone carved history of italy.’ – JG

3D gaffer numerals on the italy home shirt

3D gaffer numerals on the italy away shirt

3D gaffer numerals on the italy goalkeeper shirt

#1 gianluigi ‘gigi’ buffon

italian football federation (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio) FIGC badge by GBH, 2005 (updated in 2006)

italian football federation badge by GBH the kits also feature another GBH design – the official italian football federation badge first unveiled in 2005.

‘PUMA commissioned GBH to design the new badge in 2005 because amazingly there was no copyright on the previous badge. as such, PUMA had no way of controlling the ever growing issues with counterfeit kits and merchandise. the design process had to go through the FIGC for approval but the project and approval was completed within a year (very rare) and on kits for the 2006 FIFA world cup.’ – jason gregory, GBH