This is a look at the Cricket World Cup Logo Design and the history behind the sport.
With a known history that begins as early as the 16th century, cricket is one of the oldest sports to still enjoy a large degree of popularity today. Today’s 21st-century version of the sport, though, shares little in common with the British folk games that were played hundreds of years ago. Now, the sport of cricket is both a game and a booming industry – and the Cricket World Cup logo is one tool used to market this sport to consumers. In this article, we’ll take a look at the origins and history of cricket as well as the history and design of the logo behind the sport.
The History Of Cricket
It’s thought that the game of cricket was likely created by children during the Saxon or Norman eras of British history, though historians can’t claim this as a certainty. There is also some speculation that cricket may have first originated in France before being later brought to Great Britain, where it eventually grew in popularity.
What is generally accepted as fact, though, is that cricket began as a children’s game and was eventually adopted by adults around the 17th century. It wasn’t until 1844, though, when the first international cricket match was played, and cricket began to take shape into the sport we know today. By then, cricket had already become the national sport in Great Britain and was starting to gain popularity across the globe. Interestingly enough, though, the first international cricket game that took place in 1844 didn’t include the Great Britain team or any European team for that matter and instead featured a matchup between the United States and Canadian cricket teams.
By the turn of the 20th century, the global popularity of cricket had grown exponentially, and in 1909, the Imperial Cricket Conference – as it was called at the time – was formed. The sport’s ruling organization would later come to be known as the International Cricket Council and is still known by this name. With the sport gaining international popularity, the International Cricket Council organized the first Cricket World Cup, which was hosted by Great Britain in 1975. England would later go on to win this first edition of the Cricket World Cup and would host the next two versions of the Cricket World Cup as well.
Today, the International Cricket Council includes teams from every continent except for Antarctica. Like soccer, cricket crowns a world champion among these dozens of teams every four years through a world cup tournament. Over the years, the format of this tournament has changed frequently and dramatically. In 2007, for example, the Cricket World Cup consisted of sixteen teams that had been divided into groups of four. The 2015 Cricket World Cup reduced the number of teams by two and divided them into two groups of seven, while the most recent Cricket World Cup – the 2019 Cricket World Cup – consisted of only ten teams. England was the team that was crowned champions in this most recent iteration of the Cricket World Cup, and the next Cricket World Cup tournament is scheduled to be held in India in 2023.
Today, cricket is listed as the world’s second most popular sport, behind only soccer. While the sport of cricket may be relatively unknown in the United States where its cousin baseball is much more popular, cricket is a sport that represents big business on the world stage – and marketing the sport to new audiences is an important goal for the International Cricket Council. With that in mind, one tool that the International Cricket Council uses to help drum up interest in the sport is Cricket World Cup logo.
History of the Cricket World Cup Logo
When the International Cricket Council organized the first Cricket World Cup that was hosted by Great Britain in 1975, the event needed a logo. The very first Cricket World Cup logo was a simple design that featured a burnt orange cricket ball that was partially enclosed by a black semicircle. This was the logo design that the Cricket World Cup kept through the ’75, ’79, and ’83 Cricket World Cup tournaments.
The 1987 Cricket World Cup, though, was held in India and Pakistan, making it the first Cricket World Cup to be hosted outside of Great Britain. As such, a new logo design was in order. The for the 1987 Cricket World Cup, the International Cricket Council, created a logo design that featured a dove holding a cricket ball with the text “cricket for peace” beneath the design. It was hoped at the time that cricket could become something of a unifying force on the world stage, particularly between the rival nations of India and Pakistan who came together to co-host the 1987 Cricket World Cup, and the new logo design was meant to reflect these ideas.
By the time the 1992 Cricket World Cup rolled around, though, the events logo was changed yet again – and it has been changed for every ensuing Cricket World Cup up through the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The 1992 Cricket World Cup logo design featured brighter colors and more simplistic artwork. Most importantly, this logo was designed to look great on apparel, and t-shirts that featured the 1992 Cricket World Cup logo sold particularly well at the time.
The Cricket World Cup logo was changed once again for the 1996 Cricket World Cup but still featured bright colors combined with somewhat simplistic artwork.
For the 1999 Cricket World Cup logo, though, the design began to gain a little more complexity. The 1999 Cricket World Cup logo design still featured a bright and cheerful color scheme but moved to a more modern and abstract design.
Four years later, the Cricket World Cup logo design took another dramatic change. This new logo featured a zebra-print design that was fitting for the event since the 2003 Cricket World Cup was the first Cricket World Cup to be hosted by South Africa.
By 2011, the Cricket World Cup had gone back to using a bright, multi-colored logo design that shared more in common with the 1999 design that the two designs that had preceded it. The new logo showcased a cricket ball that was made up of many multi-colored lines. These design elements remained for the 2015 Cricket World Cup logo as well, which showcased a cricket player made up of multi-colored lines.
For the 2019 Cricket World Cup logo, the design underwent another significant change. The 2019 Cricket World Cup logo did away with the bright colors and instead features a more elegant and upscale design that portrays the Cricket World Cup trophy in silver and red.
Design Elements of the Cricket World Cup Logo
As we’ve discussed, the Cricket World Cup has been prone to change dramatically from tournament to tournament. However, there are certain design elements that the logo has leaned on repeatedly throughout the years.
The use of numerous, bright colors across many variations of the Cricket World Cup is meant to portray a sense of diversity and communicate the idea of numerous countries coming together for one competition. The various Cricket World Cup logo designs have also been known to borrow design elements from the country where the tournament is being hosted in order to convey a sense of the location’s culture and spirit with each new tournament.
The upscale design elements of the 2019 Cricket World Cup logo, meanwhile, mark a new direction for the logo’s design meant to convey the rich history of the sport and the luxury of being able to compete in this coveted tournament.
Effectiveness of the Cricket World Cup Logo
Given that the Cricket World Cup is only held once every four years, it is important for the organization to drum up new interest for the event each time it is held and remind audiences across the world what the teams are competing for. By changing the design of the logo for every new event, the Cricket World Cup is able to convey the idea that each tournament is something unique and special that won’t ever take place the same way again.
Making an effort to capture some of the culture and design influences of the region where the Cricket World Cup tournament is being held also helps promote each new tournament. The location of the Cricket World Cup is just as much a part of the event as the sport itself, and the International Cricket Council has done a fine job communicating this unique element of the sport through each new Cricket World Cup logo design that they create.
The result is an ever-changing yet effective logo design that helps the International Cricket Council to market the Cricket World Cup to viewers across the world every four years. This unique approach to changing the logo’s design on a regular basis is one that has worked very well for the sport of cricket and an interesting idea for other organizations to consider as well.
