Erreà and IED designed new football fonts

Nowadays fonts shape the entire aesthetic of any given football jersey, and it has become clear time and time again that fonts are much more than mere numbers or letters. Each one carries a specific connotation, contributing to the creation of a visual identity that brands, teams, and fans can all resonate with. 

Erreà has a long history of priding itself on the passion, quality, and authenticity of its products, prioritizing consumers and their needs. When it comes to innovation and designing especially, Erreà always aims to be at the forefront of the industry, and their recent FONTS KIT 2023 collaboration with the Istituto Europeo di Design (commonly known as IED) showcases exactly that.

The project itself entailed the designing of 4 new fonts, each one with a different story and meaning behind it. Up first is Korner, designed to replicate the Erreà logo style and the aesthetic that has made the brand famous throughout the Italian peninsula and beyond. The straight, sharp lines of this font provide phenomenal readability, even in conditions of long distance or rapid movements. Midfield Pro is the other alpha-numeric font, dynamic, composed, and smart like the ideal midfielder. It also has two layers, so as to add a more three dimensional feel and enhance visibility. Offside is the first of two numbers-only fonts, and it comes in 3 forms: filled, closed, and open. The source of inspiration here is the style of numbers on scoreboards and substitution boards, giving the font a precise, well-defined touch. The chunkiness of the font reminds us of 1980s kits, giving Offside a slightly vintage aura too. And finally, Ace, a combination of round and straight lines that delivers elegance and class. 

The collaboration, unique in the world of athletic apparel, involved a team of Graphic Design students from IED, supervised by professor Nunzio Mazzaferro. The students - Alessandro Gallina, Arina Ilchenko, Daniele Colombo, Daria Varacalli, Anka Pavlovic, Camilla Pessina, Simone Passante, and Tamara Hruska - distinguished themselves with fresh and innovative ideas that perfectly reflect modern football’s relationship with other domains such as culture and fashion. With their flair and originality, these new fonts are for teams that want to stay relevant off the field as much as they are on it. In order to appeal to the ever-growing number of fashion and culture conscious football fans, it is vital for teams to keep up with their mentality, and constantly challenge the view that football is just a sport. According to Erreà VP Roberto Gandolfi, “they (the fonts) represent a perfect synthesis between our corporate identity and the creative flair of the designers”, and Giuseppe Liuzzo (Coordinator of the Graphic Design course at IED Milan), stated that the fonts are a mix of “passion, history and innovation”, which perfectly aligns itself with the image that Erreà has built for itself over the years. If a team chooses to wear this brand, they choose passion, authenticity, and creativity. The fonts, in their essence, are a true testament to these values.