LogoShop Part 2: Justice League
Creating a badge for the world’s first superhero team.
This is part of a blog series on logo design. Read additional articles on DC Comics, Superman, LexCorp, Nightwing, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Punisher, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Adidas.
Hello and welcome back to LogoShop, where I take some of the most popular logos and give them a tune up.
This time, I’ll be looking at the logo for the Justice League, the successor to the Justice Society of America, and therefore the latest incarnation of the first team of superheroes in comic books. The team typically consists of the biggest names in DC’s lineup, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and more.
Though a full team logo usually appears on the covers of their comics, an abbreviated mark is often used in-story, typically in their headquarters. I’ll walk you through the logo’s past, and see what could serve them well in the future. Let’s take it to the Shop.
Disclaimer: This series is a purely for-fun side project of mine, and was not solicited or endorsed by any of the brands I’ll be discussing.
The Background
As mentioned above, the Justice League was the relaunch of an earlier team, the Justice Society of America, which hit the stands in 1940. The team was made up of DC’s biggest characters, and cemented the concept of a shared universe.
In 1960, the team was updated with the new roster of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter, under the banner of the Justice League of America. The title was a mouthful, so it was often shortened to either “Justice League” or “JLA.”
As with most comic book series, the title design would change subtly over the course of its run, and would be redesigned completely every time they started a new volume of the series.
In 1987, the series was re-launched as simply “Justice League,” since the team’s adventures often took them outside the boundaries and jurisdiction of the US. And though the series would eventually return to the original full title, the “of America” qualifier would be on the chopping block for decades to come.
The 1997 series is of particular interest, because it was the first ongoing series that used the team’s acronym of “JLA” as its logo.
Despite the popularity of the comic book series, the Justice League gained far more notoriety with the debut of the 2001 animated series. The TV series introduced the team to a whole new demographic outside of comics, and once again eschewed the “of America” suffix. They would later add “Unlimited” to the title, but “of America” was quickly fading from popular consciousness.
In 2017, DC produced a live action adaptation of the Justice League, a delayed response to Marvel’s Avengers film. The title, and associated logo, was simply “Justice League.”
And here’s where things get interesting. Movies are often an opportunity to reinvent a brand. It’s a time to take stock of the property’s history, and package it in a way that’s appealing to a larger market. The strongest brands can make the trip without much effort — add a few textures and a lens flare, and you’re good. But when you have a long-running property with a new logo every few years, the task is to corral those disparate elements into a single, unified mark that is both familiar and new.
The Problem
As previously pointed out, the Justice League basically gets a new logo with every volume of their series. But a few elements are ever-present: The badge, representing the League’s authority. And stars, a reference to their origin as an American team.
I personally prefer the brevity of the JLA logo (the third one above), and the sense of grandeur it projects. Although its 3D nature is gimmicky, and doesn’t translate well across applications.
The movie logo is interesting, because it conveys strength, and includes a nod to the team’s history with the inclusion of a star cutout. (Something of a shorthand for America, without actually spelling out the word.)
In my attempt to find a single, definitive Justice League insignia, I was most attracted to the movie’s abbreviated logo. However. It looks to me like a rough draft. The badge is unfinished, and the letters seem like they come from different families. Let’s put this one on the lift.
The Solution
I loved the inclusion of the star, so I kept it in place. The letters needed the most help, so in the tradition of the DC logo, I mirrored the “J” and the “L,” and lined them both up with the enclosing shield.
Finally, I added a top flourish to the shield, bringing it more in line with the traditional Justice League logos. This effectively turned the entire mark into a badge, that could be used as a crest in the team’s headquarters, and as an actual badge by the characters themselves. (This idea was played with in the animated series, where the Justice League was positioned as an official agency with membership badges.)
Mission accomplished. A team with a long and rich history, given a mark that is as classic as it is official. And because it’s the flagship property of DC Comics, it doesn’t hurt that it shares similar elements.
That’s all for this installment. If you want a set of desktop wallpapers from this article, you can download them here.
And join me next time when I’ll reimagine the Superman shield, the logo from another world. Bye!
Hi, I’m Daniel Beadle, writer, artist, and design consultant. Follow me and my work at DanielBeadle.com.
