FC Zenit

Ilya Ruderman: In 2013 I was approached by Daniel Lourie, who was the editor-in-chief for the football club Zenit at the moment, — he told me that the Wolff Olins consultancy designed a new logo for them, and asked whether I could take a look at it. And I did. Wolff Olins came up with a new graphic language, a new image and a new tone. The main thing was the wordmark (Зенит) fitting into a triangular arrow.

However, since the British are not very good at Cyrillic, and, seemingly, hadn’t even involved any type designers in the project, the logo had issues in terms of shapes and rhythm. I quickly came up with my suggestions, which I presented to Zenit. Not all of it was agreed on, but eventually we reached a compromise. I redesigned the entire logo, virtually from scratch, even though within the framework of the initial structure.

It is fair to say Zenit received a significantly more recognisable logo. Press walls, lists of clubs, whenever — it is eye-catching and louder than anything else (at least, in the Russian football league).