BARCELONA JOAN GAMPER’S HERITAGE

Barcelona – and the footballing world – are indebted to Swiss footballer, economist and journalist Joan Gamper, the man who founded the now world-famous club and established its enduring links to Catalan nationalism.

In 1899, Gamper, working as an accountant and sports journalist in the Catalan capital, advertised for players for a new football team. FC Barcelona was founded soon after and Gamper took a seat on the
board.

He also became team captain, playing 50 matches and scoring 121 goals between 1899 and 1903. However, by 1908 the club was in financial trouble, so Gamper took over as chairman. He steadied the
ship and just a year later the club was able to move to a new stadium.

To celebrate, they held a competition to design a new badge. This was won by Carles Comamala, a medical student and cartoonist – and Barça top striker. Comamala drew on the club’s original crest, which had in turn drawn on the city’s crest. In the upper half of the emblem, he retained the
yellow and red stripes of the Senyera, the flag of Catalonia, and the George Cross, the symbol of Barcelona’s patron saint. The club’s identification with its fiercely proud region could not have been stated more strongly.

By the 1920s, Gamper had established FC Barcelona as a symbol for the independently minded region of Catalonia. The politicisation of his club strained relations with the Spanish government and in July 1925, after the Catalan supporters booed the Spanish national anthem before a match, Gamper and his whole board were fired by order of the Spanish Prime Minister, Miguel Primo de Rivera.

This, combined with economic crisis, led to Gamper’s suicide in 1930, but Gamper had created more than a club. He had built an institution that would become one of the most celebrated names in football, and which would also set itself against the authority of the Spanish government.

The totem of the football club Barcelona comprises several heraldic symbols with a long and intriguing history. The most notable variations of the totem took place in 1910. After that, the hallmark has n’t gone far from its roots.

BARCELONA Meaning and history

The visual history of the FC Barcelona visual identity boasts ten redesigns of its totem, though the last bone, held in 2018, brought an hallmark that has noway been used by the club. All the other performances of the totem is a graphical representation of the club’s elaboration and progress. Erected around one heraldic symbol, its totem is incontinently recognizable across the globe, and look as if it was created moment.

1899 — 1910
The original Barcelona emblem comprised a heraldic rhombus enclosed in a green wreath with a golden crown, which had a black club with its bodies spread above it. The setting of the rhombus featured a red, unheroic, and white geometric pattern the emblem was divided into four parts, where the upper left and nethermost right has a Red Cross on a white background image, and the upper right and nethermost left — red and unheroic perpendicular stripes.

Depending on the arrangement, the hallmark could be used on its own or enclosed in a double indirect frame with a “ Foot-Ball Club Barcelona 1899” caption in bold sans-serif.
1910 — 1920

The first interpretation of the iconic totem we all know moment was submitted in 1910 and featured a satiny ornate guard with a gold figure. The guard was horizontally divided into two corridor by a wide white banner where the black “F.C.B.” Lettering was written in a simple sans-serif. The upper part of the guard comported of two corridor — the left with the Red Cross on a white background, and the right bone with red and unheroic perpendicular stripes.
As for the nethermost part of the hallmark, it was composed of three red perpendicular stripes and four blue. The unheroic football in clean and neat lines was placed in the middle of the banded member.

1920 — 1936
The outlines and colors of the emblem were first revised in 1920. The button came lustrously due to the use of lighter tones of red and blue. The white banner with a wordmark now featured a unheroic background, which made the emblem happier and further enthusiastic. The shape of the guard has also been shifted to a stricter and further ultramodern bone.

1936 — 1941
In 1936 the club decides to return to the color palette from the morning of the 20th century, but now the banner with “F.C.B.” is in black, while the handwriting is white. The golden football is drawn more detailed now, with smooth black lines creating a classic pattern.

1941 — 1949
In 1941 the wordmark is changed from “F.C.B.” To “C.F.B.”, and the black background of its banner becomes gold again. The overall composition of the Barcelona emblem remained unchanged, however all the silhouettes were gutted and meliorated.

1949 — 1960

The nameplate gets edited again in 1949, and now it’s “C. DeF.B.”, which stands for “ Club de Fútbol Barcelona”. The colors of the emblem in this interpretation and muted and dark, and indeed the golden football, which has always been bright and visible, came burgundy-brown. The banner with the handwriting is executed in a snap palette, which refreshed the hallmark with its discrepancy.

1969 — 1974

The pleased and luminous color palette comes back in 1969. Lots of unheroic-gold patches and an violent red football is what makes this edition stand out from all the preliminarily created performances. The totem from the 1970s evokes a sense of joy, seductiveness, and benevolence.

1974 — 1975

With the redesign of 1974, the gold banner becomes white again, yet all the other rudiments keep their colors untouched. The shape of the crest has been modified and now its upper part featured pointed peaks. The wordmark is again written as “F.C.B.”.

1975 — 2002

A further ultramodern typeface and a brighter color palette — this is what the redesign of 1975 brought to the Barcelona visual identity. The solid black letters featured a massive geometric sans-serif typeface, which looked brutal and important on a unheroic background. The football gained a new calm orange shade and eventually came visible again.

To celebrate the club’s 100th anniversary, the crest was placed in a blue and red circle with the “ 1899-1999” date mark in white, placed horizontally on both sides of the guard.

2002 — Moment

The Barcelona emblem we all can see moment was inaugurated in 2002 and is a ultramodern interpretation of all the former performances. The most pivotal change of the 2000s is that the blotches have been removed from the wordmark. Now the “ FCB” scribbling in a popular sans-serif typeface looks neat, delicate and evokes a sense of professionalism and abecedarian approach.

The football is drawn in gold and black again, and it equalizes the golden frame of the crest and the banner with the wordmark.

2018 ( Unused)
The coming interpretation of the totem was designed for the club in 2018, but it has noway been employed, as was denied. The main contestation of this hallmark was in the complete absence of any handwriting on it. And the wide gold banner was replaced by a narrow gold line.
Font
The sans serif typeface featured on the Barcelona logotype is called Interstate Bold. It was developed by Tobias Frere-Jones and officially introduced by Font Bureau.

Colors

Two of the most prominent FC Barcelona colors blue and red ( featured on the nethermost part of the football totem) come from the club’s first livery. Also, the FC is frequently called “ Blaugrana,” because these are the names of the colors in the Catalan language. It’s still not known whether the colors come from the author Joan Gamper’s FC Zurich colors or the colors of the Merchant Taylors School, where two of the club’s most known early players, Arthur and Ernest Witty, studied.

Why is there the flag of England?

One of the structural rudiments of the FCB totem is the red cross on the white background – the bone that’s known, for case, as the flag of England or the flag of the transnational Red Cross movement. What’s the connection between the football club and England or the Red Cross, someone may wonder?
.
In fact, the red cross on the white background ( so- called Saint George’s Cross) is a widely honored heraldic symbol, which has been used in a variety of surrounds. The history of Cross of Saint George dates back to the Middle Periods. Most probably, it started to be used as an hallmark in the 12th century.