The Adelaide Crows of the Australian Football League are flying high with the unveiling of their new logo this week, which is part of a club-wide rebranding effort.

The Crows launched the new logo on their website and social media channels on Wednesday, November 6. It depicts the full body of a navy blue swooping crow — a throwback to previous logos in the club’s history and a stark contrast to the most recent iteration of their logo, which only depicted a crow’s head — with a gold outline, red and gold streaks in the wings and a red eye. The angles of the logo are sharper than the previous version, and the color scheme returns to the club’s “original bolder colors,” including a darker shade of navy blue, a “richer” red and a “deeper” gold.

The logo is a celebration of the Club being born from the state’s thriving football landscape in 1990, with the wing of the Crow emanating from the actual shape of South Australia. In a further change, the word ‘Adelaide’ now solely sits below the crow and reinforces the connection between the Club, the city and state. 

— Adelaide Crows announcement

The new Crows logo was developed in partnership with Fuller Brand Communication, a creative agency based in South Australia. The process involved “widespread consultation with members, supporters and focus groups, such as the Member Engagement Panel.”

The Crows’ logo was last revamped in 2010. Their first crest upon joining the AFL in 1991 featured a crow with swooping red, yellow and blue lines behind it inside a white shield with a red outline; “ADELAIDE” and “CROWS” were written out above the crow in yellow on a navy background. In 1996, the writing was changed to emphasize the city name. Then, from 1999-2009, the club ditched the shield and used the crow with the swooping lines behind on its own, with the team name in navy underneath.

“The logo is one of the Club’s most recognisable features and our supporters take great pride in it, and the throwback to the original swooping Crow reinforces our connection to this city and state by the way it now incorporates the actual shape of South Australia,” said Crows CEO Tim Silvers on the team’s website. “We also wanted to make sure we celebrated our heritage but with a modern look and feel, which we think will resonate with our next generation of supporters. We’ve consulted and listened to a wide range of stakeholders, including and most importantly sections of our supporter base, over the past 18 months. 

“Now is the perfect time to make this change as our new headquarters at Thebarton Oval is moving closer and closer to reality, so it really is the start of a new era.” 

New guernseys were not unveiled as part of Wednesday’s announcement. But merchandise with the new logo is already available on the Crows’ official website and at the team shop in the Adelaide suburb of West Lakes.

The Crows are the first of three teams who were reported to be unveiling new logos this offseason to do so. The other two teams named in an article on the AFL website in August are St. Kilda Football Club and Gold Coast Suns.