The Adelaide Football Club, known as the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club was founded in 1990 and entered the AFL in 1991. Its visual identity has undergone several distinct phases, most recently a major rebrand in late 2024 that returned to the club’s original “swooping crow” motif.
Design and History
Adelaide’s original Crows logo, introduced in late 1990, was set inside a shield and used the official colours of red, navy blue and gold. The text accentuated “Crows” rather than “Adelaide.”[1] The 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, with “ADELAIDE” and “CROWS” written above the crow in yellow on a navy background.[2]
By the end of 1998, the shield background was phased out and the official logo featured the crow by itself or above “Adelaide Crows” with a new typeface.[1] This version, used from 1999 to 2009, depicted a full-body swooping crow.[3]
In 2010, the club introduced its most dramatic redesign since entering the AFL, featuring a navy blue crow’s head above “Adelaide Crows” text in red and yellow.[4] This side-facing crow head design became the longest-running emblem in the club’s history, used through the 2017 grand final season.[3]
In November 2024, Adelaide unveiled a new logo as part of a club-wide rebrand, its first logo redesign since 2010.[5] The new design reverts to the original “swooping” crow, with sharpened claws, beak, eye and wing bringing a modern look, supported by a return to the original bolder colours: a darker navy blue, richer red and deeper gold.[5] The redesign was developed by South Australian agency Fuller Brand Communication.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
Central to the 2024 rebrand is the “Made From South Australia” theme, with the logo described as a celebration of the club being born from the state’s thriving football landscape in 1990.[5] The wing of the crow emanates from the actual shape of South Australia, reinforcing the club’s connection to the state.[5] In a further change, the word “Adelaide” now solely sits below the crow, reinforcing the connection between the club, the city and state.[5]
The logo’s colours, gold, red and navy, were given new life as a reference to South Australia’s state colours and the original guernsey.[7] Adelaide CEO Tim Silvers said the throwback to the original swooping crow reinforces the club’s connection to the city and state “by the way it now incorporates the actual shape of South Australia.”[5]
Typography and Design
The 2024 rebrand introduced a bespoke typeface called NinetySeven, a tribute to the club’s first AFL premiership in 1997.[8] The typeface blends traditional hand-painted Australian Rules Football lettering with sharp, angular forms that reflect the crow’s aggressive aesthetic.[6] The custom typeface was developed by Fuller’s design team, with Sean Kane recognised for the typographic work at the 2025 AADC Awards.[9]
The redesign involved widespread consultation with members, supporters and focus groups, including the Member Engagement Panel, as well as supporter research. Fuller stated the agency engaged over a thousand stakeholders, from players across all three teams to staff, former players, and members and fans both in South Australia and interstate.[7]
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