IK Start, formally Idrettsklubben Start, is a Norwegian football club based in Kristiansand, founded on 19 September 1905 as a successor to earlier local clubs including Gyldenløve, Tangen, Viking and Ørvarodd.[1] The club’s visual identity has been the subject of two significant membership votes in recent years, first in 2017 and again in 2022.
Design and History
IK Start’s original mark was a blue and white pennant (vimpel) featuring the word “Start” in white lettering on a blue background, a design dating to the club’s founding in 1905.[2] This pennant served as the club’s main logo from its earliest days.[3]
In 2017, the club’s ownership company, Start En Drøm AS, proposed a comprehensive rebrand ahead of the team’s return to the Eliteserien. The design agency Fundament was commissioned to create a new identity, drawing inspiration from the club’s historical roots, the Kristiansand city coat of arms, and the club song “Elleve mann med bein av stål,” which references fighting like a lion.[3] The proposed lion symbol referenced Gyldenløve, one of the founding clubs of IK Start, which itself carried a lion in its banner.[4]
At an extraordinary general meeting on 13 November 2017, club members voted with more than a two-thirds majority on a package of changes. The new club logo was approved as a modernized pennant with clear lines to the original 1905 logo, divided into three stripes, rendered in black on yellow backgrounds and yellow on black backgrounds. The club’s kit was set as yellow with black details, black shorts and black socks. A separate commercial trademark, a lion’s head with a crown, was approved for marketing, supporter merchandise and youth activities. The original blue and white 1905 pennant was reserved for honorary awards and ceremonial occasions.[2]
The lion proposal had generated significant controversy among supporters, with some describing the new logo as “a shadow” of the existing one.[5] The club’s management framed the compromise as getting the best of both worlds: launching the lion as a commercial trademark while using the upgraded pennant as the official logo.[6]
In March 2022, the club’s annual meeting voted unanimously to bring back the blue and white 1905 pennant. The club noted it would take time for the pennant to fully return, as kits and other equipment had already been produced with a different logo.[7] The club’s current statutes, updated following an extraordinary general meeting on 17 September 2022, state that IK Start’s mark and banner is the original 1905 pennant with white “Start” lettering on a blue background.[8]
Meaning and Symbolism
The commercial lion trademark, designed by Fundament, combines a lion and crown within a shield. According to the agency’s project description, the lion symbolizes courage, strength and pride. The choice was not arbitrary: IK Start was established in 1905 with roots in several clubs, including Gyldenløve, which carried a lion in its banner. Kristiansand itself was founded by a king, and the lion and royal crown also feature in the Kristiansand municipal coat of arms. The design language draws on heraldic traditions, where simple forms and symbols helped armies distinguish friend from foe in battle. The agency stated the simple expression meets modern requirements for visibility and usability, including on digital platforms.[4]
The agency also specified that the lion shield should not be combined with the “Start” wordmark, though the club’s logo or name could appear elsewhere on the same surface.[4]
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