A solid logo can really make you stand out.

It helps tell your story, who you are and can also express a level of quality and professionalism in the service you offer.  In the world of Martial Arts, certain logos create a look that can also be a window to the type of style or club it represents.

But looking online it’s rare to find a really good Martial Arts logo.  A lot of the logos these days are very old fashioned and behind the times – this may have a lot to do with the fact that many clubs are small and can’t afford to pay for a full brand and logo design from most design companies (we’re a little more competitive, just drop us a line if you’re curious)

So below I’ve tracked down 25 smart logo designs that are innovative, tell a story and can be of a terrific inspiration to anyone looking to create a solid logo design.

Ultimate Defense Krav Maga

ultimate-defense-krav-maga-logo-franklin-tn-185

Krav Maga is an Military Martial Art from Israel.  This logo uses strong font with a stencil style to give that no-nonsense military look.  The lettering, the stripes an the star are all reminiscent of Military design.

At first glance, you get the idea that these guys aren’t about bowing and tradition, but combat and reality.


Titan Martial Arts

Titan-Martial-Arts-l

This Logo is a smart looking Badge style logo. The name does’t suggest any style other than just martial arts in general – but the image of a traditional oriental martial artist, wearing a gi  and bumping fist together vsuggests and traditional club that teaches Karate or something similar.

The modern look of the logo suggests a progressive approach to traditional martial arts and does a good job of projecting a message.

This is a top example of imagery telling a story.


Smash League

smashleauge

Another badge style logo, which is perfect for martial arts clubs (Gi Patches, easy to apply to any branding or marketing).  This logo uses simple text to tell it’s story – ‘Fantasy Mixed Martial Arts’.  But it’s style and look do an excellent job of looking strong, metallic and unique.


Shoyoroll

Shoyoroll

This round badge style logo also relies on text a little more to tell its story, but with the use of a strong, short name does the job that the imagery doesn’t do.  The words ‘Shoyo’ – a japanese word/name, and ‘roll’ – a term used in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, give you a sense of Japanese value combined with BJJ applications and training.

These guys sell Jiu Jitsu Gi’s/Kimono’s so this makes perfect sense and is a pretty iconic looking logo with it’s strong yellow and black palette.


Sherdog

sherdog

Sherdog have the highest ranking Martial Arts website in the world. While the logo doesn’t scream ‘martial arts’, is does represent some of the nature behind what the site is about.

It’s not about traditional values or culture but about the the fight.  The dog represents the tough, fighting nature of Mixed Martial Arts and therefore attracts the fans who love that side of the sport. It’s another smart use of symbols to represent the fight nature of MMA, whether used consciously or not, it works.


Samurai Bears

samurai

The Samurai Bears a baseball league that disbanded over 10 years ago, but have an excellent logo.  It’s a simple, nicely drawn Samurai with a baseball in the foreground.  Dead simple but effective.


MMA Warehouse

mma warehouse

Unfortunately this logo is no longer around, but the former logo for MMA Warehouse has an instant connection for Mixed Martial Arts fans.  The word’s MMA are hard to miss but the MMA fighter (very reminiscent of the popular Quinton Rampage Jackson). It’s another strong use of symbols and wording to connect fans to the business.


Middle Easy

middleeasy

Middle Easy doesn’t portray it’s MMA routes quite so well, but by using the large ape symbol and unique logo represents the “rawesome” style of reporting of the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.  It’s iconic and stands out amongst the other website logos of the same topic.


Koryo

koryo

This is a truly smart and modern logo. Koryo is a Korean Taekwondo and Hapkido logo which makes use of the Korean flag (red & blue circle in the centre) and the simple fist icon. This becomes a really simple symbol which expresses a very specific message on nationality.  This has to be one of my favorite logos on this list, extremely well done and dead simple!


Grapple Fightwear

Grapple Fightwear

Words can be powerful by themselves.  At first glance the word “Grapple” says Jiu Jitsu and other grappling martial arts whilst following through the secondary word “fightwear” speaks for itself. The font used and the way it’s presented makes it iconic in a way and can easily be spotted anywhere.

This is another example of a really simple and highly effective logo combined with the power of  a very short, descriptive name.


Gracie Jiu Jitsu

Gracie Jiu Jitsu

A lot of people may or may not notice why this logo is so simple and effective. The triangle in the circle creates a unique looking badge which is flexible for use across many different Gracie Jiu Jitsu affiliates.

The use of the triangle creating the ‘G’ shape is another simple icon which connects the icon to the name ‘Gracie’ in a subtle but effective way.


Fight Factory

fight factory

Not much to say here, it’s pretty obvious but works well. Two fists in a cog – one a symbol of fighting the other a symbol of the manufacturing nature of a factory! It’s looks cool and does the job.


Edric Martinez

eric martinez

This logo is another msart use of symbols and letters to create on iconic logo.  Edric Martinez, initials E & M are used to create a fist shape.  Nicely done!


World Series of Fighting

wsof

World Series of Fighting is another cool badge with words organised into a iconic layout. The crown on the top just adds that sense of ‘royalty’ – governing the world in the “world series” of fighting.  Simple and effective.


De Been Jiu Jitsu

debeen

De Been Jiu Jitsu is a logo I’ve always loved.  As a De Been Jiu Jitsu practitioner it seems somewhat self serving to include this logo but I couldn’t ignore it.

First of all, it just looks cool. Second, the use of the snake wrapping itself around the logo about to attack is so similar to art Jiu Jitsu itself, controlling, wrapping yourself around your opponent before moving in for the kill or ‘submission’.


Close Quarter Combat Self Defense

closequater combat

Skulls are bad ass and have been a symbol of death since the beginning of time.  Adding the american flag to it creates a patriotic “death to your enemies” look and relates perfect to a hard style of self defense.


The Cellar Fight Team

cellar

Another skull?  This time it’s about moving away form self defense and into an obvious sporting context by merging the skull with a glove. The “death to your enemies” message being a figurative defeat in the sporting arena.  Nicely done.


Cage Warriors

cage warrior

Cage Warriors!  The ‘W’ of warriors nestled nicely into the’C’ from Cage which is in the shape of an octagon (sorry, ‘cage’ – since the term ‘Octagon’ for a fighting ring is legally copyrighted by the UFC).

This is another cool mixture of icons and letters to tell their story.


Bushinkan

Print

The Japanese elements combined with a slightly more modern layout of the Bushinkan logo give it a modern day traditionalists look.  This gives you the impression that the Aikido they teach is traditional but somewhat adapted to the modern realities of todays world.


Bullshido

Bullshido

Bullshido is a website that prides itself on ‘No BS’ Martial Arts information and news.  The ‘No BS’ tagline fits with the name perfectly and the ‘O’ at the end of the word with the strike-through and bullhorns (see? no bull!) are just a nice combination of elements to create an effective logo with a slightly japanese style of text.


Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu

bujinkan

This logo has created a very cool Samurai image to reflect it’s Japanese values. This logo has contemporized the samurai head to create really cool looking image with some history behind the imagery.

This logo is more impressive in the style and craft of the image, and less on the story it tells.


Boxfit

boxfit

Nothing ground breaking here but just an effective use of elements. The word Boxfit and the gloves tells the entire story at a glance – fitness through boxing style training and workouts.

There’s absolutely no mystery here and this logo tells interested people exactly what to expect.  Highly effective.


BJJ Heroes

bjj heroes

BJJ Heroes is another simple logo that is used well.

People in the BJJ community are quite aware of the Black Belt with the red bar for the adding of stripes (for various levels of Black Belt degrees).  Using this to wrap around the text adds another iconic layer to the simple ‘BJJ’ text.

To anyone in the Jiu Jitsu community you know what these guys are going to be talking about.


Got any Logos you’d like to share?

Pop a link in the comments below if you’ve got a logo you’d like to share!  Otherwise if you found this list interesting please share it with you friends on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus.

Thanks for reading!