Roma logo redesign: before-and-after evaluation

The short answer

When people search for the Roma logo redesign, they almost always mean the crest of AS Roma, the Italian football club. The best-known change is the 2013 update. That update replaced the interlocking ASR monogram with a spelled-out ROMA wordmark and added the founding year, 1927. The she-wolf with the twins and the club's yellow-and-maroon palette were kept. In practical terms, the redesign traded a lettering-heavy badge for a simpler mark that reads more easily at small sizes.

No source documents, official brand guidelines or original artwork files were supplied for this article. The description above reflects widely reported changes, not a firsthand inspection of the club's master files. Before you rely on exact dates, colour values or construction details, check them against the club's official brand materials.

What changed, before and after

Element | Earlier crest | Redesigned crest

Club identifier | Interlocking ASR monogram | ROMA spelled out as a wordmark

Founding year | Not shown | 1927 shown on the crest

She-wolf and twins | Present | Retained, with a restyled drawing

Colour scheme | Yellow-orange and maroon | Yellow-orange and maroon retained

Precise colour values and proportions | Not documented in supplied material | Not documented in supplied material

How to judge the redesign as a vector mark

Opinions differ on whether the redesign is better, and that verdict is an editorial judgment rather than a measurable fact. A few design criteria do apply directly to vector logos, though, and they make a fairer comparison than taste alone.

• Legibility at small sizes: a short wordmark usually holds up better than an intricate monogram on favicons, app icons and embroidery.
• Path simplicity: fewer and cleaner shapes produce smaller files, and they are easier to cut, print or stitch.
• Single-colour performance: a strong crest should still read when it is reproduced in one flat colour.
• Heritage continuity: keeping the she-wolf and the colours preserves recognition even though the lettering changed.
• Typography: a custom or modified typeface in a wordmark affects how faithfully anyone else can recreate or edit it.

A full evaluation would compare the two crests side by side at several sizes and in mono versions. That comparison was not carried out for this article.

If you are working with the logo files

Files labelled SVG, EPS, AI or PDF are not guaranteed to contain editable vector paths. A file can simply wrap a raster image, such as a PNG or JPEG, inside a vector container. Many download sites also show a raster preview that tells you nothing about the file's internal structure.

To check a file, open it in a vector editor and switch to outline or wireframe view. Genuine vector artwork shows as anchor points and paths. An embedded image shows as a single rectangular bounding box. Also check whether the ROMA lettering is live text that needs a specific font, or text already converted to outlines. Live text will display incorrectly if the font is missing.

The redesign matters here because the old and new crests often circulate side by side. Unofficial vector files may be redrawn approximations that do not match either version exactly.

Downloading is not the same as permission to use

Being able to download a Roma crest file does not give you rights to modify it, use it commercially or put it on merchandise. The crest is a club trademark, and the artwork and any custom lettering may carry separate protections. Typefaces used in the wordmark may also have their own licences.

Editorial commentary, such as a before-and-after design critique, is treated differently from commercial or promotional use. Even so, the specific terms depend on the club's policies and local law, and these were not available for this article. For anything beyond commentary, get permission from the rights holder.