J-league announced plans to standardize the typography for players’ names and numbers on their jerseys from next season. The idea is to make players more identifiable for viewers watching games on the small screens of smartphones and tablet computers.
Many fans, however, are turned off by the move.“Keep your noses out of each team’s identity,” an unhappy fan wrote on the league’s official website.The league also said that teams can use only five colors for the names and numbers on jerseys—white, blue, red, black and yellow.
Currently, each club has chosen its own fonts and colors for the uniforms. Some teams have developed well-coordinated marketing plans by making original fonts and typography part of the identity of the club and its fan base. But from the next season, all teams, from the J1 top division through J3, will be required to use a font created by a northern European company in official matches, except certain championship games.
