The Partick Thistle logo is the official crest of Partick Thistle Football Club, a professional Scottish football team based at Firhill Stadium in Glasgow’s Maryhill district. Founded in 1876, the club has carried a thistle on its shirts since at least 1902-03, and the current version of the crest was introduced in 2008.
In the broader picture of Scottish football branding, Partick Thistle sits in a tricky spot. They’re not Celtic or Rangers. They don’t have that kind of global profile. But their badge has a lot going for it, partly because of its stark black thistle and partly because of the Kingsley mascot situation back in 2015 (more on that later).
The club has gone through at least four distinct badge designs across its history. The current crest features a hand-drawn thistle inside a round black band, with no red or yellow in the mark itself. It replaced an angular, modernist version from 1990.
What Is the Partick Thistle Logo?
The Partick Thistle logo is a round black and white crest with a hand-drawn thistle at its center and the club’s name and 1876 in the surrounding band. Glasgow agency D8 created it for a 2008 rebrand, with the thistle drawn by Heather Docherty, according to a report in The Drum.
Partick Thistle logo at a glance
| Symbol | Thistle, Scotland’s national flower and the club’s name |
| Designer/agency | D8; thistle drawn by Heather Docherty (per The Drum, 2008) |
| Current version since | 2008 |
| Colors (hex) | Crest: black #000000 and white #FFFFFF. Kit colors: red approx. #DD052C and yellow approx. #FACF07, sampled from a club-colored badge graphic |
| Typeface | Serif capitals, no named font published by the club |
| Previous major version | The modernist 1990 crest, a yellow thistle on a red square |
If you’re unfamiliar with how a logo actually functions as a brand identifier, Partick Thistle’s crest is a solid example. Everything you need to know about the club is packed into one visual. The Jags play in the Scottish Championship, where they finished second in 2025-26 and lost the Premiership play-off final to St Mirren.
How Has the Partick Thistle Logo Evolved Over Time?
Partick Thistle’s badge has gone through four main stages since the thistle first appeared on a club kit. A simple thistle gave way to a roundel badge in 1978, a modernist version in 1990, and the current emblem in 2008.
Original Thistle Design (1902-1978)
A thistle badge has been traced back to the hooped 1902-03 jerseys, and it appeared again on navy shirts from 1909, when the club settled into Firhill. For most of the next 70 years, the badge was just… a thistle. Simple. Not much else going on.
There was no circular frame. No text wrapped around it. It was a direct representation of the plant itself, and it worked because Scottish football badges didn’t need to be complex back then. After the 1935 shirt change, the traditional thistle stayed, only somewhat larger.
The colors during this era shifted quite a bit, actually. The club started out in navy, white and red, wore claret and blue between 1905 and 1909, moved to gold and black, and finally landed on red and yellow in the mid-1930s. So the badge stayed constant while everything around it kept changing.
Roundel Badge (1978-1990)
In 1978, the club updated the traditional crest so that the thistle now appeared out of a roundel, along with the club’s name and year of formation. This was the first time the crest had any real structural design to it beyond the plant motif.
The roundel added a sense of order and formality. Having a defined boundary gave the badge more presence on kits and printed materials. The gold roundel in the image above, with “Glasgow” at the bottom, is another older round version. I couldn’t find a firm date for it, so it’s best treated as undated.
Modernist Badge (1990-2008)
This is the one that people either loved or still miss. In 1990, Partick Thistle introduced what Historical Football Kits calls a “radically modernist” crest. A simplified yellow thistle sits on a red square with no lettering.
The square format was unusual for football. Most clubs across Scotland and England were using shields, circles, or traditional heraldic shapes. The psychology behind rectangular shapes in design typically suggests stability and order, and the badge did carry a certain no-nonsense quality to it.
It lasted about 18 years. When it went, a few fans had a problem. The Drum noted some supporters had the old badge tattooed on them.
Current Crest (2008-Present)
The badge used today arrived in May 2008 as part of a rebrand by the agency D8, covering the badge, strip, identity, and club literature. The Drum described it as a modern rethink of Thistle from the 1960s and 1970s. Historical Football Kits notes it’s more traditional and not unlike the 1978 version.
The thistle was hand drawn by D8’s artist in residence, Heather Docherty, and was meant to look aggressive. Before the launch, the agency even teased fans by releasing a fake badge through an “insider.” Chairman Allan Cowan said the club was won over after some initial reluctance.
This version has now been in use for around 18 years. It’s outlasted both the roundel and the modernist square. It also has a sibling of sorts: in 2022 the club unveiled a separate Hall of Fame crest, adapted by Daniel Muir from a thistle illustration by the late writer and artist Alasdair Gray.
What Do the Design Elements of the Partick Thistle Logo Mean?
The thistle represents both Scottish national identity and the club’s name. The ring holds the name and the founding year. That’s about it, and the simplicity is the point. Note that the graphic above shows a different club-colored roundel with a football in it, not the black crest on the shirts. I couldn’t confirm how or when it’s used.
What Are the Partick Thistle Logo Colors?
The current crest itself is black and white. Red and yellow are the club’s kit colors, and they usually appear around the crest rather than inside it. On the shirt, the crest often sits on a yellow field.
The club’s colors have an interesting backstory. Partick Thistle started in navy, white and red. The red and yellow arrived in the mid-1930s. Historical Football Kits dates a red and yellow hooped shirt to January 1935, while Wikipedia says the look came in 1936-37 after the club borrowed kits from West of Scotland FC. Either way, that’s around 90 years of the same basic color palette. The psychological associations behind these colors tend toward energy and boldness, which suits the Jags.
Red – approx. #DD052C, sampled from the club-colored graphic above. The way Partick uses red on their kits separates them from the green and white of Celtic or the blue of Rangers.
Yellow – approx. #FACF07, sampled from the same graphic. It’s the dominant shirt color and it’s highly visible. See how other yellow-based logos use the same quality.
Black – #000000. Black carries the whole crest and adds contrast that keeps it readable.
White – #FFFFFF. Used for the lettering and the thistle’s highlights.
The club hasn’t published official codes that I could find. There’s no confirmed RGB, CMYK, or Pantone reference, and the values for web applications may vary.
What Font Is Used in the Partick Thistle Logo?
The current crest uses serif capitals, not a sans-serif as some descriptions claim. “PARTICK THISTLE FOOTBALL CLUB” runs around the band in white, with “1876” at the bottom. The club hasn’t named a font, and I couldn’t find a credible identification.
The letters are widely tracked so they fill the circle. The classic serif look fits the hand-drawn thistle better than a sans-serif typeface would, though the red and yellow graphic above uses one.
It’s a common approach in football crest design, and it does the job without getting fancy. Solid, functional clean typography.
What Are the Hidden Meanings in the Partick Thistle Logo?
The thistle itself is Scotland’s national flower. So there’s an immediate connection to the country’s identity that goes beyond the club name. D8 wanted it to be sharp, and the spiky drawing suits a club that’s lived through relegations and financial trouble in the shadow of the Old Firm.
Then there’s the Maryhill connection. Partick Thistle hasn’t actually played in Partick since 1908, and moved to Firhill in Maryhill in 1909. The club kept the name anyway. That’s an interesting tension between the badge’s stated identity and its actual geographic reality. The founding year on the crest points back to 1876, when Partick was still a separate burgh from Glasgow.
How Does the Partick Thistle Logo Compare to Competitor Logos?
In Scottish football, Partick Thistle’s badge occupies an interesting middle ground between the well-known crests of the Old Firm clubs and the simpler designs of smaller sides.
The Celtic crest, for example, uses a four-leaf clover inside a circular frame with a strong green and white color scheme. It’s globally recognized. The Glasgow Rangers badge relies on bold initials. Both are steeped in history, but also carry the weight of the Old Firm divide.
Partick Thistle’s badge avoids all of that. There are no political or religious symbols in the design. Just a thistle. That’s it.
Compared to other Scottish clubs, Thistle’s badge holds up well. The Dundee United badge is more traditional in its approach. The Hibernian crest in Edinburgh combines a harp, ship, and castle. And the Heart of Midlothian design centers around its distinctive heart shape.
What really sets Partick apart visually is a black crest paired with a red and yellow kit. Most Scottish clubs lean on blues, greens, or maroon, so the Jags are easy to pick out.
What Cultural Impact Has the Partick Thistle Logo Had?
The Partick Thistle badge itself is respected, but it’s the club’s mascot Kingsley that truly broke through into popular culture. Designed by Turner Prize-nominated artist David Shrigley and unveiled in June 2015, Kingsley became an international talking point almost overnight.
Kingsley is a large yellow sun-shaped character with jagged teeth and unsettling eyes. Time magazine wrote that it was pretty unclear what exactly Kingsley is, and some people called it terrifying.
Kingsley came with a six-figure sponsorship deal with California-based Kingsford Capital Management, covering the front of the shirt and stadium branding. The mascot succeeded Jaggy MacBee, a more conventional bumblebee character.
The whole episode put Partick Thistle on the international map in a way few Scottish Championship clubs manage. The badge benefited indirectly because suddenly a lot of people who had never heard of the Jags were looking at the club’s branding for the first time.
How Does the Partick Thistle Logo Fit Into the Overall Brand Identity?
The Partick Thistle badge functions as the anchor point for everything the club puts out visually. Since it’s black and white, it sits comfortably on red and yellow home kits, stadium branding at Firhill, the club website, social media channels, and merchandise.
Partick Thistle is often pitched as Glasgow’s alternative to the Old Firm. That positioning is reflected in the badge’s straightforward approach. No religious or political symbols. No unnecessary complexity. Just the thistle and the club name.
The club has shown willingness to push boundaries with its broader brand, too. In 2019-20, they added a rainbow flag design under the sleeves of their away kit in support of the LGBT+ community. And the club is now owned by the PTFC Trust, following Colin Weir’s move to give control to the fans in 2019.
But through all of that, the badge stays the same. It’s the constant. The club doesn’t publicize its brand guidelines or a brand style guide, so that consistency is something you can only judge from the outside.
How Should the Partick Thistle Logo Be Used?
This is general advice, not club policy. Partick Thistle hasn’t published public usage rules that I could find.
The crest belongs to Partick Thistle Football Club. Commercial use, including merchandise and advertising, needs the club’s permission. Editorial use, such as news coverage or a history article, is the usual low-risk case, but rules vary by country and you shouldn’t imply endorsement.
Files on logo sites, whether vector formats or pixel-based JPEG copies, aren’t official downloads, and details can differ from the real crest. Any print or DPI figures on them describe those files, not a club rule.
If you’re a designer working on something professional, your best move is to contact the club directly. And the common-sense rules apply: don’t stretch, rotate, or alter the badge, and don’t place it on backgrounds where it becomes unreadable.
FAQ on the Partick Thistle Logo
What does the Partick Thistle logo look like?
It’s a round black and white crest with a hand-drawn thistle in the center. A black band around it reads Partick Thistle Football Club in white serif capitals, with 1876 at the bottom. On shirts it often sits on a yellow background.
Who designed the Partick Thistle crest?
According to The Drum in May 2008, the agency D8 created the rebrand, and its artist in residence Heather Docherty hand drew the thistle. That’s the only design credit I could find, and the club itself doesn’t appear to publicize it.
When was the current Partick Thistle crest introduced?
The current crest was introduced in 2008, unveiled in May of that year as part of a wider rebrand. It replaced the modernist 1990 crest. It’s now been in use for around 18 years.
What colors are in the Partick Thistle badge?
The current crest is black and white. Red and yellow are the club’s kit colors, in use since the mid-1930s, and approximate values are red #DD052C and yellow #FACF07. The club hasn’t published official codes that I could find.
Why is there a thistle in the logo?
The thistle is Scotland’s national flower and a direct reference to the club’s name. A thistle badge has been traced back to the 1902-03 jerseys, and every logo since has featured one. The current one was drawn to look deliberately sharp.
How many times has the Partick Thistle logo changed?
The club has used four main badge designs. A simple thistle from the early 1900s, a roundel version from 1978, a modernist version from 1990, and the current crest from 2008. A separate Hall of Fame crest followed in 2022.
What did the old Partick Thistle badge look like?
The immediate predecessor, from 1990, was a yellow thistle on a red square with no lettering. Before that, the 1978 badge placed the thistle in a roundel with the club name and founding year. Earlier shirts simply carried a thistle.
Who designed the Partick Thistle mascot Kingsley?
Turner Prize-nominated artist David Shrigley designed Kingsley, unveiled in June 2015. The sun-shaped mascot came with a sponsorship deal with California-based Kingsford Capital Management. Kingsley is separate from the club crest, which D8 created in 2008.
What font is used in the Partick Thistle logo?
The crest uses white serif capitals for Partick Thistle Football Club, spaced out around the band. The club hasn’t named a font, and no credible identification is available. Descriptions calling it a sans-serif don’t match the current crest.
Can I use the Partick Thistle logo in my project?
Commercial use needs permission from Partick Thistle Football Club, since the crest belongs to the club. Editorial use is a common low-risk case, but rules vary by country. If you plan to sell anything with it on, ask first.
Conclusion
The Partick Thistle logo tells the story of a club that’s been around since 1876 and never stopped finding ways to stay relevant. Four badge versions, one consistent symbol. The thistle has carried this Glasgow club through promotions, relegations, and a mascot that broke the internet.
Black and white in the crest, red and yellow on the kit. That combination gives the club a look nobody else has.
From the early days in Partick to Firhill in Maryhill, the badge connects the Jags’ past to their present in the Scottish Championship. It’s honest branding for a club that does things its own way.
Sources
- Historical Football Kits, Partick Thistle – https://historicalkits.co.uk/Scottish_Football_League/Partick_Thistle/Partick_Thistle.htm
- Partick Thistle FC, new Hall of Fame crest article (20 April 2022) – https://ptfc.co.uk/?p=202695
- Time, Partick Thistle mascot article (22 June 2015) – https://time.com/3930288/partick-thistle-mascot
- Wikipedia, Partick Thistle F.C. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partick_Thistle_F.C.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
- The Lovable Logo History, Colors, Font, And Meaning - 6 November 2026
- Headless WordPress: What Marketing Teams Gain and Lose - 6 November 2026
- PicCollage Logo: How Colour, Shape and Simplicity Express Creativity - 5 November 2026
Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008. Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients. His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8. He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
You Might Also Like
