LeBron James now has his own typeface

In today’s sports world, if you’re a superstar then your brand off the playing surface is almost as important as anything you do on your particular playing field. Therefore, the following news shouldn’t be too surprising — LeBron James now has his very own typeface, which is named after him.

Apparently, Nike Basketball asked London design crew Sawdust to create the typeface for the NBA’s most popular player, and the image below is what they came up with:

Here’s an explanation from Wired Magazine’s story on the subject:

The ask came down from Nike Basketball, which oversees and carries the LeBron James collection of shoes and apparel. To turn the man into a typeface, Jonathan Quainton and Rob Gonzalez, who together make up Sawdust, took cues from James’s existing logomark—a blocky ‘L’ abutting a ‘J,’ with a crown floating above the ascenders on each letter—and from James himself—a 6’8″ wall of muscle and force who’s won two NBA championships and four NBA MVP awards. The resulting typeface is broad, commanding, and athletic-looking. It has a low x-height and a shape that manages to be boxy without looking sluggish. It calls to mind a jersey as readily as it does a noble crest—a typeface to rule over all other typefaces.

The article also makes note of the fact that both Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant also have their own typefaces (both made by Sawdust), so LeBron isn’t the first one to go down this path, and I highly doubt that he’ll be the last.