I’ve spent most of my career thinking about branding – how we build recognition, loyalty and identity, often from a few shapes, a colour or a typeface.
But the first time I truly understood what a logo could do was when I was running a band merchandise distribution company, writes Liam Fisher, global marketing lead for pro design at Canva and professional-grade software Affinity.
The most common place you see a band logo, especially in today’s streaming-heavy climate, is on merch. T-shirts, posters, bucket hats, tote bags. And when you’re looking at sales across dozens of bands, you start to see patterns.
Some logos fly off the shelves, others barely move. And it becomes really clear which bands have nailed it. That’s when I started to realise: a great logo isn’t just about design. It’s about identity. It becomes a badge, a signal.
And very few bands have done that better than Oasis.
The merch machine
Looking back now – after a career spent working on global creative tools – there’s something timeless about it. Because Oasis, whether they’re making music and touring or not, never stopped being present.
This is clear from the reaction to their Live ‘25 comeback tour. Back in May, it was reported that fans attending would be spending a combined total of £1.06bn on tickets, travel, accommodation, outfits and other expenses.
The tour announcement coincided with the band’s new Adidas collection, which dropped last month and sold out instantly. But beyond traditional merch, there’s the parkas, bucket hats, Adidas trainers – things that are all a huge part of the Oasis image.
Bucket hat sales alone have jumped 89% in the last three months. TikTok posts referencing parkas jumped 188% between 1 June and 1 July, while searches for parkas on resale platform Depop surged by 1,850% year on year in June.
Even more bizarre, a Lidl-themed Oasis-inspired parka sold out in minutes earlier this month, reselling online for six times the price after ‘unprecedented demand.’
And it’s undeniable that a huge part of all of this comes down to Oasis’ branding. It’s clear that they are more than just a band – they’re a brand.
When a band becomes a brand
From a design perspective, the Oasis logo is practically a case study in getting it right. It’s Helvetica-ish, heavy and no nonsense.
It was designed by Brian Cannon of Microdot back in 1993. At this point, the band was still unknown. Noel commissioned various people to design the logo, before settling on this one.
Noel always made it clear that the visual side of the band was important to him. “I take as much pride in the artwork as in being on stage,” he said in a 1997 interview. And it’s clear from the cohesivity of everything the band has done that this is still true.
That monochrome palette? You couldn’t pick a more timeless combination. It doesn’t try to be clever. It doesn’t need to. It’s confident, just like the band it represents.
And most importantly – it’s recognisable at 100 metres. On a T-shirt, a drum kit, a street poster, or lit up in drones in the night sky over Manchester, on the night of their first homecoming gig. That’s what the best logos do.
As someone who works in brand marketing every day, I think that recognisability is the real currency. It creates memory. Memory creates loyalty. And that loyalty builds community.
That’s why people still care. Why they still wear Oasis gear, why original merch has resale value and why fans will pay hundreds just to see them perform again.
Of course, Oasis aren’t alone. You only have to look at acts like the Rolling Stones – with that legendary tongue – or AC/DC’s lightning bolt. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have their asterisk, Queen has that regal crest.
These logos have become iconic not just because they look good, but because they’ve stayed consistent. That’s where bands become brands – the design becomes shorthand for something bigger.
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Change can work – but there’s a cost
Recently, I went to see Black Sabbath, on their farewell tour. Heavy metal, especially Sabbath, has pulled me through more than a few dark moments. However trivial it might seem to others, music keeps me grounded and reminds me of who I am, so this was a big moment for me. Obviously that gig means even more to me and so many others now since the recent, heartbreaking loss of Ozzy Osbourne.
The band is worlds apart from Oasis – darker, heavier, apocalyptic. And there is also a stark contrast when it comes to their approach to branding, too. Sabbath are proof that some bands do in fact evolve their look over time.
Sabbath’s logo changed multiple times across their career. Some of it was brilliant, but even though I’m a huge fan and it pains me to say this, it’s undeniable that none of it stuck in quite the same way.
That contrast made me appreciate just how powerful Oasis’s consistency has been. They never really strayed from that bold rectangular box. Even when the music changed slightly, the image didn’t.
That’s branding discipline – and it’s why that logo still holds emotional power decades later.
It’s interesting to note that 47% of ticket holders have seen Oasis before, as this means that many will be new and younger fans, who either didn’t see them the first time around or belong to generations that missed the initial wave of Oasis’s popularity.
With Gen Z’s noted preference for messier designs and looser branding, it’ll be interesting to see whether bands emerging today will require the same level of branding as those who came before them. Only time will tell.
Beyond Sabbath, there are other bands that haven’t stuck to one visual identity. Arctic Monkeys are a great example – they reinvent their look with every record, and each era has its own aesthetic. Over in the pop world, Taylor Swift has achieved the same feat, with her hugely popular Era’s Tour.
And while it works creatively, it doesn’t cement a single brand in the same way.
Even with Sabbath – who, if you hadn’t noticed, I love – the shifting logos also reflect shifting line-ups, genres and eras. That’s fine, and it has its own power, but it’s a different kind of relationship.
What is the formula for success?
The Oasis logo, to me, is one of the cleanest examples of how design fuels culture. It gives people something to gather around. It lets fans carry the band with them, long after the music stops.
And it opens up entire ecosystems – ticket sales, merch drops, fashion collabs, resale markets.
“A bad logo is not the end of the world, but a good one is a real asset,” said Andy Ross, managing director of Food Records, who was a main player in the successful branding of rival Britpop group Blur during the 1990s.
Bands like Arctic Monkeys and Black Sabbath prove that yes, you can have success without a consistent logo. You can shift and evolve your brand, and still make great art. But when you build a recognisable visual identity – and stick with it – you create something deeper.
You create a sense of belonging. A shared language. A visual anthem.
And that’s exactly what Oasis did. They built a brand which, decades later, still connects. With the reunion, the logo is unavoidable, inspiring other brands to jump on the bandwagon. It still sells; it still means something.
That little black-and-white rectangle? It’s not just a logo. It’s the front door to a fandom. That’s the real power of great design: it outlasts the tour dates, transcends the music and becomes part of who you are.
Oasis might’ve gone quiet for a while – but the logo never stopped speaking. And now, as the band tours again, it’s clear its influence could live forever (had to get one song title in!)
