What Is the Jordan Logo?
The Jordan logo is the Jumpman, a solid black silhouette of basketball player Michael Jordan leaping through the air with a ball in one outstretched hand. It became the main logo of Nike's Air Jordan shoes in 1988. The logo belongs to Nike, Inc., the American sportswear company that set up Jordan Brand as a brand of its own in 1997 to make Air Jordan shoes and clothing.
Before the Jumpman, Air Jordan shoes carried the Wings logo, a basketball with a pair of wings. The Jumpman is available as the Jordan logo SVG.
Jordan Logo Facts
| Introduced | 1988, on the Air Jordan III |
| Symbol | Michael Jordan in mid-leap, holding a basketball |
| Logo type | Pictorial mark: a silhouette of a real person |
| Earlier mark | The Wings logo, on the Air Jordan I and II |
| Owner | Nike, Inc. |
What the Jordan Logo Means
The Jumpman is not a symbol for the player; it is the player. Nike traced the silhouette from a photograph of Michael Jordan, so the logo shows his own body in one of his own leaps. The pose has legs split wide and one arm reaching up with the ball, a shape the photographer Jacobus Rentmeester compared to a grand jeté, a ballet leap, rather than a basketball move.
As one solid shape with no inner detail, it reads as Jordan in flight even when small on a shoe tongue, which suits a line called Air Jordan.
Jordan Logo History
The pose goes back to 1984, when Rentmeester photographed Jordan for Life magazine before the Los Angeles Olympics, in his Team USA outfit. Peter Moore, who led Nike's design team, had Jordan recreate the jump in Chicago in a Bulls uniform and Nike Air Jordan shoes.
Moore also gave the first Air Jordan shoes their Wings logo, which he jotted on a cocktail napkin during a flight. Nike's own jump photo appeared on the hang tag of the Air Jordan I and in its first advertising in the summer of 1985.
The Jumpman became the primary logo with the Air Jordan III, released in February 1988, replacing the Wings. In 1997 Nike launched Jordan Brand, first called Brand Jordan, and the Jumpman became the logo of the whole brand.
The Jumpman in Court
In 2015 Rentmeester sued Nike for copyright infringement, arguing that the Jumpman copied his 1984 photograph. A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, dismissed the case that June. On 27 February 2018 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal in a 2–1 decision, finding that Nike had borrowed only the general idea of the photo and that a pose itself cannot be owned.
The Jumpman sits alongside its parent's mark, the Swoosh of the Nike logo. Peter Moore, who drew the Wings and set up the Jumpman photo, later designed the three bars of the Adidas logo.
For more brands like Jordan, browse our sports logos.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the man in the Jordan logo?
Michael Jordan. The Jumpman is a silhouette traced from a Nike photo of him leaping with a basketball.
Which shoe first used the Jumpman as its main logo?
The Air Jordan III, released in February 1988.
What was the Jordan logo before the Jumpman?
The Wings logo, a basketball with wings drawn by Nike designer Peter Moore, used on the Air Jordan I and II.
Is the Jordan brand owned by Nike?
Yes. Nike created Jordan Brand in 1997 and owns the Jumpman logo.
Did Nike copy the Jumpman from a photograph?
Photographer Jacobus Rentmeester said so, but in 2018 a US appeals court ruled that the logo was not substantially similar to his 1984 photo.