Partnerships

4 Easy Tools to Remove that Pesky Background Behind Your Sports Logo

Jack Zamore

December 3, 2019

I f you're a sports organization, your logo is one of the most important representations of your brand. It's on everything: your scoreboard, your jerseys & swag, maybe even your playing field.

And if you make graphics to promote your teams on social media or other digital channels, your logo is definitely on those. Because your logo represents who you and your program are, you want it to look as sharp as possible.

One simple trick to ensure your logo looks clean and professional is to remove its background. If your logo image has a background, you'll see an unwanted box (often white) appear around it.

Luckily, there are a lot of new tools that can take care of that unwanted background quickly and easily. The four tools we'll cover are:

Instant Alpha in the Preview app on Mac
Gipper's Remove Background feature
Remove.bg's online tool
Photoshop Remove Background Quick Action

Instant Alpha Tool in Preview (Mac Only)

If you are an iOS user, you have access to a free background removal tool built into your device. The Instant Alpha tool is located in the Preview application, and it's an extremely simple way to remove unwanted backgrounds that many people might not know about. Follow the four steps below to use it!

Step 1:

Click on the image file that you wish to remove the background for. This will open up the image in the Preview app.

Step 2:

Once the image is open in Preview, you can now use the "Markup" tools to edit. Clicking the icon that shows a marker tip within a circle in the top navigation bar. A toolbar will open up below with multiple editing options.

Step 3:

Click on the second icon from the left that looks like a magic wand and says "Instant Alpha" upon hovering over it.

This tool allows you to select all elements that are the same color. Clicking and drag the Instant Alpha tool across the area from which you'd like to remove the background. It should appear as a selection similar to the one shown below:

Step 4:

Click 'Delete' on your keyboard to remove this selection entirely. In many cases, you will need to do this more than once as there are other smaller regions that still have the background color, such as within the letters of "Gipper" above.

Repeat the process as needed until you have a fully grey background.

Now this image is transparent and ready to be used as a logo! Don't forget to save the image as a PNG file for the best results!

Remove Background Feature on Gipper

Gipper's design platform includes a built-in tool that removes the background from any logo, photo, or other media.

Upload any logo or PNG file to Your Gallery and click on the Remove Background button. The background will automatically remove in seconds — no fancy editing necessary!

Bonus: Our background removal tool is perfect for creating cutouts from your images! Use it while you're editing a graphic from one of our templates.

Interested in trying out the Remove Background tool for free? Start a two-week free trial today!

Remove.bg's Online Tool

Remove.bg is a background removal tool that you can access for free online. Upload any image and the tool will automatically remove the background. Then, download the new version, simple as that!

Photoshop Remove Background Quick Action

Photoshop has implemented a new Quick Action tool for its background removal function. Once you upload your image into Photoshop, click on the image layer and then scroll in the Properties Panel to the Quick Actions section. The "Remove Background" button will be accessible from there!

Note: Depending on the background, you may have to adjust the edges and the selection to get the perfect cut.

Jack Zamore is the Chief Marketing Officer at Gipper. Gipper is a platform that helps high school athletic departments create professional sports graphics for social media - in seconds, on any device, and without needing any design experience.

Learn more @ gogipper.com/athletics