In Leeds' first fifteen years the club kit was modelled on Huddersfield Town's blue and white striped shirts, white shorts and dark blue socks with blue and white rings on the turnovers, because Huddersfield's chairman Hilton Crowther was attempting to merge the two clubs. He eventually left Huddersfield to take over at Leeds. In 1934 Leeds switched to blue and gold halved shirts incorporating the city crest badge, white shorts and blue socks with gold tops.The kit was worn for the first time on 22 September 1934. The club also adopted their first badge in 1934, using the city crest as Leeds City had.

In 1950 Leeds switched to gold shirts with blue sleeves and collars, white shorts and black, blue and gold hooped socks. In 1955 Leeds changed again to royal blue shirts with gold collars, white shorts, and blue and gold hooped socks; this echoed the original Leeds City strip. In 1961 Don Revie introduced a plain white strip throughout, in the hope of emulating Spanish side Real Madrid.

In 1964, Leeds introduced a perching owl as their logo. The design was a surprise, given Revie's superstition about the symbolism of birds. The owl came from the city crest, which itself was based on the crest of Sir John Saville, the first alderman of Leeds. In the late 1960s and early 1970s Leeds also extensively used the LUFC script found running down the centre of the current badge. In 1973 came the embodiment of Seventies imagery with the iconic LU Smiley badge. Revie's predilection for gimmicks was years ahead of its time, and done with the explicit intention of gaining acceptance from a public outside West Yorkshire.

In 1984 a new club badge was introduced, lasting until 1998, making it the longest lived of the modern era. The Rose and Ball badge was distinctive, in the traditional blue, gold and white, incorporating the white rose of Yorkshire (although the rose is displayed upside down), together with the clubname.