The Iowa Heartlanders are a professional minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL based in Coralville, Iowa, that began play in the 2021-22 season at Xtream Arena. The team’s name and visual identity were unveiled on May 20, 2021, by Deacon Sports & Entertainment, which owned the franchise at the time. The name and logos were created in partnership with Win X Two Branding Agency and designer Brian Gundell. [1]
Design and History
The primary logo features a white-tailed deer buck, described by the team as “poised for battle in expression, stance, and thorny detailing, to capture the essence of our strength, determination and work ethic here in Iowa.” The buck’s antlers are rendered in sunrise gold, described as a “crown” that signals the team as “the mighty kings of the Heartland.” [1] Designer Brian Gundell notes that the buck was chosen after a research phase, drawing on the hunting tradition ingrained in Midwestern life, and that the old English word “hart” (meaning deer) offers a play on the team name. [2]
The secondary logo is Iowa’s state flower, the wild prairie rose, rendered with heart-shaped, coral pink petals and a shining sun at its center. The coral pink color nods to the team’s home in Coralville, while the sun references the region’s agricultural success. [1] [2] The rose was featured as a shoulder patch on the team’s inaugural jerseys, unveiled in September 2021. [3]
The team’s official colors are black, sunrise yellow, grey, and white. [4] The primary color scheme was described by SportsLogos.Net as black, dark gray, light gray, and yellow, with coral added as an accent color in the alternate rose logo. [5]
In September 2025, the team revealed a fifth anniversary season logo for the 2025-26 campaign. The mark features the Heartlanders’ primary logo meshed with a Roman numeral V, with the years 2021 and 2026 flanking the gray buck with sunrise yellow antlers. [6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The team’s official launch materials describe the buck’s sunrise gold antlered crown as something that is “earned, not given,” framing the logo as a symbol of strength and determination. The wild prairie rose, meanwhile, “symbolizes everything worth playing for,” including the “magnificent riches and traditions of our home” and the “wild spirit of our fans.” [1]
Typography and Design
Gundell designed a custom typeface for the wordmark, uniform lettering, and numbers, based on vintage license plates from the state of Iowa. [2] The wordmark itself spells “HEARTLANDERS” in dark grey sans-serif lettering above “IOWA” in gold. [7]
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