The Minnesota Vikings have used a single core emblem, the Norseman, since the franchise’s inception in 1961. The mark depicts a Viking warrior in profile with a horned helmet, braided hair, mustache and bushy eyebrows, and it has been refined several times over six decades rather than replaced.
The team was granted an NFL franchise in 1960 and began play in 1961. First general manager Bert Rose recommended the nickname “Vikings” to the Board of Directors, and the name was selected because it represented both an aggressive person with the will to win and the Nordic tradition in the northern Midwest.[1]
Design and History
The original Norseman logo was designed in 1961 by Karl Hubenthal, a prominent Los Angeles sports cartoonist, at the request of general manager Bert Rose and head coach Norm Van Brocklin, both of whom knew Hubenthal from their days with the Los Angeles Rams. Hubenthal designed the Norseman logo, the team’s original uniform set and the distinctive horned helmet.[2] The Vikings’ Director of Brand & Creative confirmed that Hubenthal’s original drawings of the logos and uniform were donated to the team by Hubenthal’s daughter, with Hubenthal’s handwritten notes on the back explaining why the logo was colored as it was.[3]
The first Norseman logo, used from 1961 through 1965, featured the warrior facing left, unlike all later iterations which face right. The face was colored white and outlined in black, with the horns, helmet and hair in a dull gold and a black band above the forehead on the helmet.[4]
In 1966, a cleaned-up version was introduced that lasted through the 1996 season, making it the longest-serving Norseman iteration. This version faced right, shortened and raised the horns at a steeper angle, switched the horn color from gold to white, and introduced purple into the logo for the first time as a dark shade in the helmet’s headband. The gold was brightened and used for the mustache, eyebrows, helmet and hair.[4]
Subsequent changes were minor color adjustments. In 1997, a new shade of gold was introduced that was slightly less yellow and darker, and the purple headband was lightened. Further small shifts to the purple and skin tones occurred in 2002, 2009 and 2010.[4]
In February 2013, the team announced what it called an “evolution” of the Norseman logo, the first substantial changes since 1997.[5] The enhancements included reshaping the horns and adjusting their shading to match the horns on the players’ helmets, thickening the facial lines for more defined features, brightening the gold to a less brassy tone, and shortening the braid to reduce the logo’s overall height.[6][7] The team stated that the Norseman had been the face of the franchise since its inception and that the changes would not alter that tradition.[8]
Meaning and Symbolism
The purple and gold color scheme was not an arbitrary choice. According to notes and drawings saved by Hubenthal’s family after his death, Bert Rose instructed Hubenthal to use purple and gold because those were the colors of Rose’s college alma mater, the University of Washington.[9]
The horned helmet depicted in the logo is historically inaccurate for Viking-age warriors, a point the NFL’s UK office has acknowledged, noting that real Vikings did not wear horned helmets and that the on-field horns are “strictly logo art.”[10]
Typography and Design
The team’s official colors are purple, gold and white.[10] The Norseman profile has been subtly refined rather than replaced, and remains recognizably Hubenthal’s 1961 design.[10]
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