The Oklahoma City Thunder unveiled their first logo on September 3, 2008, at a press conference at Leadership Square in downtown Oklahoma City, when the franchise formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics announced its new name and visual identity.[1] The identity was developed by the Oklahoma City advertising agency Ackerman-McQueen in collaboration with the NBA.[2]
Design and History
The primary logo combines a shield-shaped emblem with the wordmark “THUNDER” in bold, traditional lettering. Team chairman Clay Bennett described the design at the unveiling: “The bold, traditional lettering and shield of our logo have been purposefully designed with simplicity and dignity to let the power of the word ‘THUNDER’ be most clearly presented.”[1] Bennett also called the logo “classic in its style” and “powerful in its design,” noting that it “evokes energy.”[3]
The shield contains the letters “OKC” in stylized lettering overlaid on an orange basketball graphic.[3] The team’s primary background color was a surprise element at the unveiling: sky blue.[3] Bennett said the team had “other derivative and secondary logos in development” at the time of the primary logo’s release.[3]
The name “Thunder” was chosen because it “reflected the identity we hope to establish for the team” and connected to Oklahoma “in an effective way, a word of power and strength and clarity,” according to Bennett.[3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The color palette carries documented Oklahoma references. Bennett explained that the primary blue is “the color of our state flag,” adding, “This is very much an Oklahoma organization.”[4] The sunset tones were described as “red and orange. Not too red. Not too orange,” with yellow representing “the beautiful sun.”[4] The color scheme was also described as “essentially a rainbow, consisting of sunset yellow, the same blue found on the state flag, dark blue and a color referred to as Thunder Red.”[3]
Bennett stated that the colors “represent much about Oklahoma.”[2] The team’s official colors are listed as Thunder Blue, Sunset, Yellow, and Navy Blue.[5]
Typography and Design
The Thunder wordmark uses Industria Bold, a display sans-serif typeface created by Neville Brody and published by the Linotype font foundry.[6] The bold, traditional lettering was a deliberate choice to present the word “THUNDER” with simplicity and dignity, per Bennett’s description at the unveiling.[1]
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