The Seattle Kraken is the National Hockey League expansion franchise that began play in the 2021-22 season. The team unveiled its name, primary logo, secondary logo, wordmark and uniforms on July 23, 2020, at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. The visual identity was developed through a collaboration between the franchise and adidas, the NHL’s official uniform partner, which approached the Seattle group early in the naming process rather than joining only when it was time to design jerseys. [1]
Design and History
The primary logo is a stylized “S” shaped like a Kraken tentacle, a direct tribute to the Seattle Metropolitans, the first American-based team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917. The team stated that the Metropolitans are “an eternal part of our city’s history” and that the Kraken wear the “S” in their honor. [2] The mark features a single tentacle rising from the bottom and a single red eye of the sea creature near the top. [3]
Adidas design director Matty Merrill led development of the primary mark and jersey. [4] Merrill, a Pacific Northwest native, said three fundamental values anchored the brand design: authenticity, nobility and mystery. The mystery theme is reflected in the decision to show only one tentacle and one eye, leaving it unclear when or if the full Kraken will ever be revealed. [1]
The secondary logo combines an anchor with the silhouette of Seattle’s Space Needle. [5] Orlando-based independent graphic designer Brian Gundell was brought in by the Kraken in February 2020 to design this mark, working alongside the adidas Hockey team. Over 150 iterations were created before the final design was settled on. Gundell noted that the anchor represents safety and one’s home harbor in nautical tradition, while the stylized Space Needle at the anchor’s top represents Seattle. [6]
The name selection process involved team executives reviewing 1,200 suggested names, exploring 100 and narrowing those down to five before choosing Kraken. [7] The team said the name emerged quickly as the frontrunner and was supported by 215,000 fan votes, more than 50 fan forums and speaking engagements, and over 12 months of social media listening. [2]
Meaning and Symbolism
The tentacle in the primary logo symbolizes “the deep, dark waters of Puget Sound.” [8] The Kraken name itself connects to the Giant Pacific Octopus, which lives only in Puget Sound waters near Seattle. [5] The red eye in the primary mark was added by David Bonderman, the team’s billionaire owner and a founding partner of TPG Capital, who led the creative design process internally along with a brand committee that included co-owner Jerry Bruckheimer and CEO Tod Leiweke. [4]
Typography and Design
The team’s official colors are deep sea blue as the primary color, with ice blue, shadow blue, boundless blue and red alert as secondary colors. [9] The Kraken also revealed a wordmark featuring the team name alongside the primary and secondary logos at the July 2020 unveiling. [10]
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