HC Severstal is a professional ice hockey club based in Cherepovets, Russia, competing in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The club’s visual identity is closely tied to its parent company, the steel giant PAO Severstal, and its current branding centers on a corporate symbol known as the “Unity” mark.
Design and History
The club was founded in 1956 and has carried the Severstal name since 1994, reflecting its connection to the Cherepovets steel company. The team’s primary logo is a monochrome version of the corporate “Unity” sign, rendered in black and yellow, which emphasizes the club’s relationship with the metallurgical plant. The corporate logo itself is white, blue, and red, while the hockey club uses the same symbol in its own color scheme.[1]
In the 2019 offseason, Severstal underwent a rebranding effort that included a new alternate logo and new jersey designs. According to the club’s director of development and marketing, Artur Zagidullin, the primary logo did not change, but the club unified its design approach around a single style. The alternate logo was created by the design agency Quberten, which had previously worked on visual identities for Amur, Admiral, and Dinamo Minsk.[1]
The alternate logo features a lynx, the club’s mascot, which is a common animal in the Vologda Oblast region. The 2019 redesign replaced an earlier, bolder lynx style with a flat minimalist approach that works well at small sizes, such as in mobile applications. The club noted that the lynx was designed to be moderately aggressive, reflecting modern trends in hockey design.[1]
An earlier redesign of the lynx alternate logo was presented in July 2018. That version made the mascot more voluminous with new features, executed in the club’s classic yellow and black colors, with monochrome variants planned for merchandise and printed materials.[2]
Meaning and Symbolism
The lynx alternate logo contains hidden references to the steel industry. According to Quberten, the animal’s forehead and nose form a foundry ladle from which metal pours, the whiskers represent splashes of liquid metal, and the upper lip and teeth depict sparks. These embedded images strengthen the connection between the hockey club and the metallurgical combine.[3]
The primary Unity logo, in its monochrome version, features gaps or “veins” characteristic of a stencil, further linking the mark to industrial production methods.[3]
Typography and Design
As part of the 2019 rebrand, Quberten developed a new font for jersey numbers and captain’s letters. The typeface is inspired by stencil-style industrial marking found in factories and on shipping containers. This typographic choice gives the team an industrial appearance and serves as another visual link between the club and the steel plant.[3]
The 2019 redesign also shifted the balance of club colors in the game uniforms, substantially increasing the percentage of yellow. This made the team highly visible and distinguished it from other KHL clubs, where yellow is rarely used in jerseys. The third jersey features the lynx logo prominently on the chest.[3]
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