The St. Louis Blues, an NHL franchise that began play in the 1967-68 season, have built their visual identity around a single enduring concept: the musical note. Known informally as the “Blue Note,” the logo has remained the team’s central emblem for more than five decades, evolving through several distinct iterations rather than being replaced by a wholly new design.
In June 2025, the Blues unveiled a modernized version of the Blue Note for the 2025-26 season, along with new home and away uniforms and several new secondary marks. The update was developed in collaboration with Mississippi-based RARE Design and NHL jersey provider Fanatics.[1]
Design and History
The franchise’s name comes from W.C. Handy’s 1914 song “The St. Louis Blues.” Team founders Sid Salomon Jr. and Sid Salomon III named the team after the song, embracing the region’s music heritage.[2]
The Blues’ original logo, used from the team’s 1967 debut, featured a light blue musical note with a wing on the right side of the stem.[3] An earlier prototype, created in 1966, was drawn by then-General Manager Lynn Patrick and produced by R.J. Liebe Athletic Lettering in Chesterfield. That design, which featured the team’s name in light blue lettering with a musical note looped through the words “St. Louis,” was changed before the inaugural season and was never worn in regular play.[4]
In 1978-79, the circle and wording around the blue note went through a major change, and the note itself was given more bulk.[3] In 1984-85, the word “St. Louis” was added to the top rung of the blue note, with “Blues” spelled out in large letters above it. This version also introduced red as a trim color, which remained part of the logo for 15 years.[3]
In 1987-88, the script “Blues” was removed from the top of the logo, and the blue note was enlarged to become a stand-alone design for the first time.[3] Then, in 1998, the red outline was removed and the blue coloring was darkened, producing the Navy Blue Note that served as the team’s primary mark for 27 seasons, through the 2024-25 campaign.[3][5]
The 2025 update is described by the team as “a remixed take on the Heritage Note,” the version used from 1967 to 1984. The new Blue Note features two colors instead of three, dropping the beige outline from the previous heritage-style note, with thicker blue and yellow keylines and a slight reshaping of the note itself.[5][6]
The redesign draws inspiration from the team’s Winter Classic uniforms worn over the previous eight years, a period that provided fan and player feedback. The 2017 Winter Classic jersey earned the top spot in a 2024-25 fan bracket contest, and surveys confirmed these throwback styles as fan favorites.[5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Blues are returning to their original colors, the classic blue and yellow first worn in 1967. Royal blue had served as the team’s primary color since 1984, but the new “heritage blue” is a brighter, more vivid tone that sits between sky blue and royal blue.[5][1]
Alongside the updated primary mark, the Blues introduced three new tertiary logos tied to St. Louis and the city’s musical heritage. The Fleur mark infuses flourishes of a treble clef footed by a note head, drawing on the fleur-de-lis featured on the city’s flag. The STL mark is a bold, treble clef-inspired design. The River Music mark combines the Gateway Arch reflecting in the Mississippi River to form a trumpet, paying tribute to the historic music scene of downtown St. Louis.[5]
Typography and Design
The team’s primary wordmark “embodies the steady flow of the Mississippi River,” according to the Blues’ official brand page. An illustrative version builds on this foundation with typography details inspired by W.C. Handy’s 1914 St. Louis Blues sheet music cover.[5]
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