National Basketball Association - Portland Trail Blazers

Portland Trail Blazers Update Logo

The Portland Trail Blazers today announced changes to the team logo and officially announced the creation and adaptation of a secondary mark.

The Blazers logo, also known as the pinwheel, meant to represent the game of basketball in its simplest form, will remain the primary logo to representing the team’s identity. With five lines representing the players on one team and five lines representing an opposing team, the pinwheel logo has been associated with the team since 1970, this being only its second update.

“We felt strongly that the heritage and history behind the Blazers logo identity should be retained,” said Blazers President and General Manager Bob Whitsitt. “The designer made slight adjustments to the Blazers logo after market research showed the logo needed an update. We added silver and a three-dimensional background and changed the typography to designate motion. We feel these changes modernized the logo, yet retained the rich history of the Blazer identity and with fans throughout the Pacific Northwest.”

The initial creation of the logo had the lines going up and down with black on top and red on bottom. The 1992 update tilted the pinwheel 45 degrees and flipped the red and the black, with a slanting a bold typeface. This most recent adjustment adds silver, tapers the ends of the lines, shifts black to the background and moves the red back to the bottom of the pinwheel, as it initially appeared 1970. This gives the logo a three-dimensional appearance, better matching the typeface. Click here for complete history of the Blazers logo.

During the past year, the Blazers have been using a secondary mark in preliminary testing with fans in arena and in Blazers Broadcasts. Now the twenty-second team in the NBA to adopt a secondary mark, the Blazers made the official announcement today. The Blazers are inviting their fans to name the secondary mark by submitting names via Blazers.com in late June.

The first public appearance of the logo will be during the Southwest Airlines Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade on June 8, 2002.

Steve Sandstrom of Sandstrom Design, a Portland native and lifelong Blazers fan, designed the secondary mark and made the updates to the Blazers pinwheel logo. Sandstrom has received nationwide accolades for his design work, including five Clios.

Check out the new logo video!

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