Timberwolves Primary Logo
The new logo was created over the past 12 months as part of a collaborative effort between the Minnesota Timberwolves ownership, team executives, the NBA, and Mississippi-based design expert Rodney Richardson of RARE Design.
The new logo is an evolution of past logos and incorporates elements of civic pride, the team, and the wolf totem. The color palette keeps the heritage of using blues and greens but has a fresh take on those hues. The colors include midnight blue, aurora green, lake blue, moonlight grey, and frost white.
The logo includes a wolf head shown howling, the act of which is the glue that keeps wolf packs together. A wolf howl is used to warn outsiders to stay away, to communicate with the pack, or as a rallying cry to reinforce bonds with family. The logo also includes a North Star, representing the Minnesota North and following true north as a team.
2017 - Present
The logo has many nods to Minnesota, the team and, of course, the Timberwolf.
There’s the North Star which represents one of the pillars Minnesota hangs its hat on. The star represents Minnesota pride.
The new logo represents looking forward and carving out new territory. The open mouth with the teeth showing represents the fierce .energy of not just one Wolf, but a collective unit. To show aggression and fearlessness to the future. The green of the eyes is a nod to the green that surrounds the state whether that be through Northern Lights, reflection of ice crystals in the winter or the flourishing of buds of trees in the spring.
The primarily colors include midnight blue, aurora green, lake blue, moonlight grey and frost white.
“From the motion and vibrant hues of the Northern Lights, to the depths and reflections of a midnight forest, to the rich contrasts of this great frozen city of the north, the palette is the perfect representation of modern sport colors inspired by the story of Minnesota’s landscape,” Richardson said. “It’s color with a sense of place.”
For Richardson, he loves how the logo is simple, yet intense. The logo was designed by Rodney Richardson of RARE Design.
2009 - 2017
The modification to the Timberwolves primary logo includes the incorporation of white on the wolf’s face as well as a cleaner and sleeker design of the green with black outline tree line and the wordmark “MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES.”
1997 - 2008
The 1996 season saw the introduction of a new Timberwolves logo. In the new team logo, the wolf looks far more menacing with his mouth open, looking out from a stand of evergreen trees over a wordmark “TIMBERWOLVES” in blue with white trim and “MINNESOTA” in silver.
1990 - 1996
It was a Minnesota native who submitted the wolf that Club President Bob Stein described as “aggressive, but not sinister.” Mark Thompson, a professional artist originally from Austin, Minnesota. The original Timberwolves logo is a wolf inside a green circle on a grey with blue outline basketball. A wordmark “TIMBERWOLVES” in blue and “Minnesota” on top in green script.