The ice hockey team Carolina Hurricanes has gone through only one subtle logo modification since it acquired its current name around two decades ago.
The club known under the name of Carolina Hurricanes was established as the New England Whalers in the fall of 1971 in Boston, Massachusetts. The original logo depicted a harpoon over a bold white “w.”
Probably the most eye-catching element on the logo the team adopted after being renamed Hartford Whalers was the blue whale tail. Yet, an astute observer would notice the two initial letters of the team name – the green “W” and the white “H.” The “W” actually looked very much like the same letter on the previous logo version, which was supposed to represent a connection to the team’s past.
In 1993, the Hartford Whalers logo was slightly updated. The white space of the “H” was filled with grey, while the logo itself also acquired a thick outline of the same color.
The relocation to Carolina in 1998 started a new era in the logo history. The team adopted a new logo nicknamed the “Eye of Hurricane.” It was built around a black ellipse with a red oval around it. Around this center, layers of black, white, and red elements were placed, which depicted a hurricane as seen from above.
The redesign of 1999 made the Hurricanes logo brighter and more powerful. The red color was switched to a more intense shade, as well as black. An additional logotype was also designed in the same year. It is a slightly slanted geometric inscription in the uppercase with the letter “C” in “Hurricanes” decorated with two red squares, having two solid black dots on them.
Due to their distinctive shape and additional details on the right side, the letters on the Carolina Hurricanes symbol seem to be experiencing a wild wind blowing from the left.
The Carolina Hurricanes logo features a combination of red (Pantone Color Matching System: 186), white, silver (PMS: 429), and black (Pantone Black). The club’s media guide also mentions a darker shade of red (PMS: 188) as one of the colors of the official palette, although it appears neither on the primary logo nor the secondary one.
RED
HEX COLOR: #CC0000;
RGB: (226,24,54)
PANTONE: PMS 186
CMYK: (0,100,81,4)
BLACK
HEX COLOR: #000000;
RGB: (35,31,32)
PANTONE: BLACK
CMYK: (0,0,0,100)
SILVER
HEX COLOR: #A2AAAD;
RGB: (162,170,173)
PANTONE:PMS 429
CMYK: (21,11,9,23)
BURGUNDY
HEX COLOR: #76232F;
RGB: (118,35,47)
PANTONE: PMS 188
CMYK: (16,100,65,58)