Horns are a symbol that is most often associated with masculinity and strength. As for the animal world, when we hear the word “horn”, we, first of all, remember the graceful deer, which itself represents nobility, courage, and renewal. This animal does not carry any negative connotations and therefore is ideal for use in the logos of brands that want to show their strengths.
However, a symbol like horns has several other important meanings. For example, in Eastern culture, they symbolize divine authority and power, in the Biblical interpretation the horn is an indicator of strength, position, and health. And in Hinduism, the four horns are the four main Hindu religious sacred texts known as the Vedas.
Not to be forgotten is the Horn of Plenty, or Cornucopia, which is an ancient Greek symbol of fertility and prosperity. A cornucopia is usually depicted as a horn overflowing with fruits, vegetables, and grain. The Horn of Plenty was often depicted alongside the goddess Fortuna, and thus also represents good fortune.
In this article, we will look at the most famous logos that depict one or another horn, and see how designers have managed to use this popular graphic symbol to display without other sides of companies and brands.
Abercrombie and Fitch
The main element on the logo of the Abercrombie and Fitch fashion brand is a, drawn in solid gray against a plain white background and accompanied by the wordmark, written at the bottom of the composition, in the same hue, with the use of a classy and elegant serif typeface. Because of the resemblance of deer antlers to branches, their image is linked to the Tree of Life. It remains to be seen whether this had any significance for the brand when choosing the mascot.
Air Djibouti
The visual identity of Air Djibouti is based on the image of a graceful antelope, drawn in solid white on an intense red background, with its massive yet sophisticated horns pointing to the left. The emblem is complemented by an enlarged progressive black lettering, executed in the uppercase of a slanted geometric sans-serif reface with slightly extended characters.
Browning
The Browning logo, executed in a sleek gray-on-white color palette, is composed of two strong elements — a laconic contoured emblem and a massive uppercase lettering in a custom geometric serif typeface with the first and last characters of the wordmark enlarged. The emblem of the brand features a stylized image of a deer’s head, turned to the left, with the horns drawn in distinctive lines with sharp ends.
Bulls
The horns on the Bulls logo are inscribed into the stylized wordmark, roofing the contoured uppercase lettering and extending the composition horizontally. The whole blue and white badge looks super balanced in its strength and brutality with the geometric graphical elements making it unique and interesting the combination of modern shapes of the characters and the classy sharpness of the curved horns create a cool and timeless image.
Chicago Bulls
The main element of the iconic Chicago Bulls logo is the red bull’s head with two white horns, which feature their sharp tips painted in red. The arched contours of the horns are supported by the solid black eyebrows of the fierce and dangerous animal, while the classy serif lettering, set above the emblem, makes the badge look a bit calmer and stricter. Also, many people love this logo because of how it looks upside down.
Cleveland State
The Cleveland State logo features quite a dark and dramatic composition with the Viking portrait serving as the background. The ancient Scandinavian warrior is wearing a steel helmet with two short yet massive horns on the sides, which makes him look even more powerful and masculine. The emblem is overlapped by a two-leveled dark-green lettering, decorated by a thin white internal outline of the uppercase characters.
FC Dallas
The visual identity of FC Dallas is executed in a bright and patriotic color palette, composed of blue, red, and silverfish gray. The main element here is a classy triangular crest with arched sides and a thin double outline. The central part of the crest contains a stylized image of a bull with long sharp horns spread to the sides. The small red flame only the bull’s forehead and the five-pointed silver star on its chest complete the concept of the logo.
Dodge Demon
The horns from the Dodge Demon logo are drawn on the demon’s head, executed in a minimalistic black-and-white color palette, and placed on a transparent background without any text or graphical additions. This laconic badge looks evil and creepy, even though there is just one element depicted on it. The horns of the demon have their shapes repeated by the small yet sharp fangs, which come out of the creature’s mouth.
FreeBSD
The visual identity of FreeBSD looks very cool and progressive with its minimalistic three-dimensional emblem drawn in the shape of a sphere with two playful triangular horns. The semi-transparent gradient red emblem is drawn against a plain white background and accompanied by a lightweight black inscription in a progressive sans-serif typeface with the title case characters featuring rounded shapes. Overall a great combo.
GAZ
Interestingly, up until the early 1990s, each GAZ car model had its own emblem. However, in the end, the company’s management came to the decision to unify the visual identity of all models. This is how the logo with a geometric image of a gazelle above a massive and stable inscription appeared. The current version of the badge is executed in light silver gradients with no colorful accents, making the whole look calm and elegant.
GNU
The GNU logo is based on just one element — a black-and-white drawing of an antelope’s gnu head, drawn in a cool caricaturish way so that the animal looks super chill and calm. Interestingly, the second name of this species is wildebeest, which sounds quite dangerous, but the GNU badge proves it wrong, using this friendly image as the only hero of its badge.
Houston Texans
The Houston Texas badge is definitely one of the most recognizable NFL badges, as it is drawn in a sleek and modern minimalistic style, and at the same time contains all the main symbols of its state. The only element here is the stylized bull’s head, made of two solid parts — blue and red — with the white five-pointed star drawn in the blue one. The sharp horns look like two swooshes, adding dynamics and speed to the bull’s stability.
Longhorn Network
The visual identity of Longhorn Network is executed in a dramatic dark-orange and black color palette, with the head of a longhorn cow as the main light accent. The head is drawn in solid white in the center of the rectangular banner, which is vertically split into two parts. The long horns of the cow almost reach the edges of the banner. The emblem is accompanied by a massive and heavy two-leveled lettering in orange and black, executed in an extra-bold geometric sans-serif typeface.
LongHorn Steakhouse
The horns from the LongHorn SteakHouse visual identity are placed on the head of a contoured stylized longhorn cow, which is drawn in laconic black strokes with slightly uneven shapes. The modern abstract emblem is accompanied by quite an elegant and stable lettering, written in two levels: the upper one in burgundy, with distinctive bars and slightly flared ends, and the bottom one in black, with horizontally-extended contours of the letters.
Minnesota State Mavericks
The horns on the head of a purple and yellow bull from the logo of the Minnesota State Mavericks club resemble a stylized Viking helmet, cut to the flattened top line and tricky geometry of their ends. The cool and unique Bull’s head is the only element of the logo, which does not need any graphical or text additions since it uses a bright and memorable color palette and strong shapes.
South Florida Bulls
Another sports club, that uses horn symbols in its visual identity of South Florida Bulls. The logo of the team is executed in a very calm and comforting muted green and light gold color palette, and is composed of just one element — a stylized slanted capital “U”, which has the ends of the vertical bars elongated and drawn in shapes of bull’s horns.
Texas Longhorns
The visual identity of Texas Longhorns is executed in a pretty simple and traditional style, with the contoured black-and-white head of a longhorn crown drawn at the bottom of the composition and having its long horns overlapping the enlarged arched lettering, set in orange, black, and white palette and executed in a clean geometric serif font with distinctive contours of the uppercase characters.
Watford
The logo of Watford looks super eye-catching due to its bright and intense color palette, composed of yellow, black, and scarlet red. The main hero here is the head of a deer, drawn in solid red against a geometric yellow and black crest, which has its thick red frame supporting the deer and its massive soft horns. The crest is complemented by a horizontally-stretched rectangular banner with the lettering, attached to the top part of the composition.
Conclusion
Horns are an ancient symbol of strength and power, associated in many cultures with masculinity and confidence. Horns are often used as a representation of the animal kingdom, depicting sturdy wild animals such as bulls, goats, and deer that are revered for their strength, agility, and endurance.
And today, you and I had the opportunity to see this for ourselves. After all, most of the brands described above have chosen these strong and hardy representatives of the animal world to make them the heroes of their logos. These animals with horns perfectly reflect the strength and confidence of companies, showing them from an extremely positive and professional side.
