The elephant is an amazing animal that evokes extremely positive emotions. The image of the elephant has been widely used in various cultures, and today remains one of the most sought-after animals before being used in logo design. About what meaning is invested by emblem designers we will definitely talk about it, but first, let’s turn to the theory.
So, today on the planet there are two genera and three species of animals from the elephant family. African elephants are divided into savannah and forest elephants. The Asian, or Indian, elephant, Elephas maximus, is now the only representative of its genus and species. It is inferior in size to the African savannah elephant and surpasses the forest elephant, thus occupying the honorable second place in the ranking of the largest mammals on the Earth. It is difficult to say which elephants are the most popular among modern graphic designers – African or Indian – and it is not important. What is important is another thing – the meaning that the artists put together.
Elephant represents wisdom, strength, and prudence. In psychoanalysis, this animal can symbolize the ability to overcome difficulties or assert power.
In India, China, and Africa, the elephant serves as an emblem of royalty and symbolizes the qualities necessary for a good ruler – dignity, insight, intelligence, patience, as well as loyalty, peace, longevity, prosperity, and happiness. By and large, in the countries of Asia and Africa elephant as an emblem plays the same role as the eagle or lion in Europe and America.
From all of the above, we can conclude that the logos, which depicts an elephant in one form or another, primarily represents the stability and confidence of the company. Now let’s take a closer look at the most interesting elephant logos.
The elephant from the Animal Planet logo is drawn in a super cool and progressive manner, with an interesting geometry and a bright shade of blue. The solid and pretty simple silhouette evokes a sense of energy and motion, due to the right use of smooth shades around it.
Quite an unexpected depiction of an animal can be found in the logo of Apache Hive. Here the huge animal is merged with a small insect, making up a fantasy creature with the yellow head of an elephant and the striped body of a bee. The image is accompanied by a stable geometric lettering in the same palette.
An absolutely different mood is present in the Bolton Wanderer’s visual identity. Never the gray elephant is drawn in a primitive heraldic way, with a yellow caste on its back and an arched surface under its feet. The classy serif typeface at the bottom of the composition elevates the style of the badge and makes it well-balanced.
The Cagiva logo is probably one of the most famous insignias with an elephant. There is only the head of this amazing animal present in the emblem, but its minimalism, sharpness, and contemporary style of depiction create a super edgy and confident image with a lot of strength.
The Crabble’s logo is also based on the image of an elephant, however here the animal takes less place than the sleek uppercase lettering, written in a classy serif typeface with a lightweight golden shadow. The elegance of the inscription is beautifully supported by a gray and black drawing, set into the composition and accompanied by the thick golden ribbon.
The Dendy elephant is cool, fun, and young. It is an anthropomorphic image of an animal, which stands in its bright yellow pants and red t-shirt, wearing blue shoes and a blue cap. The skin-colored elephant has its arm with the V-sign raised, creating a great positive mood, supported by a bold red wordmark with softened contours of the characters.
The logo of the Elephant Atta brand boasts not one but two elephants — a mother and her baby. The profiles of the animals are drawn in solid white on the top part of the banner, enclosed into a circular golden frame. The double portrait is drawn against a bright pink background, which is also used for the main part of the logo, the one where the inscription is.
The elephant from the logo of the Elephant House Studios is drawn in a minimalistic geometric manner with a solid body and a thick wavy trunk attached to it at a slight distance. Both elements of the animal are set in plain black, accompanied by black sans-serif lettering with medium-weight bars, which add some lightness to the overall composition, full of strength and stability.
The Elephant Insurance company has the elephant not only in its name but also in its logo. Here the animal makes up the main part of the badge, drawn as the background for the bold yellow lowercase wordmark. The silhouette of an elephant is executed in hazy gradients of gray and pinkish-red, creating a mysterious and interesting image.
Another super recognizable logo with an elephant is the badge of the Evernote application. Here the ear of the animal is stylized as a folded page, with a thin white border line. The green emblem is placed on the left from the massive black wordmark, executed on a traditional serif terrace, evoking a sense of professionalism and excellence.
The two elephants from the Fevicol logo are drawn in a dark blue and white palette and feature identical shapes and sizes. The animals are pulling the orb tied to their feet in different directions. Placed on a background with a solid orange semi-sphere, the elephants look strong and full of determination.
First Bank of Nigeria has the image of an elephant in its logo as the symbol of stability, which is more than actual for any financial organization. The dark-blue stylized image is set on a solid yellow parallelogram, slanted to the right, and accompanied by a blue italicized inscription in an elegant and smooth font.
The Golumbia Video logo looks pretty amateurish but still has all the confidence and strength in it. The solid gray head of an elephant with its huge ears is drawn on a black roundel with a thin red outline and accompanied by a heavy yellow inscription, written along the bottom part of the medallion in a massive geometric sans-serif typeface.
The Hadoop brand uses an image of a cute and friendly baby elephant for its emblem. The sweet yellow animal is drawn in the left part of the composition, softening the enlarged geometric lettering, executed in a blue, red, and orange color palette. The main part of the inscription overlaps another graphical element of the logo, a large stylized feather.
The grey and blue logo of the iA Financial Group evokes a sense of reliability and professionalism, and the stylized minimalistic emblem with an elephant here does not play the last role. The image of the animal is set on the right from the enlarged blue “iA”, setting the mood for the entire badge.
The stylized geometric elephant from the Jumbo logo is drawn in solid red elements with thin light-gray outlines and is accompanied by a small green flower, which the animal is holding with its trunk. The color of the clover is supported by the solid green lowercase lettering, which uses an extra-bold softened typeface, repeating the contours of the elephant.
The Mass Media logo features not a drawing but a stylized photo of a large circus elephant, which is standing on a small box. This might be an enhanced symbol of balance and stability, as well as serve as just about eye-catching element for this quite simple old-school badge.
The Peter Schmidt Group logo looks super elegant and exquisite: the three-leveled uppercase inscription in a classy geometric sans-serif typeface is written in solid black lines against a plain white background and accompanied by an emblem depicting a black elephant with ethnic pattern on the blanket, covering its back.
The visual identity of PostgreSQL is also based on an image of an elephant. Here the head of the animal is drawn in blue and white, with solid elements and uneven white borders, which make the emblem look as if it was drawn by an amateur. The massive graphical part of the logo is stabilized by a lightweight sans-serif wordmark in blue and black.
The elegant and sleek Rajah logo is executed in a timeless blue, white, and gold color palette, with the wordmark being the main star of the composition. The gradient gold silhouette of an elephant with its trunk up (this position usually symbolizes prosperity and success) is set in the upper part of the badge.
There is no need to speak about the meaning of the Republican Party of the USA’s visual identity, as a lot has been said in different sources. Here we will only mention the interesting manner of the elephant depiction, which is composed of two parts, the upper one in solid blue with three white five-pointed stars on it, and the bottom in solid red with no additions.
One of the most interesting depictions of an elephant on our list is the one from the logo of the Thai Taste brand. Here the animal is not drawn as we were expecting it to be: the elephant’s silhouette can only be guessed in thin curved lines, which come from the upper left corner of the banner and merge with the tail of the lowercase “E” set in the bottom right corner.
On The Hungry Elephant logo, the animal is drawn in thin turquoise blue lines with many small details, creating quite a realistic image. The elephant with a traditional blanket on its back makes up a background for the bold black lettering, framed in a strong and distinctive rectangular frame.
The athletic program from the University of Alabama uses a pretty aggressive and strong image of an elephant for its badge, to represent their willingness to win and readiness to fight. The powerful gray animal with black and red contouring makes up a centerpiece of the composition, with the additional red lettering, set at the bottom, only enhancing the mood.