Grand Rapids Griffins Logo PNG
The Grand Rapids Griffins logo expresses the hockey team’s aggressiveness and determination. The Griffin imagery emphasizes the club’s power, confidence, and competitive spirit as it plays in the American Hockey League.
The Grand Rapids Griffins hockey team was founded in January 1995 by businessmen Dave Van Andel and Dan DeVos to bring professional hockey back to Grand Rapids. The Griffins joined the International Hockey League (IHL), which waived its minimum population requirement for this market. Fans chose the Griffins’ name, and the logo was created by a design company known for its branding work in the NHL and MLB.
The Griffins debuted in the IHL in 1996, immediately setting attendance records and hosting the league’s All-Star game. In 2001, when the IHL folded, the Griffins joined the American Hockey League (AHL). The team became an official affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings in 2002, strengthening ties to the NHL club. The Griffins won the Calder Cup, the AHL’s top prize, in 2013 and 2017.
Over the years, more than 100 Griffins players have advanced to the NHL, including nine who won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2008. The Griffins have played their home games at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids since 1996.
Meaning and History
What is Grand Rapids Griffins?
It is a professional hockey team based in Michigan that competes in the American Hockey League. Its home arena is located in downtown Grand Rapids. The team is known for a stable coaching staff and high-quality player training, and it regularly wins championships. Its games consistently draw large audiences, ranking among the league’s best in attendance.
1996 – 2002
This period marked the beginning of the Grand Rapids Griffins’ visual identity. The emblem was built around a griffin, a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle, symbolizing strength, aggression, and intelligence. The figure was depicted in a dynamic standing pose, wings spread, suggesting flight or an attacking motion. The creature’s claws and gaze were important accents, conveying the team’s energy and fighting spirit.
The club’s name, placed beneath the griffin, was presented in two font styles: “Grand Rapids” in a compact sans serif typeface, and the central word “Griffins” in a bold, angular serif typeface with sharp edges and aggressive letterforms. Visually, this reinforced the perception of the club as a formidable opponent, matching the emotional tone of hockey.
The logo’s color palette combined dark blue, golden beige, green, red, and silver. Dark blue highlighted the club’s confidence and stability; golden beige symbolized prestige and success; green referenced regional identity; red conveyed energy and passion for the sport; and silver added accents that increased contrast and expressiveness in the overall composition.
The original emblem was created by Sean Michael Edwards Design of New York, which won the contract following a 1995 design competition. The designers’ primary task was to create an image that reflected both the team’s sporting aggression and its intellectual undertone, while incorporating subtle irony and charisma. Once introduced on the team’s uniforms, the emblem established the Grand Rapids Griffins’ visual style, becoming the foundation of the club’s image and recognition among fans and the sports community.
2002 – 2015
The Grand Rapids Griffins’ visual identity after the redesign became more restrained and more high-contrast than the original. The griffin, still portrayed as a proud mythical creature in a dynamic stance, took on a brighter and more defined appearance through increased color contrast. The green tone, previously associated with regional themes, was removed, leaving a more streamlined palette focused on rich dark blue, golden beige, and red.
This palette change was tied to the club’s move from the International Hockey League (IHL) to the American Hockey League (AHL) and the strengthening of its partnership with the Detroit Red Wings, whose traditional colors are red and white. The new color scheme reinforced the club’s continuity and solidarity with its prominent senior partner, while adding energy and visual dynamism to the design.
The design firm, Sean Michael Edwards Design, continued to develop the original concept, focusing on maintaining a balance between the regional identity and the hockey club’s aggressive style. The updated design preserved the team’s recognizability in the media, on uniforms, and fan merchandise, emphasizing its evolution and growing ambitions following the league change.
2015 – today
The updated Grand Rapids Griffins logo, created in collaboration with Reebok, represents a fundamentally new visual concept, distinct from the team’s previous iterations. In this emblem, the griffin’s image is more focused and streamlined, depicting the creature from the chest up, with emphasis on its open beak and piercing gaze, which highlights its attacking posture and the protective role of the club’s symbol.
Attention is drawn to the claws’ styling, which grasp the silhouette of the Grand Rapids city skyline, including the distinctive profile of Van Andel Arena. This gives the logo an added layer of meaning, with the griffin seen not just as a mythical creature but as a powerful guardian and a symbol of the city’s unity.
A key change was the departure from the traditional blue in favor of an aggressive black, which for the first time took the lead position in the club’s official branding. The red was intensified to a richer tone, emphasizing the team’s aggression and energy. At the same time, gold and silver accents continued to play supporting roles, adding depth and expressiveness to the visual composition.
The typography at the bottom of the emblem features the word “Griffins” in a bold, rigid typeface with a strong geometric structure. The letters have sharp angles and thick vertical strokes, creating a stylistic link to knightly heraldry and coat-of-arms design, reinforcing the overall image of strength and authority. White lettering on a contrasting black background ensures high legibility.
The new logo first appeared on an alternate uniform in 2012 and officially became the club’s primary mark ahead of its 20th-anniversary season. Club president T. Gortsema emphasized that the new visual concept was meant to convey a tougher, more uncompromising team image, one that embodies the defender of the city and its sporting traditions. The introduction of this design was accompanied by a complete overhaul of the team’s uniforms, including a black away version and a home jersey with an unconventional lace-neck collar, marking the first major change of this kind.
Font and Colors
The color palette combines gold, red, black, silver, and white. Gold and red dominate the composition, underscoring the team’s strength, aggressiveness, and ambition to lead. The deep-toned gold gives the emblem a sense of prestige and confidence, while the rich red highlights the club’s energy and fighting spirit.
A significant change was the introduction of black, which had not been used in the main emblem before. Its addition increased the composition’s contrast, made individual details stand out more clearly, and created a striking visual accent that reflects the team’s power and determination. Silver is used primarily as a supporting element, adding depth and reflective highlights that make the griffin appear more dynamic and dimensional.
The typeface used in the logo is bold, rigid, and angular, with thick vertical lines and straight cuts. The letters draw on heraldic and knightly aesthetics with a subtle Gothic influence, lending the club’s symbol gravitas. The contrast of white letters on a black background enhances the name’s visual weight, ensuring readability and recognizability across all media and at any scale.