The deer is considered a good symbol. His image is often associated with spirituality, creation, rebirth, renewal, purity, light, sunrise, and sun. And the huge branched horns represent fertility because they are associated with the Tree of Life. But seeing a deer in the logos of popular brands is not as common as other animals that dominate pop culture.
The horned giant looks luxurious, elegant, and noble. At the same time, he is incredibly strong, fast, brave, and even aggressive, so this is a universal image. Artists can convey both its graceful beauty and hidden energy; that is, a variety of companies can use a deer in their visual identification. And to make the animal truly unique, it can be interestingly stylized by beating the shape of the horns or body.
In heraldry, the deer denotes moderation and grace. In Christianity, it is a symbol of religious zeal; among the Celts, it is an intermediary between the worlds of people and gods; among the ancient Mayans, it is a sacred being. Terrible, friendly, calm, running, powerful and graceful animals are often used on the logos of world brands. In today’s article, we will look at how they can look and what meaning designers put in this image, before which there is an endless scope for creativity.
Jagermeister
For the Jägermeister trademark, the deer logo is an obligatory attribute of branded green bottles. It has always adorned rectangular labels and has hardly changed in a hundred years, except for minor adjustments. The fact is that the name of the alcohol brand is translated from German as “The Hunt Master” or “Master Hunter.” The emblem depicts the head of a deer against the background of a circle with rays diverging in all directions. Between the horns is an Orthodox cross, which is associated with an interesting story. According to legend, St. Hubert used to be a count and an avid hunter. One Christmas night, he went to the forest and saw a deer with a luminous cross over his head. It was this event that inspired him to go to a monastery and become a monk for the rest of his life. So the Jagermeister brand has a conceptual basis that is reflected in the entire identity – from the name to the logo.
Watford
At Watford, the logo also contains a deer head, but without religious overtones. Since this is a professional football club, in its case, the animal symbolizes power, strength, speed, self-confidence, and the desire to win. Therefore, the artists chose a fairly aggressive color scheme, combining bright shades of red, yellow, and black. It is noteworthy that the deer has an atypical color – it is entirely red with thin black outlines. The drawing style is far from realism: the artists simplified the image, making the animal look like a cartoon character. The head is in a pentagonal shield with a rectangular plate, where the brand’s name is written in large letters.
Iowa Heartlanders
But at the professional hockey club Iowa Heartlanders, the logo with a deer radiates inner power and strength. Hidden aggression is also conveyed here, but there are no bright defiant colors. Designers have focused on discreet shades of gray, diluting them for contrast with small yellow blotches. Moreover, yellow is used only for the horns to highlight their ramifications. The eyes of the deer are menacingly narrowed, and the corners of the mouth are lowered down. The look is confident, while the head is turned to the right as if the animal is looking into the future with a challenge—the wool flutters in the wind, which creates a “superhero” image. And to make the drawing modern, the artists emphasized the uneven color and detailed some of the contours.
Tunisair
For the Tunisian national airline Tunisair, the logo is a way to show the speed of air travel. Especially for this, the artists depicted a deer using many thin lines that are parallel and have a slight diagonal slope. They form a graceful silhouette of the animal, followed by the so-called speed lines – stripes that emphasize the energy of movement. The animal is running, but it seems like it is floating in the air because of the flying pose and visual lightness. This perfectly conveys the concept of an aviation company. In addition, deer can fly in fairy tales if we recall the Christmas stories about Santa Claus. To the right, the word “TUNISAIR” is written in bold red sans-serif letters, and above it, in the top line, is the text in Arabic characters.
Hartford Insurance
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. – is an organization that has been engaged in insurance since 1810. In the case of Hartford Insurance, the logo contains a nod to the company’s name because the word “Hartford” historically refers to a ford used by deer to cross from one bank to another. By the way, near the city of the same name, a deer is also depicted on the flag and seal, moreover, wading across the river. A financial brand has a graceful animal just standing on the ground. It can be seen that it rises on a hill, and in the background, somewhere below, either the sky or the water turns blue. By the way, “hart” is a medieval hunting term for a deer. Therefore, the choice of image for the logo was quite justified. The animal looks very menacing and seems to be dissatisfied with something. To the left of the picture, the article “THE” is written in burgundy letters, and below is the main word from the organization’s name.
State College Spikes
At State College Spikes, the logo also contains a deer, only its horns are very short, unbranched, and curved forward, like a cow or a bull. The animal is depicted in a jump as if it is about to attack someone. The artists also detailed the sharp hooves to create a sense of danger, despite the fun cartoon style of the drawing. Such an aggressive attitude is justified by the fact that the emblem belongs to the university baseball club, which is important to show its readiness to fight for victory. But the color scheme is rather restrained: the designers used a combination of dark yellow and beige, complementing them with blue outlines. Only the red ribbon stands out brightly, serving as the basis for the inscription “STATE COLLEGE” and wrapping around the lower end of the originally designed word “Spikes.”
Hainan Airlines
The largest private airline in China, Hainan Airlines, has had a logo since 2004 consisting of hieroglyphs and a stylized image of a lotus. At the same time, the old emblem, which was used in 1989-1993, contained an unusual composition of a deer against a blue swirl. The animal’s silhouette was dark red, with a long thin neck, the same graceful legs, a triangular body, and a tassel tail. Moreover, the front and hind legs were widely spaced, as if the forest animal did not jump forward but took off. This impression was intensified by the fact that the deer looked up. In the background, the artists depicted a blue wave or a wing of three fragments. All elements of the logo symbolized the ease of flight, which fit perfectly into the concept of the Chinese air carrier.
SSC
Shelby Super Cars is a privately owned sports car manufacturer based in the United States. Considering that the deer is a powerful and strong beast, developing great speed, its image characterizes cars from the best side. Therefore, the developers have made this animal part of the brand’s visual identity. The designers who created the logo for SSC used a traditional heraldic shield with a pattern of dark blue and white diamonds as the basis. In the middle, it is crossed by an inverted chevron of red and white stripes of different thicknesses. At the very top, the Latin phrase “In Veritate Victoria” is written in elegant cursive. And below, on the pointed tip of the shield, a tiny deer head with branched antlers is depicted. It is painted gold to make it stand out against the blue background. In this case, it is a symbol of luxury, high status, and good taste.
Glenfiddich
Scotch whiskey brand Glenfiddich, following the example of the German liqueur Jagermeister, decorates its bottles with a deer emblem. But at Glenfiddich, the logo is different: the head of the animal is not in the full face but in profile and is turned to the left. At the same time, part of the back is present in the picture, which makes it clear that the deer is looking back as if something has attracted its attention. The silhouette is not detailed, but the artists focused on the thin neck and huge horns with sharp forks, depicting them using expressive brown lines. And to show the visible side of the head, they used negative space, painting this part with white. At the bottom, the name of the alcohol brand is written in black letters. The vertically elongated font with small sharp serifs adds elegance to the logo.
Queensland Government
For the Queensland Government, the logo is an important part of the corporate identity. In structure, it almost exactly repeats the coat of arms of this Australian state. Here the deer is represented as a heraldic figure. He stands on his hind limbs on the left side and, together with a crane, holds a shield, where the heads of a ram and a bull, a sheaf of wheat, and a pillar of gold with tools for mining are depicted in four segments. On the top are two stalks of sugar cane and a knight’s shield, and on the bottom of the ribbon is the state motto in Latin: “Audax at Fidelis.” The symbols on the shield represent the main industries of the state in the 19th century, and the deer shows the connection between Australia and Great Britain because the coat of arms of the Queensland colony was presented personally by Queen Victoria.
Game of Thrones
At Game of Thrones, the logo also could not do without a deer, although it is not the main symbol. Based on the TV series of the same name, the logo of the famous franchise features the heads of four real and mythical animals: a deer, a dragon, a lion, and a wolf. The first personifies House Baratheon, the second – is House Targaryen, the third – is House Lannister, and the fourth – is House Stark. They are located on the four sides of the circle, which is framed by an ornamented ring, and itself contains a stylized floral pattern. And in the center, in a large horizontal rectangle, the phrase “GAME OF THRONES LEGACY” is written, divided into two lines. Both “O” s are crossed out with three vertical stripes, which makes them look like stringed musical instruments.
Porsche
In the case of the German car manufacturer Porsche, the logo contains an image of a horse; from a deer, there are only antlers. Moreover, judging by the number, they would be enough for three animals at once. These elements are located inside a rectangular heraldic shield with a narrowed base, which is divided into four approximately equal segments. They are balanced by patterns of alternating red and black stripes. The entire graphic composition, including the forked horns, is a reminder of the Free People’s State of Württemberg coat of arms, which was previously (until 1938) used as the emblem of Porsche.
Finlandia
For different types of Finlandia vodka, the logo on all labels is slightly different. Still, the official version contains a blue two-level inscription and an image of deer under the sun. In the emblem of 1998-2003. the animals ran to the left. They were completely white, only outlined in blue around the edge. This created a feeling of frosty freshness. The sun looked like a big deep red circle. The title used a bold sans-serif font with vertically elongated letters. Reindeer are particularly important in Finland: they are raised on farms there and harnessed to sleds.
Milwaukee Bucks
Designers created a deer logo for the Milwaukee Bucks professional basketball team because this animal is their mascot. Previously, the emblem was cartoonish, but after a series of changes, a severe deer became the main symbol, which looks menacing and impressive. His eyes glow white, his mouth forms a perfectly straight line, and his horns have many sharp spikes. The head of the forest animal is predominantly dark green, but there are some white elements in it – negative space. An incomplete beige circle is used as the basis. It breaks off where the branched horns begin. The frame of the circle is two dark green rings with a sign. The name of the club is written on it in large white letters. The block font perfectly complements the brutal style of the drawing.
Fairfield Stags
Fairfield Stags have a closely related logo and name. Indeed, for Fairfield University sports teams, the deer is the most important symbol that personifies their strength, perseverance, courage, and perseverance. Therefore, the animal on the emblem is not just standing peacefully but is rapidly rushing forward. Dynamics are visible even though the artists depicted only the head and neck. To create the illusion of movement, they added sharp elongated lines at the back—the forked antlers of the deer point straight ahead as if it is about to attack. The main part of the head is dark red, but there are blotches of several shades of gray and black. The two-line inscription at the bottom is in italics, which also looks dynamic. The letters in the first word are decorated with triangular serifs, which are associated with pointed horns.
John Deere
In 1837, John Deere set up a steel plow business and named it after himself. Now it is one of the largest American agricultural equipment manufacturers, which everyone knows by the original emblem with a deer head. At John Deere, the logo, like the name, is a tribute to the name of the founder of the company. The designers depicted a proud forest animal at the moment of the jump: it pushes off the ground with its hind legs and bends its knees with its front legs. The yellow silhouette of the animal is on the background of a convex square with a green gradient. The base has a double edging in yellow and dark green. At the bottom, there is an inscription made in capital letters without serifs. Even though all characters are in upper case, the first “J” and “D” in two words are enlarged.
Danville Dashers
The Danville Dashers hockey team also has a deer logo. As in the emblems of other sports clubs, the animal looks powerful and aggressive. His sharp horns are exposed forward, and his orange eye glows with confidence in victory. The light gray coat is diluted with white spots and black contours. In the drawing, there is only a head and neck, which ends where the letter “D” from the word “Dashers” begins. In turn, “Danville” is a little higher and to the right. An individual bold font is used for the inscription. All letters are capital, italic, black, with an orange stroke. Under the bottom lies the same black and orange hockey stick.
Janssen
The designers behind the deer logo for pharmaceutical company Janssen did not depict it as a majestic animal. They presented him as a funny cartoon character. The head of a forest animal looks very strange and is shaped like a half-cut door key. The white silhouette is placed in a dark blue rhombus. To the right of the emblem is a wordmark: the brand name, divided into two lines. It is painted in the same dark blue color and consists of bold sans-serif letters.
Browning
Arms manufacturer Browning has the most iconic logo of all. It contains a massive inscription that adorns the pistols, rifles, and shotguns produced by this American company. Letters with many straight and sharp corners create a feeling of power, reliability, and constancy. A light silhouette of a deer balances the visually heavy font. The head of the animal is outlined by just one graceful line, and it is interrupted from below. And on top are the same graceful horns.
