Toronto Raptors Logo PNG
Aggressive and predatory “dinosaurs” crowd out weak and purposeless creatures. Athletes from the Toronto Raptors club chose a logo with a prehistoric animal that inspires them to high-profile victories. Basketball players are always ready for powerful attacks and brilliant maneuvers. All this is a symbol of unbending will.
Toronto Raptors: Brand overview
| Founded: | 1995 |
| Founder: | Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment |
| Headquarters: | Toronto, Ontario, U.S. |
| Website: | nba.com |
One of the few positive moments that could be remembered from 1993 was the release of Jurassic Park, one of the most popular and box-office movies in history. The film had the effect of an exploding bomb: the fascination with dinosaurs has become common, and Tyrannosaurus Rex has become a new iconic character.
The same year, almost half a century later, the return of professional basketball sport to Canada was announced. At the moment, the Toronto Raptors is the only NBA team that represents Canada. Raptors were based in 1993 and joined the National Basketball Association in 1995 when the leadership decided to expand the league with the Canadian teams. Along with Toronto Raptors, the Vancouver Grizzlies club also joined the NBA, but in 2001 the club changed the residence from Vancouver, Canada to Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Since then, Toronto is the only representative of the “country of maple leaves.”
One of the primary tasks was the selection of a suitable title, so the competition that collected more than 2,000 applications was announced in Toronto. The most preferred option was to return to the roots: the Toronto Huskies team was remembered. However, the variant with the Huskies soon receded because of the similarity of the club’s logo with the emblem of the colleagues Minnesota Timberwolves.
The management decided to announce a competition for the best team name. Over 2000 variants of the club’s name and emblems were sent, only nine of which were left for consideration: Beavers, Bobcats, Tyrannosaurs, Hogs, Dragons, Scorpions, Raptors, Tarantulas, and Grizzlys. Ultimately, the Toronto Raptors’ name, inspired by the Hollywood blockbuster, was the winner of the vote.
Meaning and History
The young team, formed in 1993, had its logo three years later – in 1996. Based on the name, it is associated with the theme of dinosaurs. At first, it was a full-length anthropomorphized predator image, but then it was removed, leaving only the ball.
It was largely the 1990s phenomenon that team colors were in step with contemporary trends and tastes. So it seemed many sports franchises took a ten-year in-style vacation, showing a total lack of style and good taste. The pop culture was influenced by the huge popularity of Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster Jurassic Park (1993), which had the effect of an exploding bomb. The fascination with dinosaurs became common, including the Toronto Raptors. Hence, the logo of the team featured the cartoonish Tyrannosaurus Rex as an iconic character. As for the team color scheme, it was affected by the so-called purple-and-black revolution of the 1990s. No wonder, it was purple and black. And only after an existence of nearly 20 years, the franchise agreed to adopt a new version of the logo, whose elements were originally present on the alternative team logo.
What is Toronto Raptors?
The Toronto Raptors are a member of the National Basketball Association and the only Canadian team since 2001. It was founded in 1995 and has played with varying success. In 2019, she managed to win the NBA Finals for the first time.
1996 – 2008
The leadership chose a velociraptor as the basic elements of the team logo. This fast and brisk creature that can respond instantly to circumstances has enormous endurance and is a wait-and-see predator. The red dinosaur is dressed in a white sports uniform – shorts and a T-shirt with the letter “R” on the chest. He dribbles a basketball, looking back on the animal’s legs – sneakers with two bulging claws. The long tail goes far beyond the logo. In the upper part, there is an arched word “Raptors,” and above it with a smaller font – “Toronto.” The emblem also has purple lines, a circle, and spikes.
2009 – 2014
The changes of 2009 touched mainly on color. All other elements remained the same: around background (disk shape), sharp “spikes,” as on a Velociraptor ridge, open mouth with two rows of teeth, and so on. In this version, the designers changed the violet color to red to add aggressiveness to the logo to intimidate rivals.
2015 – present
After seven years, the team introduced an updated logo. It is radically different from the previous versions because it contains a different design: it does not have a prehistoric dinosaur. Thanks to this, the readability of the inscription has increased. But the predator did not completely disappear: its presence is visible in the tracks of sharp claws on the basketball ball. The logo took the form of a classic disk shape with a round central part and edging along the edge.
The new team logo was designed by the Toronto-native creative services agency, Sid Lee, who described this logo as aggressively stylish.
Font and Colors
The current version consists of a ball, which is placed in the center, and two bands surrounding it – a wide inner and a narrow outer one. On the ball, instead of three lines, there are traces from the claws of a Velociraptor. There is no more sharpness in the emblem: all elements are streamlined.
In the initial versions, the team’s name was poorly readable because the powerful dinosaur figure drew attention to itself. The letters were monolithic, almost continuous, with sharp serifs along the edges. “R” and “S” were larger than the rest of the characters. In the current logo, another font is used – chopped grotesque.
Officially, the Toronto Raptors branded palette includes five colors according to the Pantone Color Matching System. Among them are white, black PMS Black, red 200, gold 872, and silver Cool Gray.
Toronto Raptors color codes
| Red | Hex color: | #ce1141 |
|---|---|---|
| RGB: | 206 17 65 | |
| CMYK: | 0 100 65 15 | |
| Pantone: | PMS 200 C |
| Black | Hex color: | #000000 |
|---|---|---|
| RGB: | 6 25 34 | |
| CMYK: | 30 0 0 100 | |
| Pantone: | PMS Black C |
| Silver | Hex color: | #a1a1a4 |
|---|---|---|
| RGB: | 161 161 164 | |
| CMYK: | 0 1 0 43 | |
| Pantone: | PMS Cool Gray 8 C |
| Gold | Hex color: | #b4975a |
|---|---|---|
| RGB: | 180 151 90 | |
| CMYK: | 20 30 70 15 | |
| Pantone: | PMS 872 C |
Why is Toronto called the Raptors?
At first, they wanted to name the team Huskies, but the leaders thought that in this case, its logo would resemble the Minnesota Timberwolves symbol. To prevent inappropriate associations, they decided to hold a fan competition. As a result, the Raptors variant won because, at that time, everyone heard about the sci-fi action movie Jurassic Park from 1993.
Will the Raptors change their logo?
The Toronto Raptors team has already refined their logo for the 2020-2021 season by removing the outer ring-shaped outline, repainting the silver part of the ball red, and increasing the spacing between the letters. Whether further changes are planned is not yet known.
What is the dinosaur on the Toronto Raptors logo?
Until 2015, the basketball club’s logo featured Tyrannosaurus Rex. After a global redesign, the animal was removed – only a claw mark hints at its presence.
When did Raptors change their logo?
The Raptors logo was last updated in the 2020-2021 season. Since the team was then in the middle of the playoffs, it did not immediately announce the changes.
