New Orleans Pelicans Logo History: Comparing Design Changes
A practical guide to the New Orleans Pelicans logo changes, primary marks, wordmarks, colors, and how to compare versions for design work.
Contents
What to know before comparing Pelicans logos
The New Orleans Pelicans identity has changed several times, but the full visual history is often mixed with the earlier New Orleans Hornets branding. For a clean comparison, separate the team name from the visual marks. The Pelicans era began in 2013, while the Hornets name and its teal-and-purple identity belonged to a different period and later returned to Charlotte. Treat those as related but distinct logo histories.
Use official team media resources or reputable sports branding archives rather than third-party wallpaper sites. Unofficial copies may alter colors, crop the mark, or use outdated wordmarks. If you need to compare a logo version for a project, collect the primary mark, secondary mark, wordmark, and color reference side by side.
Step-by-step comparison
Start with the current primary mark. The Pelicans identity centers on a pelican head and partial wing, usually shown in navy, red, and gold. Record the visible shapes first: the bird head, the wing position, the eye treatment, and the type style used with the mark.
Identify the wordmark separately. Teams often update the jersey wordmark without fully replacing the primary emblem. Compare the letterforms, spacing, outline weight, and whether the wordmark uses a custom serif, slab, or modified block style.
Check secondary marks and partial logos. The fleur-de-lis, crescent, and pelican references appear in alternate branding tied to the city. Note whether the symbol is used alone, inside a roundel, or paired with the team name.
Compare color builds. Brand color names may stay similar while hex or Pantone values shift between style guides. When measuring from an image, sample colors from flat areas rather than gradients, shadows, or jersey fabric.
Place the logos at equal height. A mark with long wings or extended type can appear larger simply because of its bounding box. Match cap height for wordmarks and compare optical weight, not pixel size.
Check the output
When you finish a comparison, review the identified changes against a consistent set of elements: silhouette, beak and eye, wing angle, wordmark, outline, and palette. If your goal is a redesign study, label each version with its approximate year and source rather than presenting an undated mix.
Verify small-size legibility. Narrows serifs, thin outlines, or low-contrast gold on white can disappear in a browser tab or social avatar. View the logo at common small sizes and on both light and dark backgrounds before using it as a reference.
Common problems and next steps
A frequent mistake is treating a specialty court logo or anniversary patch as the primary team mark. Those versions may be real, but they belong to a limited promotion or uniform variant. Keep them in a separate category when documenting the identity.
If colors do not match across sources, do not average them. Sports brands update digital style guides and print references independently. Record the source, date, and intended medium for each color sample instead of assuming one version is wrong.
For an editable reference, trace only if you have rights to do so and are producing an original study or commentary. Do not claim a traced or recreated mark is an official vector file. If you need official artwork, go through the team or league media channels rather than creating an unofficial replacement.
When publishing a redesign comparison, identify speculative work clearly. A side-by-side of the current mark and an original redesign should not imply that the team adopted the new version.