Business Logo Re-Design
I redesigned the logo for AFKxp, a video game themed bar and technology center. I produced several designs, basing them off of different games and existing styles. Doing this offered a variety of options and let the client decide which direction to move in.
I compared the old logos with the current one.
The first step in the process of logo design is to understand the company, its products, audience, and philosophy. Having visited the location several times and being familiar with the culture and media the business serves, I felt I had a good grasp on most of the important aspects.
I examined the company's old logo designs and compared them to the current one to get a feel and understanding of the changes the company has gone through and understand stylistically how they want to portray the business.
Next I played with various ideas and sketched as many different styles as I could, playing and experimenting with various sources of inspiration.
I ended up creating three unique logotypes and four simplified ones that resemble typefaces based off of various game consoles. Since AFK's most popular e-sports games are Super Smash Bros., Valorant, and Tekken, I decided to have those be my main source of inspiration. Valorant actually served as inspiration for two option: the first one being a very simplified and streamlined take on the game's logo, and the second one being a more detailed, developed example of how other letters might look in the same style as the logo.
I decided to keep a pixelated typeface for the "XP" in the first option to add some charm, since I thought it looked a bit too plain without it and better suited the company's playful side. With the second option I created some angular shapes resembling a stencil font to suit Valorant's aggressive graphic style and gameplay. I added an XP bar below, resembling a meter you might see in a fighting game, to once again add an element of fun to the design while keeping with the sleek angular theme.
While Super Smash Bros. is an immensely popular game played all over the world, but unfortunately the logotype does not lend itself well to a logo with just three (main) letters, as I found out through my experiments sketching.
Luckily, Street Fighter is also a very popular and highly recognizable fighting game series; it arguably has some of the most well known fighting game characters who also happen to make cameo appearances in both Super Smash Bros. and Tekken. I used that style of thick, energetic brush stroke logotype for the third main option to really highlight the energy that is felt during tournament matches. It is also to this style's benefit that it is very unique and has a lot of appeal, making it more likely to catch someone's attention and interest. I set the "XP" in a bridged serif font for balance.
Seeing how AFK forwent the blocky, playfulness in their old logos for something more sleek and very close to a sans-serif font with some angular notches, I though it appropriate to provide some examples of more simplified designs. The ones on the right were meant to be typeface designs that would be much more recognizable to gamers, mainly showing an appreciation for old-school games and consoles.
After sharing this proposal with the business, the owners said they liked the second and third iterations, and agreed to collaborate on a redesign, which is currently ongoing.
Arik Barilko - Artist & Graphic Designer
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