MAGIS
BRANDING & LOGO DESIGN | CASE STUDY
CLIENT: Toronto Film School
Visual Identity | Logo Design | Layout Design | Digital e-Streaming Banner Design | Merchandise Designs | Art Direction for Limited Edition Packaging | Brand Standards Guidelines
THE ASK
To create a distinct and complete brand identity for Magis, a custom car shop video game. The brand identity will include the design of a logo, complete visual standards, and multi-platform deliverables that focus on establishing storytelling and brand experience. This will include a logo system, colour palette and typography system, layout and imagery standards, brand standards guide, merchandize design, online banner collection and a collector’s edition game launch package art direction.
THE BRAND
MAGIS offers players an opportunity to salvage or purchase used classic cars and go through a process of modifying, rebuilding, and customizing these cars. MAGIS is passionately car-centric with a careful eye for detail. They have a visual goal of modern precision mixed with iconic retro styling. And the brand character is defined the keywords: focused | friendly | joyfully loud | careful
GETTING STARTED: Brand Discovery Phase:
RESEARCH
Research was conducted across a wide range of platforms to gain a better understanding of the target audience for this video game. One-on-one interviews with a car enthusiasts and video gamers as well as research conducted on vendors, stores and their associated brand identities as well as articles pertaining to muscle cars and hot rods and long line surverys with car lovers. Research revealed that the target audience is 15-55 with the majority of individuals between the ages of 20-35. Illustrating the need for old traditions yet new lifestyles. An older target audience that would associate with iconic retro styling and a modern precision that would entice a younger clientele. Encouraging a love of cars and of driving that supersedes age reinforcing the main focus on a passion for cars. Research showed that this is more male dominant with 60% male target audience.
MARKET SEGMENT
The market segment showed that there were two different age groups that the game would require marketing to. An older clientele/ car enthusiasts as well as a younger clientele. The older clientele/ car enthusiasts were individuals with a passion for cars in all forms. They loved working on cars, building, modifying cars, and creating something new and saw the car as more than what it was originally. These individuals have loved cars since they were young and embrace driving as a method to unwind and find freedom or escapism. Cars are their ultimate passion. The younger clientele were individuals who love video games. It was an venue where they developed a passion for cars. They don’t need to be out driving (or are too young to be driving yet) but the game nurturers their passion and excitement for cars.
THE NEXT STEP: The Design Phase
DESIGN ELEMENTS
When considering a brand’s visual identity and all the elements involved in establishing a cohesive and consistent voice, as a designer, I, considered all of the design elements that would aid establishing the same communication goal across all platforms such as lines, shapes, colour, typography, imagery and layout. The process of visual branding creation started with considering the symbolic meaning behind each of the design elements and focused on ensuring that the brand’s keywords, message, and personality were supported and reinforced in each decision.
COLOUR PALETTE
The second process in the visual identity was developing a colour palette for the brand that would not only help build and reinforce brand recognition by creating a strong, recognizable look for MAGIS but support and reinforce the brand identity. The colour system was developed to provide a chromatic range for a recognizable brand personality as it was to be used across all visual media. The primary brand colours chosen were orange and two different tones of dark blue. The orange chosen for the brand is a retro orange car colour creating an association to the past and the retro feel for the brand. Orange is attention grabbing, joyfully loud, friendly, sociable, and energetic. Orange is also symbolic for safety and therefore the brand’s careful precision as well as symbolic for construction reinforcing the building, design, and modification of cars within MAGIS’ game. Blue is symbolic of comfort, confidence, applying to knowledge and their expertise/precision of the brand. It is a dark blue, as dark colours are classic and dignified reinforcing their meticulous care and precision. Secondary colours for the brand are grey, black, and white. Grey is mechanical, industrial and practical reinforcing the construction and development of the MAGIS’ cars. White is symbolic of innovation, new opportunities, and is fresh reinforcing the custom and sublime experience that MAGIS’ game is premised on. Black is powerful, classic, dignified, and represents authority reinforcing the expertise and careful precision of the brand. These colour choices supported the brand message, personality, and keywords they had chosen as their identity.
LOGO DESIGN
The third process in the branding creation was the logo design. Having analyzed the target audience and having done the market research, I started developing variants in different types of logos: wordmarks, lettermarks, combination marks, and symbols. The important factor to consider was the high readability of the logo as it was aimed at using on various platforms and devices so it had to be legible at once.
Below, you can see some of the variants developed in this process:
The main focal point for the logo design and the typography for the brand was sans serif fonts. Sans serifs are modern, approachable, casual, and friendly reinforcing the MAGIS brand traits as well as the visual goal of modern precision through geometric shapes. The best approach to the logo design after feedback, resulted in the workmark in the sans serif font, Abster. This featured the capitalized letters of the font with a few alterations that made it unique to the brand, such as an additional triangle added to the letter A and downward crossbar to the letter G creating a corner. This wordmark represented the MAGIS brand message, personality, and identity of the brand and reflected the construction of building, modifying, and customizing cars that MAGIS showcases. Its missing pieces of the letters reinforce this as well as the added parts that modify the letters, making them unique similar to the brand vision of MAGIS. It also indirectly references the roadways, and the sharp corners and curves, that the drivers should utilize to test their final product. Utilizing, the chosen colour palette and the finalized wordmark for the brand, this is the final product:
The Final Product:
TYPOGRAPHY
To support the sans serif font chosen for the logo, the font family: Poppins was chosen for the Brand’s communication materials. Poppins, as a geometric font that showcases the same straight lines and angles as well as the rounded shapes showcased in the wordmark creating consistency across the brand. The font family applies to both headers and the body copy relying on weight and size to create contrast and visual interest in the typography. The main headers, Poppin’s bold, would not only establish contrast to the regular font in their body copy, but would also reinforce the joyfully loud and passionate brand trait of the MAGIS brand.
IMAGERY
In order to support and reinforce the concept of the both game premise and the brand’s identity, the imagery for the brand utilizes both photography and graphics in their designs. The media blending of these images would reinforce the concept of construction and of building, modifying, and designing of muscle cars and hot rods within the MAGIS game. The images are car-centric reinforcing the brand’s passion for cars, focusing on all related car parts such as engines, steering wheels, tires, dashboards, but never show a full car reinforcing the communication goal and MAGIS’ brand focus on modifying, rebuilding and designing of cars. While this was the overall focus, there were a full exceptions that would translate the same meaning and symbolism in their display. For example, a car could be shown fully if it is a graphic or in blueprint form or broken by geometric shapes reinforcing the construction concept. This was also prevalelent when considering adding people in the imagery.
DIGITAL E-STREAMING BANNER DESIGN
When considering the shape and style of the banner collection for MAGIS’ brand identity it was apparent that the brand could utilize both vertical or horizontal banners for their marketing and promotions. Vertical lines represent height, stature, firmness. They are honest, dignified, stable and strong reinforcing the quality associated with the brand and therefore the expertise and meticulous care and precision of the brand identity. Alternatively the horizontal banner creates comfort and confidence pertaining to both the meticulous care/expertise of the brand as well as reinforces their friendly/loud passionate brand traits. If a horizontal banner is utilized then it should be presented at the top of web pages/e-stores and gaming platforms to further represent their brand traits.
Horizontal Banner
Vertical Banner
MERCHANDISE DESIGNS
The merchandise designed for MAGIS considered not only the visual consistency of brand identity, but also the market research that defined the MAGIS’ target audience and their individual interests and needs. There were three different types of car enthusiasts who were passionate about cars in different ways and the merchandise needed to connect their target audience to the game meaningfully.
1) A wrench and/or car tools, applies to the first group of MAGIS’ target audience. These individuals work on their own cars in their daily life and are passionate about building, modifying, and designing their own cars. MAGIS car shop simulator video game gives them the opportunity to further extend this passion on cars and test out their own designs in a realistic setting before committing to their own physical cars and garages. Tools and wrenches would merge the gap between the video game simulator and their on own workshop.
2) A MAGIS car key-chain in which the second type of car enthusiast would utilize on a daily basis on their car keys. This individual is a car enthusiast that doesn’t potentially work on their own cars but is passionate about cars and drives for the love of driving, embracing the excitement and escapism that driving offers them.
3) The third target audience group are video gamers and car lovers. This individual does not drive in reality, but utilizes the game to satisfy their love of cars. Merchandise such as clothing, accessories and mugs, they would wear and use while playing the game creating a venue in which MAGIS could penetrate their daily lives and become apart of their reality.
BRAND STANDARDS GUIDELINES
A critical piece of MAGIS’ branding was the brand guidelines, a style guide that the marketing and product design team could use to ensure they honour the integrity of their visual identity as well as maintain consistency as they implemented it across all customer touch points.
ART DIRECTION FOR LIMITED EDITION COLLECTOR’S PACKAGING DESIGN
The brand also required art direction for the limited edition packaging design, which required coming up with a unique concept that fit the brand. The designed brief for MAGIS’ marketing and product design team, utilized the same color palette and layout of the design materials and supported a quick connection to the brand, while boasting simplicity that did not take away from the information within the brief. It dealt with all aspects of the limited-edition package from concept description and functionality, to materials and sizing, leaving no detail unturned.
