Black Phoenix Games
I designed a logo and website for Black Phoenix Games, a video game studio. The logomark, a “black” phoenix, is meant to be the opposite of a regular fiery one: cold, sharp, in a perpetual solid state. I looked to crystals/glass, steel, and black holes for inspiration; things in the universe tempered under immense pressure and heat loss. The entropic conclusion of a star. The diligent formation of something special with fortune and skill.
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Moodboard excerpt — black quartz, ravens, a black hole, and sculpture by Cornelia Parker made of suspended charcoal.
The mark we landed on is a reimagined heraldic eagle shape, which is a very familiar icon with a history that goes back thousands of years. For a phoenix, we almost always see flames as part of the motif but for this mark, I wanted to reference the sharp facets of crystalline structures in the natural world, or shattered glass. There’s a delibrately added illusion to the overall logomark that makes it look like the face of a predatory bird. Finally, the head of the crest can standalone when branding in very small spaces, like for the website’s favicon.
At the time of the studio’s creation, the team was already working on a dark sci-fi action/adventure game, with plenty of beautiful concept art and storyboards already produced. I utilized this art across the pages of the site in a responsive mosiac grid with no gutters or margins so the detail of the images could be as clear as possible.