Reading time: 5 minutes

It’s National Video Game Day (it was, at the time of writing) so I thought to compile some of my favourite vide game logos, providing a little analysis of each one and some key takeaways that I’ve collected from the designs. I’ve tried to credit each of the logos back to the original designer, but some studios keep their creative team members tightly under wraps, so I’ve referenced it back to each studio instead.

These collections aren’t based on franchise popularity or game sales, rather it’s just a collection of logos I personally like in terms of their creativity, functionality or for standing the test of time. Enjoy!!!

Jet Set Radio

Let’s start with the crazy but super-epic Jet Set Radio logo.

Designed by Ryuta Ueda. It’s wild, it’s loud, it’s bold. Matching the game’s cel-shaded aesthetic and graffiti theme. If you look closely, you’ll see speakers mimicking a radio and arrows reminiscent of wildstyle graffiti. It’s crazy but it’s pure visual fire. A brilliant example of logo that has character, creativity and is themed correctly to match its context.

1080° Avalanche

The logo for 1080° Avalanche screams thrill and danger. Sharp enough to slice you if you get too close, ice-textured lettering that’ll give you frost bite if you hold the disc case for too long and it perfectly captures the game's theme of snowboarding down mountains and glaciers at high-speed while pulling off crazy tricks and escaping from that final avalanche. The slant on “Avalanche” mimics downhill slope that you’d slide down to catch big air.

Cold. 🥶

Assassin’s Creed

The Assassin's crest is a great example of why simplicity works in logo design. The shape of the crest symbolises the under section of an eagle's skull:

Meanwhile the simple nature of the logo allows them to change and modify the logo with each entry in the series. Providing a fresh look while retaining the symbol of the brand.

My personal favourites: Black Flag, the Valhalla Axe and the Arabic calligraphy crest for Assassin’c Creed: Mirage with the hidden message:

It literally reads المخفي which translates as “The Hidden" in Arabic. 🤯

Street Fighter

Street Fighter's logo (specifically SF5) is raw, bold and fiery. Matching all previous visual branding of the series while bringing a much bolder and louder design to the mix. You can literally feel a visual punch through the colours, the structure and varying sizes of the type, adding a sense of movement to the overall logo. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle

Pretty much every Sonic the Hedgehog logo is well designed (other than Sonic Forces, let's not talk about that) but the greatest of them all has to be SA2: Battle for the Nintendo GameCube.

Pure Y2K vibes, juxtaposed Sonic (Hero) and Shadow (Dark) spikes, the subtle glistening stars in the lettering, the jagged yellow strokes and a logo built in a way which feels right. This logo, like the game, is near enough perfect. The Japanese version of the logo takes everything that works and cranks up the design to another level!

We can overlook the fact they use Comic Sans in the subtitles too ✌🏽 Live and learn.

Mortal Kombat

Iconic. I remember seeing this as a kid on the back of someone’s denim jacket and not knowing what on earth Mortal Kombat was but all I remember is being fascinated by how well designed it is.

Over 30 years later this logo is still running strong. The original designer of this logo mentioned how the design was almost discarded after his sister mistook the dragon for a seahorse. Yet they stuck with it and delivered one of the most iconic logos in the gaming scene. A good reminder why you shouldn’t listen to every criticism especially if it’s coming from anyone and everyone who may not necessarily understand design or branding.

Fatality. 🦂

Pokémon

The world's biggest multimedia franchise, represented with this iconic and nostalgic logo. The best part is that it has literally nothing in there to show what it's about. No Pikachu, no Pokeball, no mascot. Nothing. Yet it’s such an iconic symbol.

Just a bunch of bold and playful offset letters, with the vowels being in lower case and smaller in size and the consonants displayed in upper case. A peculiar choice, but it somehow works and nicely displays a sense of playfulness and vibrancy with the contrasting colours. One of the most iconic and memorable symbols from our childhood.

And what’s more impressive is how the brand has grown to a global movement with collaborations with a whole array of brands - Balmain, Fendi, Mini Cooper, North Face, Gucci, Puma, Adidas, Converse, Levi's, FRGMNT, Billionaire Boys Club, New Era, Oreo, Krispy Kreme, Van Gogh Museum and so much more.

They’re out here catching ‘em all.

Def Jam: Fight for NY

Bold. Grunge. Love the use of negative space and contrast. I chose this over other gang-related video game logos due to the great composition - a horizontal lock up with stacked elements and despite the different sizing of each component, it still retains hierarchy and balance.

Give us a remaster already!!! 😤😤😤

The Legend of Zelda

"Hey listen!"

The Legend of Zelda logo (I'm using Breath of the Wild's logo) is a perfect example of versatility and timelessness in logo design. The same logo has been used pretty much over the last 30+ years yet subtle changes each time makes each logo look and feel fresh and brand new with every entry in the series. Of course the downside of the logo is that it’s not very scaleable or adaptable for different mediums, but they have other icons and symbols that do that for their brand. This is why it’s also important for designers to think beyond a logo and create a visual system which works for the brand.

A well-designed and timeless logo is a perfect example of how logos should stand the test of time, and this serves as a reminder for us designers about the importance of creating marks that’ll last for years to come.

When designing a logo for a client, always keep in mind versatility and longevity (as well as other factors), this allows your design to fit different contexts and remain relevant for years to come. The last thing you want is to steer your client toward a design that requires frequent updates or modifications because it simply didn’t work for it’s purpose.

Here are a few other logos that I like and can serve as some sort of inspiration!!

Conclusion

The key takeaways from this is to show logo design needs to be purposeful, have some personality to make it distinct, while being creative and long-lasting. In order to do this, we need to take time to understand our client and their vision, and then translate that into visuals.

As designers we don't always need to make logos that are symmetrical, geometrical and clean, nor do we need to rely on existing type or the most conventional themes in our design.

The best ideas exist when you venture outside of the box 📦 ❗️

Until next time, ✌🏽+ 💙