Black Phoenix Games
2021

I designed a logo and a website for the distributed video game studio, Black Phoenix Games, in 2021. The logo, 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.