Hidden Grove
I was contracted by Probably Monsters, a video game studio incubator to design a logo and visual brand identity guidelines for a new AAA video game studio named Hidden Grove. The studio is noteworthy for having ex-Bungie veteran leaders who brought the highly acclaimed Halo and Destiny universes to life.
It was not possible to approach this project without thinking about trees, looking at trees in real-life, and indeed sketching trees. The studio’s name — Hidden Grove — was meant to invoke an image of a place of protection, growth (amplification), and collaboration. Excerpts of my moodboard that I shared with stakeholders meant to align us on two things:
1. What does something “hidden” or “hiding” look like?
2. What are some interesting modalities for trees/groves?
Screenshot from Hidden Grove’s studio establishment trailer
Screenshot from Hidden Grove’s studio establishment trailer
Moodboard excerpt — hiding, cuturally
Moodboard excerpt — symbiosis
When looking at hidden things, I was drawn by the way some images, like a girl peeking up from behind something, or the screenshot from 1999’s Ghost in the Shell with Major Motoko Kusanagi’s hand wiping up before her face also becomes concealed by her thermoptic camouflage, “truncated” the object/person trying to hide. And of course, usually when something is “hidden” it is “under” something (a table, the ground, a hand). Those became the foundational visual motifs for this final direction of the logomark and influenced the choice for the brand’s primary font family and logotype (TWK Everett).
As far as trees go, I found something exceedingly nice about “bracing” trees, particularly images of Japanese hoozue supporting sprawling ancient tree limbs. So I wanted to instill that motif in the logomark, while using two shapes/pieces (to further signify cooperation). I also thought the phenomenon called inosculation (separate trees growing into one) represented both the “grove” and “amplification” parts of the brand’s culture — in a “stronger, together” kind of way.