NMG Design
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The Brief
I was approached with the opportunity to create a logomark for an indie, up-and-coming table-top role-playing game (TTRPG) called Reel Fear by UGLI Games. The game centers around rolling a multi-sided die to progress through your turn as a player (DND-style), with the outcome the choice of the Game Master based on players' reactions.
Reel Fear Logo
Freelance Graphic Designer
Fall 2025
Problem
The creator of the game had an already established logotype, but figured that a logomark would be better to aid the logotype in branding. The goal was to create something that could be applied at any scale, along most collateral, that encapsulated the fun role-playing aspect of the game itself while also remaining recognizable.
Design Intent
- Create a logomark that fits with the current branding of the game
- Implement details from the way the game is played to concepts in the game for the logomark
- Bring together an already established color palette with complementary colors and complete the branding
Insight
I went through the initial process of designing the logo in a way that was a bit too serious for the nature of the application. Tweaking the logo over time and rounding out its edges allowed it to represent the game in a more efficient way. Centering the logo around the already established brand is something that I had not had previous experience with; usually I go about designing the logo first and then building out from there.
Outcome
A fully realized and completed brand with a logomark that complements the logotype and pushes the design of collateral to be more streamlined. The mark represents aspects of the game accurately while remaining true to the theme of staying lighthearted.
Process
Initial sketches of the logomark that attempted to incorporate shapes of a traditional eight-sided die, a tool that is frequented during the game. After a couple iterations, the hard angles were deemed too serious for the content of the game, and the 3-D aspect that I was originally going for did not seem to fit with the aesthetic that well.
I also attempted to incorporate more aspects of the D-8 die into the design to see if there could be a good way to do so, but the multiple angles made the head of the skull look odd and the idea was scrapped.
Some more concept sketches with the head of the skull more rounded and attempting to emphasize the cartoony feeling that the client requested based on feedback. The 3-D aspect was still trying to work, but it just looked a bit odd.
To limit the hard angles in the logomark, I added more rounded edges to parts of the skull and restricted the representation of the D-8 shape to the eye sockets and nose cavity. This still didn't fit the bill, so for the nect part of the process I attempted to harness the cartoony aspect that the client really wanted.
After some more tweaking of the idea of having the skull be the only aspect of the logomark in general, I figured that using the skull alone was not a great representation of the idea that the brand is a game to be played. Taking this into consideration, I changed the focus of the design to make the skull a smaller part of the logomark.
This was the finished pitch that I sent over to the client with the finalized color palette, and different variations of the logomark in a few colorways. Placing this logomark alongside the already established typeface proved to be effective, as the angles of the surrounding D-8 complimented the angles of the typeface very well. The skull is still present in the design, but the only sharp angle that represented the original D-8 concept can be found in the nasal cavity.