Mission Statement Play the Games You Want With The People You Want to Play With Our mission is simple, to let gamers do what they want when they want to. Social media streamlined the friend making process and linked us all across the world. So has gaming, it’s full of different communities just like the world around us.
EVEL
01. RESEARCH 02.
1.1 History
1.5 Competitive Analysis
1.2 Our Past
1.6 Boss Levels
1.3 New Direction
1.7 Market Analysis
1.4 Players
1.8 SWOT Analysis
BRAND DEVELOPMENT 2.1 360 Brand Review 2.2 Logo Development Stages 2.3 Clear Space 2.4 Logo Uses
03. VISUAL STANDARDS 3.1 Typography 3.2 Brand Colors 3.3 App Design 3.4 Bonus Levels
3.5 Rollout Plan
01
Research 1.1 History 1.2 Our Past 1.3 New Direction 1.4 Personas (Players) 1.5 Competitive Analysis 1.6 Boss Levels 1.7 Market Analysis 1.8 SWOT Analysis
Brand Guidelines
4
The Beginning Brand History We all have our blips from the past, rocking mullets and dark lip liner. We are cool, for a bit, but as things change sometimes the coolest things become outdated. Friendster was one of the largest social media platform between 2002-2005. Rooted in the idea of six degrees of separation Friendster connected people. For a time Friendster was super popular and well on the way to becoming much bigger than Facebook, but the failure to adapt and properly navigate the changing era meant game over for Friendster.
5
Nocturn
Our Past Old Personality Come and Network-it with friends! We live in a crazy world that’s hustling and bustling daily. With new opportunities we are constantly busy, rarely having time for ourselves and our loved ones. As active individuals, we don’t have a moment to spare to meet new people. Well, now with Friendster, easily discover people to chat up and make connections. A new social experiment you can use on your computer! Based on the science of six-degrees of separation we want you to friend the entire world! Talk about your hobbies and lives with millions of people daily. Make new friends across the world wide web from the comfort of your home! Lets Kick-it With Friendster.
7
Nocturn
Timeline 1997
2002
AOL Messenger
Birth of Friendster
AOL launched one of the first social applications, the AOL messenger, it spanned the entirety of the internet and started.
Friendster officially launched and brought the world a solid platform for socializing. The launch of friendster set a foundation for all the social media apps we know today.
2004
2009
Rise of Facebook
Sold Off
Facebook is one of the largest social media platforms. It launched two years after Friendster and the two platforms were competitors for a time.
Friendster attempted to find new ways to spice up their platform and after denying a purchase in 2004 the platform Friendster was sold and re-branded as a gaming site.
9
Nocturn
2015 Try Again Due to the rapid expansion of social media across the Internet friendster lost its footing in the race and decided to take a hiatus to figure somethings out.
Brand Guidelines
2020 Respawn We’ve come back but changed, for the better. You could say we’ve leveled up. Taking the original skills of our predecessor and some new aquired market attributes we have respawned into Nocturn. Fresh and ready to fight in the new level of social media.
10
EW IRECTIO
Brand Guidelines
14
Next Level New Personality Communities grow from hard work, from making earned connections, taking time to create friendships. Putting all your effort and labor into finding those you can get along with. Wouldn’t be easier if someone would just do all that work for you? Well, this entire site was created to streamline that process, gamers simply type in their likes, and boom— away they go to find similar people. Got a need for a barbarian to slaughter a boss? How about a cleric with a strong healing attribute? All this is at the end of your fingertips. No more tragic missing animal crossing villagers, or understaffed raids. We are a place to find all the gaming community needs without the hard work. So why waste precious time, join Nocturn.
15
Nocturn
Our Cheat Codes
What We Are About Unlike other platforms, we like to consider ourselves a niche. Based on experiences, the team at Nocturn discovered a problem. There wasn’t a platform dedicated to connecting gamers. There are gaming communities all over the web spread out and disconnected from each other on various social media sites. So we set out to create a place just for the gaming communities of the world. It’s tiring always dealing with a mixed batch of people who you don’t really know or get along with. It’s horrible when it affects your passions. We are ending that, to let gamers enjoy their hobbies without the unnecessary conflict.
We promote values such as community efficiency, and passion. These values help us create a sanctuary for all gaming related media. We help people build their guilds and start there own groups with people they want to play with. We assist the professionals find their new PvP star or a simple gamer looking for a walkthrough. Quickly lookup tags instead of spending hours scrolling through multiple forums. Find a one time companion who happens to be on the same quest you. There’s an endless amount of opportunities for gamers on Nocturn.
Brand Guidelines
“I, as a gamer understand passion.� -Hidetaka Miyazaki (creator of Dark Souls)
16
CONNEC PASSION EFFICIEN INNOVA
CTION. N. NCY. ATION.
19
Nocturn
Brand Guidelines
We are Nocturn
We have a Soul
20
Connecting people Nocturn is an online social platform founded on the bits of Friendster. Unlike other platforms, we like to consider ourselves a niche. Based off our personal lives, the team at Nocturn discovered a need, there wasn’t really a platform.
LAYERS
iancarlo
Brand Guidelines
24
STYLE
BIO 28 years old Currently Dating Working for the government Annual Income $46,000 Ambivert Lives in Suburbs With Roommates
Carlo Tends to just go with the flow, currently, he’s trying to figure himself out and doing a lot of meditation, but the best form of meditation is playing a good o’le fashion PvE game. He’s not super comfortable about asking his real-life friends about gaming. Carlo just wants one place that he could casually chat and ask questions about getting pass levels, just some simplicity.
Classic PvE player
STRENGTH Laid back, Polite ,Independant, Agreeable, Aspiring
WEAKNESS Bars, Big social events, Clutter, Celery
FAVORITE GAME
Introvert
Extrovert
Thinking
Feeling
Sensing
Intuition
Judging
Perceiving
iolet
Brand Guidelines
26
STYLE
BIO 20 years old Single Lives in Canada 3rd year of college Wealthy Travels Often Takes a lot of selfies Vegetarian
Violet got her first 3DS at 13 and was hooked. She wouldn’t consider herself a gamer but she loves farming and social simulation games. Violet tends to do other things besides gaming however she would really love a group of other casual gamers to play with, it wouldn’t hurt if they were also super into activism.
Casual sim player
STRENGTH Oblivious, Sweet, Tidy, Plants, Activist
WEAKNESS Friendship, Time keeping, Hates bigots
FAVORITE GAME
Introvert
Extrovert
Thinking
Feeling
Sensing
Intuition
Judging
Perceiving
aroline
Brand Guidelines
28
STYLE
BIO 23 years old Single Semi active Grad school student Family Issues Majored in Child psychology
Caroline is a fun soul, she loves being with friends and meeting new people. Outside of her hectic life, Caroline transforms herself to the GoldSylph01. Caroline loves playing Shooter games but has a really hard time with all the aggression. She wants to start a friendly guild on Rainbow Six: Siege to go destroy all the toxicity.
Tactical FPS player
STRENGTH Observant, Determinded, Team player, Supportive
WEAKNESS Socializing, Too confrontational, Leisure time, Drama between people
FAVORITE GAME
Introvert
Extrovert
Thinking
Feeling
Sensing
Intuition
Judging
Perceiving
yan
Brand Guidelines
30
STYLE
BIO 29 years old From Ohio Recently broke up College drop out Works part time Loves to BBQ and hunting for weekend
Competitive PVP player
STRENGTH Active, Passionate, Humorous, Unruly
Ryan considers himself a true gamer ever since his dad bought him his first Pokemon deck. He lives with his two roommates and works as a cashier. He loves FPS games.
WEAKNESS
He doesn’t think anyone plays games right and that so many people this day and age are too sensitive. He wants to find a competent team of players that can take the brutal campaigns and shoot straight.
FAVORITE GAME
Tilting, Compensating opnions, Lack of endurance and patience
Introvert
Extrovert
Thinking
Feeling
Sensing
Intuition
Judging
Perceiving
31
Nocturn
Market Analysis
What’s going on?
New Opportunity Gaming is pretty big as in one of the largest industries in the world. As platforms and categories expand so does the popularity of the industry. According to an Analysis by Tom Wijman the game industry is projected to make 159.3 billion in 2020 and is well on its way to make billions more. As other industries take massive losses gaming only seems to grow.
Brand Guidelines
32
33
Nocturn
Boss Analysis Competition When looking at competition we had to account for two things. Classic social media and gaming social media. Though we saw the faults in both, they still carry great weight on the internet. Take Facebook for example, they are still one of the largest sites despite their older demographic and their current reputation. They give people a sense of familiarity and ease that other apps can’t, it’s difficult to introduce something new and fresh when the old is comforting. Places like Discord and Twitch are dedicated to gamers. They have attractive features for those who seek to connect and build communities online. However, they are also known for receiving many reports of harassment, especially Discord. All three competitors have one thing in common, a lack of trust. Whether it’s because of the data gathered, users abusing others, or scamming each other, there isn’t a sense of safety.
Brand Guidelines
34
WITCH
Brand Guidelines
36
TWITCH
The Streamer Level 20 Current Competitor Twitch loves to put on a show, they are a performer. It wants a full audience to watch, around 15-million people are zombiefied by their streamer attacks. Once you get trapped you are sucked into the chat. However the chat has
a fatal flaw, aggressive players. The stream attack is their strongest, and only attribute. It is powerful but has no defence once inside. Many players break out of the trance when confronted with the not-so-friendly hostile.
ACEBOO
Brand Guidelines
38
The Usurper Level 200 Aspirational Competitor When Facebook was first born it didn’t have an ounce of Friendsters’ power. Over time, they gained skills and knowledge. They became so strong that Facebook crushed Myspace under it’s newsfeed and became the internet usurper we know today. Their signature attack, the Like-button, has reshaped the world as we know it.
Facebook’s army grows day by day as it buys up allegiance with Intstagram and Whatsapp. Facebook has become the largest social media app in the world, over 25% of the population a have Facebook account. Perhaps some day we will meet again on the social media battle ground... someday.
INECRAF
Brand Guidelines
MINECRAFT
The Builder Level 12 Adjacent Competitor Minecraft is a peculiar hostile. It simulates a world that lets players build, well, anything. It attacks with blocksmash and sends swarms of creepers. It was once an enemy of Friendster Games because of its vast world building and simple design.
However, now in our upgraded form Minecraft doesn’t pose the same threat as it did. Though it still collects and connects gamers, with the right persuasion perk and gold, Minecraft could be swayed to party with us.
40
41
Nocturn
S
W
Strengths
Weakness
• Extremely focused on gaming connection.
• Focused on small demographic.
• Combines multiple platforms into one.
• Less advertising opportunities.
• Interaction with our consumers.
• Lack of regulation (type of gamer can join and make groups).
• Caters to personal needs of the user (like the groups they want to join).
• New to social media, which is dangerous.
Brand Guidelines
O
T
Opportunity
Threat
• Less competition.
• More companies are noticing the gaming industry.
• Growing popularity of the gaming industry. • Shifting gaming interest. • Adaptable for current events. • Competitors online presence. • Small pool of competitors. • Limited consumer interest.
42
43
Nocturn
02
Brand Guidelines
Brand Development 2.1 360o Brand Review 2.2 Logo Development Stages 2.3 Clear Space 2.4 Logo Uses
44
Play the Games You Want With the People You Want to Play With.
Brand Guidelines
46
Brand Review
Map it out We created Friendster at a time when people were just beginning to use social networking. We had a lot of potential and interest from investors, the site was popular in Asia with about 115-million registered users in 2011. With all that we seemed to be on track, what we missed was the actual social networking, a major point that made Facebook grow. The thing that Friendster and other similar sites couldn’t compete with was the Newsfeed. While gaming was a fun addition, the actual social interaction
was missing. Users joined for a time but there wasn’t any reason for them to stay. Consumers and registration declined so Friendster struggled to regain influence and, inevitably shut down. Moving onto Nocturn, we are taking the potential Friendster had, and combining it with all the things it missed. We are taking advantage of the most lucrative industry in the entertainment world: Gaming.
49
Nocturn
Logo Logo Mojo Creating a logo is important, that’s understament. When designing a logo everyone should think how a mark can show off a brand. Our logo is made to embrace simplicty while still retaining our friendly persona. The gradient represents the shift from night to day and the shift between regular individual to a hardcore gamer.
Brand Guidelines
Clearspace
The minmum required distance from the Nocturn logo for placement of text or graphic elements must be quarter the size of the circle from Nocturn logo.
50
51
Nocturn
Primary Logo
How to play
Black Logo
Use it mainly and when there is a white, black, and dark colored background. Avoid using with warm color background.
White Logo
Use it for white and light background
Use it for dark and black background
Brand Guidelines
52
Epic Fails
Don't change gradient color
Don’t apply outline, get rid of color
Don’t rotate
Don't change the size of N
Don't stretch and skew
Don't change the color of N in the circle
Don't apply inner shadow
Don't apply drop shadow
Don't change the circle shape
53
Nocturn
03
Brand Guidelines
Visual Standards 3.1 Type 3.2 Brand Colors 3.3 App Design 3.4 Bonus Levels 3.5 The DLC 3.6 Rollout Plan
54
Nocturn
YPE
55
Brand Guidelines
56
57
Nocturn
Type Why Neuzeit Grotesk? A modern brand needs modern font, that’s a known fact. Is it a font that came out recently or just a font that looks modern? Trends and times change, so to make sure our brand stays modern, we chose a timeless font. Neuzit Grotesk has a large family and a crisp-clean look. A timeless, modern font for a modern brand.
Brand Guidelines
Neuzeit Grotesk All six lazy kids want to do is just play long vicious battle campaigns quietly for hours a week. 1234567890!@ÂŁ$%^&*
58
59
Nocturn
Another Headline Another Box of copy! Heres some more copy! This is a copy demo to show how our font looks. Does it have too big of S P A C E S, is it too itty bitty? HOW’S CAPS, how’s lower case? How does our hyphen-ation look? Can we write the word xylophone and all the letters look zesty. This block of text is to show off what we got, how our entire brand’s font will look and how its supposed to make you feel.
Brand Guidelines
NeuZeit Grotesk
Bold
Regular
Light
60
olor
63
Nocturn
Brand Colors Why Color The most obvious thing about the night is that it’s dark, mostly. So because we based our brand on nocturnal gamers, we picked colors the compliment the night dwellers. Black is intense, maybe too intense, but it gets the message across. Dark blues make up the sky and deep greys to add a mute heaviness. Finally, we used orange as our signature color because of it’s sharpness like a porchlight in the night.
Brand Guidelines
64
Lantern Orange R 255 G 156 B 91 C0 M 46.87 Y 69.56 K0 #ff9c5b
Night Blue
Pitch Black
Foggy Grey
Star White
R 48 G 58 B 81
R 23 G 29 B 26
R 204 G 206 B 211
R 254 G 254 B 254
C 84.19 M 73.09 Y 44.79 K 37.62
C 74.74 M 63.63 Y 67.7 K 77.46
C 18.98 M 14.14 Y 11.54 K0
C0 M0 Y0 K0
#2f3a51
#171d1a
#ccced3
#fefefe
Nocturn
PP ESIGN
65
Brand Guidelines
66
67
Nocturn
The Home Screen Our Site These showcase the look of our site, our app, our foundation. Nocturn works for gamers, they choose the games they play and find groups, forums, and friends they need. We promote community with our collaborative customizable playlists for those late night game binges. Take a look around!
Brand Guidelines
68
Nocturn
ONUS EVEL
69
Brand Guidelines
70
//FTP
71
Nocturn
Brand Guidelines
72
Noctorials Nocturn Academy Here at Noctorials aspiring gamers will be partnered with professionals. It’ll be conducted through the internet so everyone can comfortably learn from a gamers favorite place, their own couch. We also host seminars and classes in major cities for those who want more hands on experience.
73
Nocturn
Night Crawlers eSports Team We want to support gamers and showcase the power of community, and maybe crush a few people on the way. Our team plays against other high leveled teams. The Night Crawlers battle in tournaments around the world claiming prizes and notoriety. Nocturn users try-out and join our team regardless of gaming history and talents.
Brand Guidelines
74
Nocturn
Far After Darkcast
Night-Cast
75
Brand Guidelines
We record a gaming podcast, the live episodes stream on our site. The Far After Darkcast has gaming interviews from professionals to casuals and we just want to discuss the community. Gaming is so wide and changing, someone has to comment on it.
76
Convention
Noctacon
Brand Guidelines
Gamers are most active at night and all conventions are in the day, that’s weird isn’t it? Noctacon is a gaming convention exclusively after hours from 6pm - 2am. Noctacon is conducted after other convetions utlizing the already prepped space. We have tournamnets, meet and greets, and Releases. All the convention fun, but in the late hours of the night.
78
79
Nocturn
The DLC Nocturn Charity Run
Noctober Fest
Each year Nocturn will invite progamers, streamers and YouTubers to participate in chartiy run. Gamers will play the game until their time is run out. Charity run will be streamed for 6 hours and all the money earned from the even will be donated to the organization that helps people in need.
A gaming festival in october featuring local breweries and game studios to combine their products like their consumers do. What’s better is the beer and Battlefront? The best game and beer combination wins a chance to have their products featured through our app and advertising channels.
Play Your Dream
After Dark Arcade
It’s such a sad thing for teenagers with good skills go to waste. Nocturn will support teenagers who have good gaming skills that can lead them into pro gamer competition. Teenagers will start their career as a member of Night Crawlers team.
An arcade that’s open super late into the early morning. Gamings roots come from arcades; we are very aware of that. We will travel around hijacking local arcades and turning them into late night entertainment.
Social Media Challange
Long After Dark Stream
Using Nocturn’s social connection, challenges like one food, 24hrs, and charity (like icebucket) can be started. We hope these social media challenges can help people to affect in brighter way. Just because Nocturn is dark, not everyone has to be dark inside.
We want to make the longest stream ever, perhaps break a world record. We encourage anyone to take up the challenge, keep the stream going without dying. Think you can do it?
Brand Guidelines
80
Midnight Snacks
Surround Sound
Snack services are becoming all the rage, for a limited period of time nocturn will send gamer snacks right to your door, Spicy cheetos and mountain dew, all for your gaming needs.
Music can sometimes dictate how well gamers play, music helps ease our souls as much as killing a boss on the first try. Wecreated multiple playlists that can be updated by players
The Game Show
Best Kill of the Month
Show actually dedicated to video games, history and reviews. There are games that date back into the 70s that we still play today, what’s the full history of Final Fantasy? We will partner with netflix to produce this show for gamers.
We will feature live stream clips of the best kills of the month into one compilation. This will bring popularity to upcoming gamers and for everyone’s talents to be recognized
Night Dwellers Tournament
Undercover Pro
Gamers want to game right? We will host a tournament with professional and amature gamers all for a cash prize and chance to have your likeness animated into a game.
We will partner with famous streamers and Esports players. The professionals will game with regular players and give them tips and tricks. This promotes our Noctorial gaming academy and the ideal of community.
81
Nocturn
Extended DLCs 1. Undercover Professional 2. Gamer Beta Testing 3. Professional Gamers Playing With Content Creators 4. Youtube Channel 5. Cable Exchange Center 6. Daily Puzzles 7. Podcast about non-famous people playing games 8. Gaming conference through VR 9. Amature Programmer Competeion 10. Character Design tournament 11. Nocturnal Scholarship 12. Women’s Only League 13. Easter Egg Development 14. Video Game DIscount
Brand Guidelines
Merchandise 1. Red Bull Cans 2. Game Controllers 3. Blue Light Lenses 4. Video Game Gear 5. Headphones 6. Gaming Light Lamps 7. Partnership with Razor Monitors 8. VR Headset 9. Chess Set 10. Monopoly Set 11. Gaming Chairs 12. Concept Book
82
83
Nocturn
HASE 1
Rollout Plan Step 1 Have professional gamers go undercover giving tips and tricks to regular players, only revealing themselves after the campaign.
Step 2 Have it filmed as a case study and video for our youtube channel.
Goal This will be out intial launch of the brand, itll give people a glimpse at what we are doing and create intrigue.
Brand Guidelines
Step 1 The Far After Darkcast will be the next to launch. this will promote more users on our site to interact with our features and draw in those who are curious about the gaming industry.
Step 2 The After Dark Arcade. This is be pubicity stunt to have users of our site experience the the history of gaming, entry requires proof of having an account. this will be heard on the podcast.
Goal This is to promote user ineraction. Getting them to the patform is simple, the hardest part is consumer retention. Giving them activities and something constant like a podcast will keep users intrested.
84
85
Nocturn
HASE 3
Rollout Plan Step 1 Introduction of the Night Crawlers. Our team will battle in tournamnets and this will also be included in the case study giving an indepth look into our community.
Step 2 Introduction of the Night Crawlers. Our team will battle in tournamnets and this will also be included in the case study giving an indepth look into our community.
Goal At this point we will have a strong enough user base to become much more interactive. the goal is to now constantly updating the platform and getting the users to be self sufficent, ultizing the entirety of the site.
Play the Games You Want With the People You Want to Play With.
87
Nocturn
Š 2020 KyungHwan Bang, Adrian Cekala, Nuriel Kim, Skyelar Pollock. All content for Nocturn: Brand Guidelines was created, concieved and designed by KyungHwan Bang, Adrian Cekala, Nuriel Kim, Skyelar Pollock. Writing and editing by Skyelar Pollock, design by Adrian Cekala & KyungHwan Bang, research by Nuriel Kim. Photography provided by Madison Handley (mhandleyphotography.com) Design Consultation Roger Muller ADV 370 Brand and Branding Academy of Art University Some of the Photographs and images were dowloaded from stock.adobe.com, unsplash.com, and pexels.com used in the accordance with those respective Licenses. The book is a noncommercial work produced as a student project for educational purposes, and such is considered a derivative work under the Fair Use Clause of the US Copyright Law.
Manufactured in the USA.
Brand Guidelines
88