positivity.
creativity.
quality.
mission statement
“to respect and value creators while providing quality products and service for customers.�
A moment browsing the Dark Horse website, reading the introduction to a comic, or interacting with an affiliated store is all one needs to feel that Dark Horse is truly a home for creators and fans alike. Even its small town location (compared to other comic book companies) and grass roots creation story speak of a passion for comics and for the people that make them.
Going forward, it will be important to maintain this feeling throughout the logo design and marketing applications while giving each element a modern update that can keep up with other comic book companies and the changing comic environment, which is shifting more and more to online publishing.
The story of the company founded and funded by one comic book creator must continue to shine through but Dark Horse must also continue to update its logo and marketing to stay relevant, not falling behind other companies.
current logo.
The current logo, while not bad, has room for improvement. It feels slightly dated and most importantly, does not remain consistent across different platforms. While the horse head stays consistent the text is frequently rearranged. Sometimes it takes the form of the logo in the center, but on the spines of books or in oddly shaped places, it may be rearranged in any way necessary to make it fit. Sometimes the horse head is dropped entirely in these situations.
logo concepts.
When designing different iterations of a new Dark Horse logo, I knew that the logo must maintain the friendly feeling that is integral to Dark Horse while also helping give the logo a modern upgrade. Additionally, it must be able to be positioned in many different places without needing to be changed for each situation.
final logo. version 1.
version 2.
The new logo contains two elements allowing for versatility while also maintaining consistency.The Dark Horse text includes a horse head within the D, allowing it to be used independently while still including the horse head, which has been used in Dark Horse marketing consistently. Additionally, the horse head may be used independently of the text as a snapshot logo that can be easily placed on any book cover, spine, or website.
typography.
headers. Cochin Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 !@#$%^&*()-=+
small text. Gill Sans ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890 !@#$%^&*()-=+
For Dark Horse’s typography, I wanted to have both serif and sans-serif fonts. It is important for Dark Horse’s branding to feel comfortable but also not too dated. I feel that there current logo is leaning toward the dated side so I wanted to be careful that the serif font I selected was a good blend of old style and a fresh modern look. The sans serif will also help with the modern look and keep documents looking clean.
color palette.
CMYK 5 98 98 35 RGB 160 23 21
CMYK 1 98 99 9 RGB 215 34 34
CMYK 0 85 85 3 RGB 231 175 53
For the color sceme, I simply expanded upon Dark Horse’s existing colors. The current color sceme consists of only the middle red and black, which I believe is effective in conveying a strong presence and keeping the website and branding clean and modern.
future goals.
create a set of easily recognizable elements for Comic Cons and similar events.
create events that allow Dark Horse to directly interact with fans.
continue building online presence.