The Hub pt.2

So, in my previous blog in this series, I explored updating the Northern Gaming Hub logo. It went from this on the left, to that on the right.

I didn’t really consider it finished though. There are things that I thought of continuing to develop while I was trudging along on the treadmill and staring at the image open on my screen.

I wondered how it might behave if instead of the swirl being completely contained, would it be more interesting if one “arm” of the “galaxy” were to instead extend out through the name. I also added the four dots in the middle, representative of the four buttons that appear in Xbox, Playstation and Switch controllers. I also re-output the gradation into halftone. I also increased the size of the “Northern”, as the perspective effect I was using really made it even smaller.

I found that I could not duplicate that fuzzy edge that the conversion created the first time – as it happens, I was bewildered that it did the fuzzy edge the first time, as it shouldn’t have, with the technique I was using, so I actually could not duplicate that strange accident. I’m not sure if I want the fuzzy edge or sharp edge at this stage, so I may have to intentionally reproduce that accident in the future.

Since I tend to work “seat of the pants” and had no idea exactly how I’d angled the perspective the first time (I angled it, rotated it a bit, angled it some more in my quest to find that “perfect angle”) I tried to capture what I’d done the first time… but I didn’t try all that hard. I went with what worked this time.

At first I thought I’d contrast the black arm against the green “Gaming”, but I reconsidered that. There was just too much black with that big arm, and I thought the unified green actually tied it together better. I wondered if the four solid dots were maybe a bit much, so I hollowed them out and offset them. I’m still not sold either way.

I don’t consider this done by any stretch. In some ways it feels like two steps forward and one step to the side. I improved some elements but at the same time lost something that I liked too. So, I’m calling it a night on this one and I’ll come back another day.