One host, two shows: Illustration vs. Logo

Here is an interesting challenge I undertook… As I worked closely with the ‘air-talent’ from the fledgling Rocketdemon Productions network of podcasts and blogs spanning gaming, writing, music and more, I’ve done illustrations and logo work that attempt to capture the nature of the content along with the character of the hosts where applicable. One such host, Krystal - known to gamers as Freckles - did two shows: one an official network program, and one a series of Let’s Play streams. While both shared the premise of “streaming video game play”, they served different purposes.

The Let’s Play stream focused on Freckles playing a particular game -  ‘Don’t Starve’ - and was a sort of progressive view of the game as it matures and receives updates, etc. so the audience, typically regular viewers, had a definite association between the host and her (and their) relationship to the game.

​​Thus, for this show (“Let’s Play: Don’t Starve”) I did a full custom illustration with Freckles and a couple of the creatures from the game, in the game’s art style.

By contrast, the other show, “Freckles Plays”, was a more generalized affair, with the host playing games for the first time, introducing the game to herself and the audience together.  The entertainment focus in this show was derived from her humorous musings and success or failure at whatever game at hand.

​With that in mind, I wanted a clean logo look for the show. I took some liberties with typography to create a stylized portrait of the host using the initials of the show title, and then worked with Freckles to find an appropriate font for the wordmark; not too serious but not too juvenile.

So, there you have it – two distinct flavors for the same client. She loved them both; hope you do too.