The Painful Evolution of the Logo

Let’s keep this short and sweet. As tired as I am of revising the logo, it had to be done. Hopefully, this is the final pass.

The last logo, as much as I like it, had three problems. The first was that, while it did signal that we’re in the roleplaying business, the iconography look like a lot of other people’s logos.

Second, it didn’t have the company name on it. At least, not incorporated directly into the logo. Nike can get away with just the swoosh. Lightspress needs branding that tells people who we are.

Finally, my personal issue. The scratched-up die was meant to represent the DIY ethos, and I still stand by that. We live with imperfection, and resource limitations are a source of creativity. Another read was that Lightspress books are scratch-and-ding product. My goal is to reach higher and get better, and for that, we need a “clean” logo.

The new version keeps the hexagon and the infinity symbol, representing endless creative possibilities. It’s no longer in the position of a die result, which mildly bother me but I’m already getting over it. 2016 was added to show people just discovering us that we’re not a new company; my choice was to use that date because it’s the founding of the company, not the start of my work in the roleplaying industry or hobby. And of course, Lightspress is smeared across it in big, funky letter.

My edict is to keep it to three possible colors: black, white, and sometimes gold for special projects. No infinite combinations based on the color scheme of the book or product line. The basic black-and-white reflects the core value of keeping things simple.