Branding

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, I've been working on developing maps for the missions/campaigns (and I know that I haven't opened that discussion yet, but I figured it would be nice to at least have the starting points ready), so I took a quick little detour down decoration lane.

Here is what I envision this project creating:

INDOMITUS RULEBOOK

This will be a collection of all of the rules we create as part of Stage 1. This might be a living rulebook concept where later rules expansions are added to the rulebook (because it's a pain in the keester having to refer to multiple references when you're trying to find that rule about X).

CAMPAING/MISSION BOOKS

We're starting off with the update of the 2nd edition missions/campaigns for our initial campaign book, but I'm really hoping that there is enough sustained interest that we see other campaigns created over time (ideally focusing on a wide variety of Chapters). The campaign books will all be crafted in a manner similar to the official Mission book available in the game, providing background and information on the characters involved (though we're not necessarily going to go into as much depth). I'd also like to see individual missions created [that aren't part of larger campaigns], and these might be combined into books.

In addition, each mission, including those that are part of campaigns, will be available as a separate download. These mission downloads will be limited to maps and mission information, omitting any background/storyline/character stuff. These will basically be one page apiece.

All of this stuff will be an extension of the Legio Imprint, an ongoing mini-series within the larger series of publications that the Bolter & Chainsword will develop and provide. So "Indomitus" is the branding for this mini-series.

Now everything will be available in multiple versions. The intent here is to allow for players with different resources to download and print a suitable version. The content will remain identical across the different versions, but the appearance will be slightly different. There will be at least two versions - a "full" (or "deluxe" or "high-res") and a "basic" (or "lite" or "low-res"). These will be .pdfs that everyone should be able to download, view, and print. If there is enough interest and either no additional software requirements or requirements for software that is freely available, we might also develop versions for different e-readers and tablets.

The "full" version will be in color, though not necessarily entirely in color, while the "basic" version will be in grayscale. Not everyone has access to full color printers, and color ink is expensive so some players might not want to print full color versions, so having a grayscale version provides players with options.

My intent is to develop a basic format and branding that will remain consistent across the various Indomitus products that we develop. I've been playing with a basic logo. This is just conceptual at the moment - there's a chance that we'll go with something different, and I'll tell you about some alternatives I've been considering after I show you the first batch of logos that I've developed. Note that these images have a transparent background as I'm developing them based around them printing on white paper; since most members are viewing the site using the default skin I've also put the different images inside of white header bars so that you can see what they look like on a proper background without having the dark text blending into the screen background color.

The distinguishing factor about the version below is that the normal black outline of the skull and crossed bones is transparent over the text, so only the parts between letters show the dark outline.

The version below has the dark outline in front of the text.

The version below puts the bones behind the "D" and "M" while the skull and crossed bones are in front of the "O."

The use of the B&C skull over the "O" is to provide the Bolter & Chainsword branding to the project. It also gives a little touch of distinction to what would otherwise be a logo comprised of colored/textured text without any strong imagery.

My original concept was to use a skull with a laurel worn as a crown in place of the B&C skull, and I'll probably draw that up later if people would like to see it. The standard B&C skull and crossed bones was readily available, though, so I used that for the first batch to test the concept. I've also considered replacing the "O" with one of the stylized Terminator shields, either the current version worn on the chest/shoulder or the old school storm shield. The shield would also have the skull. And for the Chaos Space Marines, whenever we get that done, an alternative branding would replace the standard skull with a fanged skull that is over the sign of Chaos Undivided. Or for the Chaos Space Marine campaigns/missions we might have a subset of the Indomitus series entitled "The Long War" or something similar, using the Chaos skull over the "O" in "Long."

Note that I'm not married to the font, colors, or texture you can see in the images agove. I used the red shades that madscuzzy used in the Chaos Space Marines banner currently at the top of the site (if we've changed it by the time you're reading this, you can see it at http://scuzworks.com/SL40K/ART/chaos-banner.jpg), but the use of transparency and other filtering makes that difficult to tell. Red, black, and white are the standard B&C colors, so I used them here. I also want to avoid a font and texture/filtering that is too close to what GW used for the various editions of Space Hulk. I explored a few more decorative fonts, but decided that something simpler would be better.

Now that I think of it, I'm going to have to add a tagline at the bottom describing how the Indomitus line is an unofficial supplement for Space Hulk.

So the Rulebook will have the Indomitus logo at the top (whatever it ends up being) and "Rulebook" at the bottom, with some sort of imagery taking up the rest of the page; campaign books will have the Indomitus logo at the top with the name of the campaign immediately below that, "Mission Book" at the bottom, and some sort of imagery taking up the rest of the page; and non-campaign mission books will have the Indomitus logo at the top with "Mission Pack [#]" immediately below that, "Mission Book" at the bottom, and some sort of imagery taking up the rest of the page. You can see a mock up below:

The mock up was whipped up in about seven minutes in Microsoft Word, then converted via screenshot into a .png via Adobe Photoshop, so consider it as nothing more than a concept a the moment. The Legio Imprint and B&C logos (images at the top) might shrink in the final version. The text I used for the campaign name ("Spawn of Execration") and the book type ("Mission Book") is the same font I used for the initial Indomitus logo - Plakette-Heavy. That, too, might change when we finalize the format.

I imagine that the "pretty picture" will be something appropriate to the terminator force involved, or, for mission packs, something generic to Terminators or Genestealers. So if we create a campaign featuring the Firedrake Terminators of the Salamanders Chapter, we'll have some imagery that evokes the sons of Vulkan, whereas a campaign featuring the Red Corsairs would have some imagery appropriate to those piratical renegades. Such imagery might be Chapter badges or similar logos, or they might be Terminators in appropriate colors. A "low tech" solution might simply be to use the Space Marine Painter images as either part of or the entire image that we use (perhaps adding them to Chapter badges or embellishing them with technical and background information).

The inside cover will be copyright/intellectual property information (all the legal stuff that will keep us out of trouble with GW) and basic Bolter & Chainsword information (advertising the site). The rear cover will provide a basic description of the campaign, some imagery, some quote from the lore, and basic information (e.g., "This is not a complete game - you must have Space Hulk and the Indomitus Rulebook in order to use the contents of this book."). The inside rear cover will (hopefully) have images of a game in progress, taken as if representing the events of the actual campaign.

Also note that these products probably won't be huge. If each mission takes up two pages and we add in some background/character stuff, we might see some mission books reach around 48 pages, though I suspect that most will be fewer than that. Ideally I'd like to include pictures of Terminators in the appropriate colors as well as a visual guide to the Chapter featured in the campaign. The miniatures part will show a decently painted army while the visual guide will provide players with ideas (but not anything binding or prescriptive). We might also feature background on the unit involved - whether it is generic information on the Salamanders Firedrakes or a 1st Company force under Captain Invictus of the Ultramarines or whatever. The one thing that we will definitely have is information on the campaign, both in terms of background (setting the stage) and the prosecution of the campaign itself (i.e., how the "real" campaign happened).

The purpose of this discussion is two-fold. First, for those of you that may have been watching this project and not noticed any forward momentum over the last few days, you can see part of what I've been working on (I won't show you the maps until later - I disliked the first batch and have begun them completely anew). Second, for those that are inclined to help out in this area or who have opinions, I'm soliciting input. These books aren't intended to be identical, so we don't have to use every thing that we come up with in every book. Having a basic format and a stable of ideas that we might choose from will make things easier, though. And I guess there is a third purpose - to identify to members what I'm looking for and what you might do in order to help (i.e., it would be great if people came up with lots of pictures of Terminators that we could show). Keep in mind that all contributors will be identified in the books (whether by your real name or your nom du geek/B&C display name - your choice).

Just keep in mind that the basic intent is to make these relatively easy to produce while remaining visually attractive. I'm not looking to have extravagant images or backgrounds (though some nice visual touches would definitely be good). I'm not totally averse to some fancy images, but we're not going to let a lack of them keep us from producing these things. We can always go back later and revise books if we have suitable imagery submitted later.

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, I've been doing a little more playing around. Here are three new versions.

Bolter & Chainsword skull used as "O"

Bolter & Chainsword skull on "O"

Shield with Bolter & Chainsword skull used as "O"

I must admit that I'm partial to the first version, where the B&C skull is used in place of the "O."

[Brother Nihm]

I must admit that I'm partial to the first version, where the B&C skull is used in place of the "O."

For what it is worth, that one is also my favourite.

[Brother Tyler]

I know that I need to re-focus my attention on the actual content of the project, but the last thing I'll do before getting back on target is mention my efforts over the last few days. I was browsing a bookstore the other day and ran across a book about hotrod art. Inside I noticed Andrew Bawidamann's wonderful art, which I've long enjoyed though I didn't know the artist's name prior to seeing it in the book. I think that his artistic style (but not the subject matter :) ) might work very well for the "pretty picture" on the cover, especially the arrangements and backgrounds for his military pinup and his skull styles for both the pinup and his corporate works. Once upon a time I had some degree of artistic abilities, though my lack of an illustration program is going to make this difficult. We'll see what I can do. I'll probably replace Bloodsaint's B&C skull design with a new skull, and maybe change the lettering/font a bit (I definitely want to change the appearance of the letters - colors and filters - to something a bit more grungy). And imagine the pinup art style and arrangements (especially Chloe Zombie Hunter), but with tactical dreadnought armour instead of scantily clad inked up hot chick as the cover art.

 

For those that may have avoided clicking, the art I linked is safe for work and should be acceptable to families (I hope). :P

 

Okay, now I need to see if the wife will let me buy Adobe Illustrator. Before that, though, I need to get the rules finished. :)

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, I got a little bored so I played around with my current favorite version, adding a border. There are two versions, allowing for contrast on different backgrounds

Light border (for dark backgrounds)

Dark border (for light backgrounds)

While I like the skull, I'm working on a slightly different version.

+EDIT+

And I'm not liking the filters for the letter color/texture, so here are two different blends:

Dark on top to light on bottom with no texture

Light border (for dark backgrounds)

Dark border (for light backgrounds)

Light on top to dark on bottom with no texture

Light border (for dark backgrounds)

Dark border (for light backgrounds)

Edited October 28, 2012 by Brother Tyler

[Brother Tyler]

Grey/steel blend & texture w/ maroon border

[JeffJedi]

Just a thought, what about a skull with a bullet hole in it for the "O"? It could even be a Genestealer skull or a slightly mutated skull for Chaos.

 

I like the grey logo. It could use a small blood splatter over it like the cover of Dark Vengeance. When I say that I mean a more organic splatter to contrast the steel mech look of the letters, much like the floor of a space hulk with blood spilled over it.

Edited October 31, 2012 by JeffJedi

[Brother Tyler]

Hmmm...a skull with a bullet hole seems counterintuitive when the Genestealers don't use guns. :blush: I'm actually working on a skull with a laurel, which is a traditional emblem of terminators. I just haven't gotten around to rendering the image on the computer yet (though I have plenty of scribbles on paper) as I've been working on the missions.

 

I'm aiming to avoid using GW's imagery, so the Genestealer image won't work. Also, the Long War expansion will feature Chaos Space Marines versus Space Marines, so the xenos head/skull would look out of place.

 

I like the blood splatter image idea. I'll see what I can do (and this will probably change the border color from the maroon I'm currently using to something else).

[Emperors Immortals]

Mate, brilliant work!!!

 

Id vote for the first banner design, or the second with a blood splatter patter.

[Brother Tyler]

In an effort to keep from getting distracted (i.e., I've spent several hours playing around with the logo/branding this morning), I've decided to go with these:

Light border (for dark backgrounds)

This one will likely be used in the web/high quality download version.

Dark border (for light backgrounds)

This one will likely be used in the low quality download version.

The products will be developed in three forms. First is a web version that members can read on the B&C, formatted for our basic skin with a dark background. Second is a high quality download version for those that have access to high quality printers (and don't mind using up lots of ink). Third will be a low quality download version for those that don't want to use up lots of ink. The contents will be the same in all three; just the presentation will differ.

[Brother Tyler]

FYI, the tagline of the Indomitus Project/products will be "suffer not the alien to live" and will become part of the logo. Also, after examining the printed version of the logo, I need to put some more spacing between the letters. Shrunk down to the dimensions used in the file, the letters blur together too much with their current spacing.

 

Most of you don't care, but I figured I'd put this out there for everyone to see so that you're not wondering where the tagline came from.

 

Carry on...

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, I've spaced the letters out so that the logo will be legible when shrunken down. And then I started playing with filters so now I have six variations (each having a version with a white border and a version with a black border).

Simple fade

Craquelure texture

Graphic Pen

Rough Pastels

Sandstone texture

Smudge Stick

I like the craquelure effect, but I don't like the repeat of the texture. At this point I'm torn between the Rough Pastels and Smudge Stick variants.

[Brother Tyler]

Here's the working version of the cover (with appreciation to Naysmith for permission to use the image of his miniature).

[Brother Tyler]

Alternate version:

[JeffJedi]

I like the gray, could you put a rock-like effect like the B&C background? Or maybe a mission schematic?

[Brother Tyler]

The stone background texture you see on the B&C site will actually be used for column decoration in the deluxe version.

 

The only problem with the grey background is that this uses considerable ink on printers, and file size increases if better textures are used (and I have plenty of those). I'm still experimenting. The latest version also includes a dark bar across the bottom with the version number (since this is going to be a living document).

 

I like the mission schematic idea. I'll see what I can find/develop (though the artwork won't include images from the official tiles).

[Brother Tyler]

I thought a little more about this overnight. The "for print" variants will probably be closer to the white version above. This will keep ink usage down (though the version above does use more ink than is necessary). The epub version, on the other hand, will probably have a sexy background (we're not worried about ink usage, after all). Players can download any/all of the variants as they will all have the same version number on the cover.

[Brother Tyler]

Here's the final version of the for-print version of the cover.

The only change for the epub version will be the sexy background (and that will take time).

Now I need to get the imagery for the counters done.

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, I made some final changes to the logo:

black outline (for light backgrounds):

white outline (for dark backgrounds):

[JeffJedi]

Oh yeah, I really like the new skull. looks much cooler with the thicker red X and bigger eyes. And are those service studs I see? Awesome!

[Ace Debonair]

Digging the new skull. Very flash!