Designing the Arcadia Logo
Added 2021-01-22 20:17:58 +0000 UTCHey everyone, Lars and Nick here! We want to show you all some of the behind the curtain magic that went into the production of ARCADIA 1. To start, we have some wonderful logo iterations done by everyone's favorite Riojan bard, Töm Schmuck!
Our goal was to have ARCADIA’s logo be evocative of 80’s Metal Album logos. Jason, MCDM’s Art Director, gave Töm that direction and he ran with it. Here is what Mr. Schmuck came up with:
The team unanimously loved version 2. At this point, the team worked with Töm to address readability issues with some of the letters. Our focus was to resolve an issue with the middle (A) reading as a (P).
Again, Töm knocked it out of the park! With a little bit more clean up, the team landed on the crossover A from 13. Jason did a final polish pass and we locked in on the final logo for ARCADIA!
We’ve said from the beginning that ARCADIA was meant to have the production quality of an old school RPG magazine with modern content. We think the logo does a pretty great job announcing that in just one word.
We hope you liked this small behind the scenes peak at Arcadia. Stay tuned for more Arcadia news in the future!
Comments
I like number 1 myself but the final choice gives you a modern feel with those good strong 80's album cover vibes. It's great to see these processes.
William King
2021-02-01 18:04:35 +0000 UTCGood choice! though I love the Art Nouveau vibe of option 1 too. Couldn't have gone wrong IMO!
Owen Smith
2021-01-25 17:07:16 +0000 UTCGetting some Love from How To D&D on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_98kgZkEPpw
Saltheart
2021-01-24 16:55:15 +0000 UTCLove how each letter leads into the next!
2021-01-24 15:18:08 +0000 UTCLOVE IT
2021-01-23 23:17:02 +0000 UTCAmazing, love seeing this!
Rakbel316
2021-01-23 21:53:28 +0000 UTCLove seeing the design process! I've been a graphic Designer and artist for 30 years and love seeing stuff like this! I like seeing the iterations as you progress. :)
Michael C. Miller
2021-01-23 12:56:01 +0000 UTCI like the retro/modern mash up of it. At least, I think that is the vibe I get. In any case, I like design.
SM Hillman
2021-01-23 02:13:53 +0000 UTCNoice! I'd love to hear more from Jason. E.g. live art direction. Or an "why do I like this art?" way of engaging/explaining useful art-terms. A lot about art seems so mystical and I'd like to be able to communicate what I want more clearly in comissions. (also chicken o.o).
Jan Plewa
2021-01-23 01:29:33 +0000 UTCThis is so cool! I would love to see more "behind the scenes" posts like this.
Jacob Montague
2021-01-23 01:11:56 +0000 UTCMan I love it! One day guys.....one day we may get some real mags to collect!!
2021-01-22 23:30:37 +0000 UTCIncredible!! Love seeing the process!
Colby Nichols
2021-01-22 21:24:23 +0000 UTCMay you get your wish. -Matt
MCDM Productions
2021-01-22 21:23:27 +0000 UTCThe evolution of the AD in the logo really landed on a great compromise, the way curve from the serif in the C carries through to start the stem of the D. Cool.
Eric Anondson
2021-01-22 21:15:38 +0000 UTCI'm glad I decided to go through Patreon for Arcadia. This is great stuff!
2021-01-22 21:13:00 +0000 UTCDamn, it would be fun to see these other iterations show up in later editions, even if not on the cover -- they are all very cool designs. Good work Tom!
Blake
2021-01-22 20:43:01 +0000 UTCNice to see the effort put into this.
Gravy Kingpin
2021-01-22 20:40:21 +0000 UTCVery cool insight! It turned out amazing. Hoping to one day be able to rock this logo on a T-Shirt.
2021-01-22 20:39:43 +0000 UTCJust getting an issue out is hard enough! :D We do like the idea of a Halloween issue, so who knows? -Matt
MCDM Productions
2021-01-22 20:35:24 +0000 UTCGives me some Sonata Arctica vibes
2021-01-22 20:33:47 +0000 UTCFantastic work. My hope is you all are working on a classic April Fools issue article ala, the late Dragon Magazine.
2021-01-22 20:32:06 +0000 UTCAs a fellow designer, I appreciate the work and love Töm has put into this. Arcadia was the straw that made me patron you. Hope to see more awesome content from you guys soon!
Yaroslav Kostiukov
2021-01-22 20:21:38 +0000 UTCDope AF
William Jones
2021-01-22 20:20:32 +0000 UTCIt’s always interesting to see the lots of little fiddly bits that go into details like this
Vanacan
2021-01-22 20:20:24 +0000 UTCThis is DOPE. Insight into Töm's iterative process is so cool, and really inspiring. Thanks for sharing, MCDM.
Paul L.
2021-01-22 20:20:03 +0000 UTC
