Designing Mosquitobyte‘s Logo

An In-Depth Look at the Process

After successfully finding a name for our game startup, it was about time to think about the logo. As this is something quite challenging from the design perspective, I wanted to take this moment to explain how we came to our logo.

Starting With Analog Sketches First…

As in most design processes it has become a tradition to start off by sketching down ideas in the first place. Instead of drawing things digitally immediately, this step allows to experiment with several shapes and sizes. Most of us have an idea of how something could look like right in the beginning. For this reason it is highly recommended to sketch down this very first idea since it might look already different, if not terrible, on paper. Also, drawing rough shapes physically is probably much faster than jotting down ideas on screen.

In this case, as it’s shown in the photo above, Mosquitobyte’s logo started off with a triangular sign hinting at mosquitos. Another idea was to use the letter ‘M’ in very basic shapes (a). Nevertheless the logo entered an alternative path with a bigger focus on the mosquito itself but still playing with the letter ‘M’ (b). Since this version looks a bit strange regarding the perspective, a different iteration shows the mosquito from front view ©.

… Then Iterate Digitally

After having tested various versions on paper, now was the right time to move on digitally.

Therefore we scanned some of the sketches, so they could be redrawn as vectors. This made it possible to refine and iterate based on our very first paper drafts. In order to keep the logo simple, we only used simple shapes such as ellipses and lines.

As iterations got more detailed we also started using a grid which would ensure to keep the emblem clean and readable even on small sizes. At the same time we wanted to enhance recognizability, by adding eyes to the rest of the body. To stay consequent in forms and style, the eyes have the same weight proportions as the legs.

Since we still liked the idea of having a letter within the logo, the mosquito’s legs were reshaped to match the letter ‘M’. As a result the final version now shows a combination of both the mosquito and the letter ‘M’.

Thoughts on Colors

In the beginning it is always better to start with a b/w version of a logo. However adding color makes it feel alive and extends the identity of a brand. Due to this fact colors are as important as the shape itself.

During our process we changed existing colors multiple times since they mostly didn’t look or feel right. Sometimes it felt too dark and another time it was way too jarring.

We just wanted to make sure that each color is carefully selected. Additionally, we thought every color should have its own meaning.

Accordingly, we came up with three main colors that will be used across the brand system:

• Glowy Green — As most insects, mosquitos feel attracted to those shiny glowing neon lights (also an homage to the 20th century, especially the 90s).
• Bloody Red — Simply because mosquitos sometimes need to recharge by sucking a bit of juicy blood (Of course we don’t suck real blood at all).
• Nightly Blue — As mosquitos come around especially in the evening, this color fits nicely, adding a great dark contrast.

Lastly Adding a Wordmark

So far, so good. Logo, check. Colors, check. Now the only thing which is missing is the lack of a defined font type. Again, it took some time to find the right one.

After trying multiple fonts, we came to the conclusion to use Rubik as our main, sans-serif typeface. It has some lovely round edges which fit perfectly to our logo since it mostly has these smooth corners as well.

In summary it can be said the whole logo process took quite a while but it was definitely worth it.