Team Awesome Visual Identity
First off, I will acknowledge that the name "Team Awesome" sounds incredibly arrogant, but that was kind of the point all along. This hypothetical "company" I created a visual identity for came out of one of my final game design course back in college. For each project, we were assigned to semi-random teams. At the end of each, we were graded by our teammates on performance. "Team Awesome" was the result of the final project, when the three top ranked students: Dave, Zach, and myself, were all placed together on the same team.
As part of the final project, we had to develop a visual identity and website for the company. I've since gone back and sharpened up the look and feel, and developed it as a personal project of my own. The idea of the company is still alive - the three of us still meet to talk shop and keep our game design skill sharp. We have a few game ideas - both digital and on paper - in the hopper, and hopefully we'll be able to bring them to light soon.
The Logo
Like all good things, the Team Awesome logo came from a joke. As we were discussing our game project with the professor, we mentioned that we were going to deliver "the best final project he'd ever seen!" (mostly as a joke; this was his first year as a professor). He replied "Isn't that flying a little close to the sun?" and I immediately began sketching.
There was something compelling about the idea of a small little airplane crossing in front of the sun, just close enough to not get burned. I've since refined the logo from college days: cleaning up the concept, adding more compelling detail to the paper airplane and removing some distracting detail from the sun. The main color, orange, is a bold identifier that speaks to creativity and excitement, something that we wanted the company to represent.
The Brand Collateral
These are the newest additions to the Team Awesome visual identity, and in my mind the neatest. At face value they are (well-designed) brand elements: an instantly letterhead and a business card that stands out. As a matter of fact, the stock, size, and finishes on both were specifically chosen to immediately and loudly jump out from a pile; these demand to be looked at!
The really unique thing about these elements, however, is that they all come with instructions and (in the case of the business cards) scores to fold them into paper airplanes. While designing them, I kept this in mind. I made sure that all elements were purposefully placed both when folded and when flat. This dimensionality is part of the brand's visual identity - a pleasant little surprise that shows we think about things outside of their immediate use.