Keymaster Games posted a Kickstarter (PARKS: The Board Game) in early 2019 that completed with over 9,000 backers at $419,675. They followed that campaign with another (PARKS: Expansion series) in early 2020 that succeeded again with nearly 10,000 backers and $578, 955.
In mid-2020, they reached out to Focus Lab to reposition their visual identity before more games were set to hit shelves in Target, Wal-Mart, and Barnes & Noble across the United States.
(Note: Keymaster was founded by Kyle Key, who has a Master’s Degree in Illustration; Mattox Shuler, their Creative Director, also runs Fort Foundry, a unique type foundry. The stakes were high!)
Enamel pin
Early, unused concept
On a GameBoy, of course.
Additional, unused concepts
Before/After
We started on a key journey with a hexagon and a monogram. We evolved and agreed on better synthesizing the brand narrative with the mark itself: the hexagon was simplified to a circle, a nod to connection around the gameplay table. The mark is always at a 45-degree angle and almost always in gold.
A key serves the start of a new discovery — opening a treasure chest, learning, and exploring something new.
Customizations to MD Nichrome. Drawn in partnership with Mattox Shuler.
Final logo lockup
Keymaster takes full advantage of a host of font families. Nichrome is the logotype but also the primary header. Pukará (by Compañía Tipográfica de Chile) is a child of Roger Excoffon’s Antique Olive (c. 1960) and plays well as a strong subhead or eyebrow text. Goodall is Colophon Foundry’s re-thinking of Rockwell (1934) and represents Keymaster’s body copy (the italics are gorgeous!). Very Cool Studio’s Gooper (Semi Condensed) takes the stand as calls-to-action (buttons, links) or prices (large numbers). Its limited use case allows it to sing in restraint. Together, all four families work as a typographic ecosystem for Keymaster’s visual identity.
Color system
Web concept.
Available where most games are sold!
Early versions of Red, the Viking macot.
Red, the Viking mascot.
Gang’s all here.