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When we knew the Scottish Esports League was coming back for a fourth season, we took some time to look in the mirror and really reflect on what it was we were building, and what the future of the league has in store!
In SEL3, we redeveloped the logo and created an identity system for each of the games being run in the league, aiming to make it easier for players and fans alike to immediately identify when content was about their favourite game.
Going back to the drawing boards we realised we were happy with the idea, but we just hadn't pushed the concept far enough and there still wasn’t enough differentiation between each game. Thusly, we dropped the single coloured antler and went for a bolder more easily identifiable system, utilising each game’s individual colour across the board so at any glance you know exactly which game the visual is pertaining to.
SEL3’s system of having signifying colours for each game also wasn't helped by the desaturated muted shades we chose for each title and didn’t give an instant feeling of excitement that the biggest esports event in Scotland ought to have. It’s an exciting event so why not have exciting colours to match!
For the league, one of the big challenges was making it look and feel Scottish, but without slapping tartan, hey jimmies, haggis, Nessy, claymores, castles, highland coos, mountains, bagpipes, Celtic knots, stags, grouse, whiskey, shortbread, thistles, and Mel Gibbson’s luscious locks all over it. It’s a long list of cracking visuals and it’s not easy just choosing one or two.
The design we settled for is a blend of the antlers of a Scottish stag combined with a shield to create the crest. The stag: symbolising majestic strength and nobility, a dynasty of greatness. The shield: to reflect the clashing of forces in the league and the history we have as a country. And when combined they resemble the head and leaves of a thistle, Scotland's national flower.
One visual not mentioned above is of course the best flag in the world! The saltire. Not wanting to go too on the nose we took the core shape of the saltire’s cross and extracted this shape from it.
Once we had this core shape, there were lots of things we could then develop around it. Patterns, shapes, transitions and other motion graphics. Together they encapsulate the sharp competitive edge of the league, its host country and the trajectory of the teams, players, and league.
Our goal for the Scottish Esports League and the future of esports across the country is to make it a cutting edge event & scene we’re all proud of as a nation, something that we can call our own, help grow and highlight new exciting talent, and put on an awesome show for new and old fans alike. We hope you agree that our redesign takes us a long way to achieving that goal - let us know what you think on our socials!
About the Author
Dale R Murray | Head of Content
Joining the team as a video editor before BigFest 2018, Dale's worked his way through the ESS ranks with the single goal of making Scottish Esports as incredible as possible. His passion for competition comes from his youth playing basketball, football & rugby as a kid & teen. Combined with a long-standing history of being generally terrible at video games, except for Mariokart, he now sticks to single-player games and instead competes vicariously through his favourite teams, and telling the stories of the Scottish scene.