Responsive Branding & Illustration
Spawn On Me is the premiere podcast spotlighting people of color in the gaming industry. Every week Kahlief Adams goes live on Twitch to chat games, news & culture. Featuring guests from all areas of the industry, Spawn On Me is highlighting creators and creating engaging and inspiring conversations in the gaming community. Kahlief came to me looking to bring a fresh coat of paint to the podcast – something bold, classy & fun to showcase the feel and voice of the podcast. What we landed on is a brand direction that would feel just as much at home graffitied on a wall in Brooklyn as it would be printed across a t-shirt at a gaming convention.
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
Originally from Brooklyn and currently residing in Portland, Kahlief wanted the branding to pay homage to Brooklyn’s signature urban look while still feeling modern and relevant in the gaming space. This led to a look heavily inspired by classic blocky graffiti implemented in a super clean, modern fashion that lent itself beautifully to the Twitch platform. Stylistically, the vibe and feel of the core brand laid a perfect foundation for expanding the brand into secondary marks and mediums.
BRING ON THE SEGMENTS
Each episode of Spawn On Me is broken into multiple segments that cover different topics. Everything from game reviews and news to relevant cultural issues going on at the time of filming. To make each segment distinct, I developed a series of animated illustrations introducing each segment of the show. This gives the brand a distinct illustration style while also making the show more entertaining.
An animated backyard BBQ scene brings a lighthearted and approachable attitude to a section of the show that discusses cultural issues and divides. Spawn On Me is focused on bringing these stories into the spotlight to create powerful and introspective conversation.
“What’s the 411” is the news segment of each episode of Spawn On Me. It covers everything from what’s going on in the gaming industry to what’s going on in the real NEWS. Again, bringing a lighthearted attitude to an often more serious segment, I turned Kahlief into a professional New’s Anchor working inside a beautiful little vintage TV.
A selection of Spawn On Me branded controllers is featured for the “What We’ve Been Playing” section, and that style is further fleshed out in the gaming “Reviews” and “Previews” segments. These segments culminate in an animated intro that kicks off every episode of Spawn On Me. Bringing the branding together in a beautiful, uniform way gives first-time viewers an overview of what to expect.
Zach was amazing to work with on our rebrand. His ability to distill the idea around what I needed to perfectly complement not only what our brand was looking for visually but how that representation would be cohesive across so many platforms really brought home just how important working with a professional can be. I loved that he wanted to get every detail about the ethos of what we do and how that would inform what he created for us. Tinkering and working out ideas is something that usually is scary with designers, but Zach was great at letting me add ideas and then discussing how we might be able to tweak them for the best results. As a person who always loves to be a part of the process, this might have been the coolest part of working with him. I would encourage you all to work with Zach on your projects, he is caring and thoughtful about making you and your brand stand out. He has forever changed how Spawn On Me will be viewed in the world and I’m excited to see what we can build together in the future.
KAHLIEF ADAMS – HOST & OWNER
*Podcast screenshots and clips taken from youtube.com/spawnonme
Zach was amazing to work with on our rebrand. His ability to distill the idea around what I needed to perfectly complement not only what our brand was looking for visually but how that representation would be cohesive across so many platforms really brought home just how important working with a professional can be. I loved that he wanted to get every detail about the ethos of what we do and how that would inform what he created for us. Tinkering and working out ideas is something that usually is scary with designers, but Zach was great at letting me add ideas and then discussing how we might be able to tweak them for the best results. As a person who always loves to be a part of the process, this might have been the coolest part of working with him. I would encourage you all to work with Zach on your projects, he is caring and thoughtful about making you and your brand stand out. He has forever changed how Spawn On Me will be viewed in the world and I’m excited to see what we can build together in the future.
