Mind Control Software Corporate Identity

Mind Control Software won the Independent Games Festival's 2004 Best Online or Downloadable Game award for their game Oasis. This success brought a new challenge into focus: how to reposition a small guerilla game studio as an industry leader in innovative gaming?

Perhaps the most interesting challenge was the company's name itself; the games industry is constantly on the defensive against parental groups, and even the government, against accusations of controlling the minds of the world's youth. How does one disarm the critics with a name like Mind Control Software? The greatest irony, of course, is that Mind Control's demographic is not the hardcore gamer, but rather the very people who would critique their industry: the casual gamer, whose demographic includes soccer moms and executives.

The answer came through a rigorous process of iteration, exploration, spirited discussion, and ultimately identifying the core traits that made Mind Control a great game studio. The logo was only one aspect of this; the colors, typography, and identity system was all designed to identfy a company that was growing, exciting, a little mysterious, and a little fun. The identity has a classic sensibility (through color and type) while staying very modern with clean lines and interesting shapes, originally derived from stylized text treatments of the company's initials. The use of bold taglines and humorous suggestive messaging throughout its Web site, which I also designed, also helps to define the company. The project wrapped with a robust print and online style guide.

I was ably assisted by the talented Ed Rick, who nailed the general layout of the business cards and helped massage the logo towards its final form. The logo's evolution can be seen in the illustration above, from the initial broad rounds of design to the final logo form.