As a marketing person, I went into this really intrigued and excited. The new logo however is disappointing and a bit worrying.
The font of the old logos should have been kept. The age and style of the font reflected the brand itself: classic, timeless and iconic. It emphasized the long-lasting and unique position of Magic in the gaming industry, as well as the fundamental aspect of the game itself: always changing, but staying true to its foundations.
This is a game that has been around now close to 25 years - people have seen that font, those words, for over two decades. That font had a level of brand resonance and cultural weight that this new one simply can't match. You wouldn't see a font like the old one on many major new intellectual properties nowadays, and that's a GOOD THING for Magic because it highlights just how classic this game is. It won't put off new players, it will intrigue them. You'll notice a lot of classic, strong brands (like Coca Cola, Marvel, Ford, Disney) may change font colors but deliberately keep the same fonts for decades, as it communicates brand strength through a long history.
I'm surprised about the change; the new logo is too radical and weakens the brand image. When it comes to Magic, you can change the color of the logo, but changing the font itself is a step too far and undermines what makes this game so special.
I don't get why wotc is so eager to make its audience forget that the game has more than 20 years of history
Because that's what you do to position this product to long-time (or mature, age-wise) players. It's definitely not what you do when you're trying to pick up the 'Hearthstone Generation'.
They're a completely different demographic and they actively avoid stuff that is perceived as 'old'. They are taking a very big financial gamble with Arena and they are going to do everything they can (yes, even changing the 20-year old logo) to get young (and NEW) players to pay attention and just give it a try (in the hopes of hooking them). If Magic is perceived as 'quaint' or 'dated' in any way by a significant % of the target audience, that probably won't happen. Let's face it: they won't get multiple chances to roll this out. Might as well throw everything you've got at it.
I will miss the old logo. I honestly liked the "M" logo you used to see. At least the card backs will always have it.
Aaaaaand...it sucks. I hate to have to complain about new stuff, because "Changes/different things? Boohoo can't handle it..." will often be the response but man this doesn't have the vibe magic is supposed to give off at all. Too bland. Too polished. It doesn't invoke spellslinging in a high fantasy setting at all.
Also stop pushing your silly PW symbol <_<
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern
Affinity
UW Control
Commander
Sidisi, Undead Vizier
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Dragonlord Ojutai
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
The Ur-Dragon
Boy these reactions sound a lot like when they updated to the modern card frame 15 years ago. You'll get used to it guys, I promise.
I still hate the modern frame. It still looks wrong. And even if I "get used to it", it's still worse to me and negatively impacts the way I experience the game (albeit in a minor way relative to the borders).
I don't hate it. I don't love it. It's quite a generic logo overall. They're leaning almost entirely on the Planeswalker symbol to carry the brand identity, they want to be able to paste that one symbol on anything, in any color combination. It's just simplified branding.
They could have done this with the old 'M' on the card back, but that ship has sailed, they've been using the 'walker logo in their branding for a long time, incorporating it into the official trademark of the game was only a matter of time.
A new look every once in a while is always welcome for me. This one seems cool. It's interesting to use this as a reference point to imagine what an updated cardback would look like.
The game is called Magic. Magic is reminiscent of ancient and medieval times, which is why MTG planes aren't modern themes. Yet here is a logo replacing thematic text with (very poor quality) contemporary design which frankly clashes with the premise of the game.
Just a logo anyway I suppose. Make good products and it won't matter to me. Ixalan for example sold well regardless of logos. But it is awkward.
They're leaning almost entirely on the Planeswalker symbol to carry the brand identity, they want to be able to paste that one symbol on anything, in any color combination. It's just simplified branding.
They really haven't done a very good job with that logo. Like, probably a very small subset of regular players could even tell you what that symbol means, despite them having used it for, what, over a decade now? I would say with confidence that the majority of people playing Magic would recognize the symbol but could not tell you what it represents. I think we probably will see this 'type icon/badge' permanently added to Magic cards at some point--they seem to be very happy on using it on Transform cards. (and we keep seeing more and more of those, eh?) If this new branding doesn't sufficiently catch fire, they'll implement that change sooner rather than later. (Honestly a little surprised they didn't just get it over with wen they recently tweaked the modern frames.)
Quote from saneatali » »
They could have done this with the old 'M' on the card back, but that ship has sailed, they've been using the 'walker logo in their branding for a long time, incorporating it into the official trademark of the game was only a matter of time.
This. I really like that one. But, I can see that it does nothing for new players. It really only works when it's for enfranchised players who know it's standing in for 'Magic' to begin with. What's this game "M" I keep hearing about? Oh what's that? It's called "Magic, the Gathering?" OH!, I didn't know that.. Fail.
I think it looks sick. It's a lot sleeker and more modern while the font still evokes a very "Magic" feel. The Planeswalker symbol looks great; of any single symbol I think it's the most representative of Magic.
As long as the card back stays the same (which it is) I see this as an improvement. This is going to look awesome on new product.
The font is actually a mash-up between the original logo and the Beleren font. They're really all-in on the Beleren thing.
Actually its very different from beleren with only the G being close - its either beleren but highly modified, or they have a full on new font that hasnt or wont be public
The game is called Magic. Magic is reminiscent of ancient and medieval times, which is why MTG planes aren't modern themes. Yet here is a logo replacing thematic text with (very poor quality) contemporary design which frankly clashes with the premise of the game.
If WotC is okay with Magic's brand looking all sleek, chrome, and futuristic, then the least they could do is give us a spacefaring aliens magitek setting.
Go all-in with it.
I just hope they don't start changing the card backs. It would just look really terrible if you're playing without sleeves (or clear sleeves) to have a deck with mostly the old back and a few with new backs, your opponents would know which cards you're holding.
I just did a quick Mockup of what i think would have gone over well with more people
The larger 'M' actually adds a lot to the logo. Good job.
Now this could still incorporate the planeswalker symbol and I'd say I'm fine with it. The all same-sized capital letters are just too unexciting/static.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Rebranding is generally a sign that the suits in charge don't understand the brand.
Welcome to the New Coke era of Magic, let's hope they find as soon as TCCC that taking away what people likes about your product is not a winning strategy and don't go the way of Pepsi Co. instead, floundering forever jumping behind trends way past their prime.
In defense of this concept, Mountain Dew has changed logos/imagery at least 4 times during Magic's existence and has always been awesome, and ironically, owned by Pepsi.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I know he thinks I'm impressed by a 102 MPH fastball in the 9th inning... Ok, I'm impressed, but that doesn't mean I can't crush it.
But maybe I'm just old fashioned. I still miss the original frames (brown artifacts, etc.). And that will never come back.
Not going to lose sleep over it. I'm shifted hard to other tabletop board games in the past 3 years. Lots of great games out there for a fraction of the cost I've dumped into MTG over the past 23 years.
Something like the mock-up posted on the second page was used, on the back of the oversized Garruk the Slayer card.
I wouldn't mind it having the new purple background, but I already covered how it doesn't matter much anyway because it won't be present for box or pack art, just the words and symbols(just as we don't see the "book" aspect currently in such areas).
From a personal standpoint I honesty never really cared about how the logo looked like and this still holds true even when this is the biggest change to it yet.
I do sort of understand why they wanted to planeswalker symbol to be at the forefront - Magic itself as a word is so generic and in this era of endless card games (both paper and digital), to the general public the stylized Magic word doesn't mean anything. Especially now that they're trying to seriously enter the digital realm, they are going to be 1 app in the list of hundred others - they badly need a icon to represent the "franchise" (and app icon) now. They have never used the stylized "M" of Magic alone in any product before anyway (plus even if it's stylized using the one letter that happens to clash with one of the biggest fast food franchises isn't exactly the best of plans to present to the suits) and fitting the whole five-letter word is too much in the tiny visual digital realm of smartphones.
I feel like the real loss of the new logo is the loss of the textures in the words that gave the generic fantasy feel (even if the game itself is all over the place) without a new style to take over for it. Hearthstone has a WoW-esque texture that announces the feel of the brand. As of now the logo feels sort of like Shadowverse (just plain words and a symbol of the Morning Star behind, but in fairness for Shadowverse it doesn't have much going for it lore-wise), but they had the advantage of a somewhat-recognized texture to utilize that they didn't.
So yeah, the move itself wasn't wrong (using the planeswalker symbol and arguably retiring the large "M"), but the rest of the style (mainly textures) shouldn't have been changed that much (to something that's just plain and generic).
For me magic is all about the "gathering" symbol, magic is about its 5 colors , not about planeswalkers, no matter how hard they try, they want to make it a brand with something they can actually own as something (and planeswalkers are easy to brand around and produce tons of merchandise if you want to).
----
Anyway, i dont like it, but in the end, even for the sole reason to make a somewhat logo that works on smaller scale, ok, it wont matter anyway as i can gladly ignore the logo as it has nothing to do with the actual card game if you play the game (its nowhere on the cards, and it doesnt contribute anything to the game to have it).
For me putting effort and money into making a new logo, is a giant waste of money and time.
Theres always a special thing to staying true to your roots, theres simply no reason to use a new logo at all, especially as ALL the cards they print have the old classic blue magic logo anyway, so putting a different logo on other products is just stupid ...
The font of the old logos should have been kept. The age and style of the font reflected the brand itself: classic, timeless and iconic. It emphasized the long-lasting and unique position of Magic in the gaming industry, as well as the fundamental aspect of the game itself: always changing, but staying true to its foundations.
This is a game that has been around now close to 25 years - people have seen that font, those words, for over two decades. That font had a level of brand resonance and cultural weight that this new one simply can't match. You wouldn't see a font like the old one on many major new intellectual properties nowadays, and that's a GOOD THING for Magic because it highlights just how classic this game is. It won't put off new players, it will intrigue them. You'll notice a lot of classic, strong brands (like Coca Cola, Marvel, Ford, Disney) may change font colors but deliberately keep the same fonts for decades, as it communicates brand strength through a long history.
I'm surprised about the change; the new logo is too radical and weakens the brand image. When it comes to Magic, you can change the color of the logo, but changing the font itself is a step too far and undermines what makes this game so special.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
Because that's what you do to position this product to long-time (or mature, age-wise) players. It's definitely not what you do when you're trying to pick up the 'Hearthstone Generation'.
They're a completely different demographic and they actively avoid stuff that is perceived as 'old'. They are taking a very big financial gamble with Arena and they are going to do everything they can (yes, even changing the 20-year old logo) to get young (and NEW) players to pay attention and just give it a try (in the hopes of hooking them). If Magic is perceived as 'quaint' or 'dated' in any way by a significant % of the target audience, that probably won't happen. Let's face it: they won't get multiple chances to roll this out. Might as well throw everything you've got at it.
I will miss the old logo. I honestly liked the "M" logo you used to see. At least the card backs will always have it.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
Also stop pushing your silly PW symbol <_<
Affinity
UW Control
Commander
Sidisi, Undead Vizier
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Dragonlord Ojutai
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
The Ur-Dragon
I still hate the modern frame. It still looks wrong. And even if I "get used to it", it's still worse to me and negatively impacts the way I experience the game (albeit in a minor way relative to the borders).
........................
They could have done this with the old 'M' on the card back, but that ship has sailed, they've been using the 'walker logo in their branding for a long time, incorporating it into the official trademark of the game was only a matter of time.
Just a logo anyway I suppose. Make good products and it won't matter to me. Ixalan for example sold well regardless of logos. But it is awkward.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
They really haven't done a very good job with that logo. Like, probably a very small subset of regular players could even tell you what that symbol means, despite them having used it for, what, over a decade now? I would say with confidence that the majority of people playing Magic would recognize the symbol but could not tell you what it represents. I think we probably will see this 'type icon/badge' permanently added to Magic cards at some point--they seem to be very happy on using it on Transform cards. (and we keep seeing more and more of those, eh?) If this new branding doesn't sufficiently catch fire, they'll implement that change sooner rather than later. (Honestly a little surprised they didn't just get it over with wen they recently tweaked the modern frames.)
This. I really like that one. But, I can see that it does nothing for new players. It really only works when it's for enfranchised players who know it's standing in for 'Magic' to begin with. What's this game "M" I keep hearing about? Oh what's that? It's called "Magic, the Gathering?" OH!, I didn't know that.. Fail.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
As long as the card back stays the same (which it is) I see this as an improvement. This is going to look awesome on new product.
Actually its very different from beleren with only the G being close - its either beleren but highly modified, or they have a full on new font that hasnt or wont be public
Go all-in with it.
The larger 'M' actually adds a lot to the logo. Good job.
Now this could still incorporate the planeswalker symbol and I'd say I'm fine with it. The all same-sized capital letters are just too unexciting/static.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
In defense of this concept, Mountain Dew has changed logos/imagery at least 4 times during Magic's existence and has always been awesome, and ironically, owned by Pepsi.
Dude this looks really good. I really wonder if something like this was ever considered..
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
But maybe I'm just old fashioned. I still miss the original frames (brown artifacts, etc.). And that will never come back.
Not going to lose sleep over it. I'm shifted hard to other tabletop board games in the past 3 years. Lots of great games out there for a fraction of the cost I've dumped into MTG over the past 23 years.
Thread | Draft
I wouldn't mind it having the new purple background, but I already covered how it doesn't matter much anyway because it won't be present for box or pack art, just the words and symbols(just as we don't see the "book" aspect currently in such areas).
I do sort of understand why they wanted to planeswalker symbol to be at the forefront - Magic itself as a word is so generic and in this era of endless card games (both paper and digital), to the general public the stylized Magic word doesn't mean anything. Especially now that they're trying to seriously enter the digital realm, they are going to be 1 app in the list of hundred others - they badly need a icon to represent the "franchise" (and app icon) now. They have never used the stylized "M" of Magic alone in any product before anyway (plus even if it's stylized using the one letter that happens to clash with one of the biggest fast food franchises isn't exactly the best of plans to present to the suits) and fitting the whole five-letter word is too much in the tiny visual digital realm of smartphones.
I feel like the real loss of the new logo is the loss of the textures in the words that gave the generic fantasy feel (even if the game itself is all over the place) without a new style to take over for it. Hearthstone has a WoW-esque texture that announces the feel of the brand. As of now the logo feels sort of like Shadowverse (just plain words and a symbol of the Morning Star behind, but in fairness for Shadowverse it doesn't have much going for it lore-wise), but they had the advantage of a somewhat-recognized texture to utilize that they didn't.
So yeah, the move itself wasn't wrong (using the planeswalker symbol and arguably retiring the large "M"), but the rest of the style (mainly textures) shouldn't have been changed that much (to something that's just plain and generic).
For me magic is all about the "gathering" symbol, magic is about its 5 colors , not about planeswalkers, no matter how hard they try, they want to make it a brand with something they can actually own as something (and planeswalkers are easy to brand around and produce tons of merchandise if you want to).
----
Anyway, i dont like it, but in the end, even for the sole reason to make a somewhat logo that works on smaller scale, ok, it wont matter anyway as i can gladly ignore the logo as it has nothing to do with the actual card game if you play the game (its nowhere on the cards, and it doesnt contribute anything to the game to have it).
For me putting effort and money into making a new logo, is a giant waste of money and time.
Theres always a special thing to staying true to your roots, theres simply no reason to use a new logo at all, especially as ALL the cards they print have the old classic blue magic logo anyway, so putting a different logo on other products is just stupid ...
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮