Project Description
Enracha was a Rank Interactive-owned online gaming start-up aimed at the Spanish market.
The Challenge
I joined the enRacha team at an early stage and was responsible for the branding, web design, animation and illustration. All that was present on my arrival was the colour green, the brand name and a briefing document detailing everything about the business side including some market research.
Inspiration & Concept
The target market saw playing card games as a light-hearted and social past-time very entrenched in Spanish culture. This brought up a source of inspiration to the forefront: Juegos Reunidos Geyper, an iconic set of board and card games engrained into the Spanish consciousness since the 1950’s and which contained roulette amongst its offering. The colourful and vibrant style could be re-interpreted, providing a distinctive and bold look and feel that would stand out amongst the online gaming offering.
Logo
The logo was designed to communicate the essence of the enRacha personality (“en racha” meaning “on a roll” in Spanish). The font Benguiat Gothic was chosen for its curvy, friendly qualities and was used within a strong corporate style, communicating the right balance of trust, fun and playfulness.
The “R” encapsulated on a playing card reflected the nature of the business and also served as a standalone hallmark useful for small spaces, favicon etc. The green colour was dictated by the brief and was picked for the good luck associations that were made evident on the market research. The overall style broke away from the skeuomorphic approaches traditionally used in the sector, giving it instant standout.
Brand Guidelines
The guidelines were kept as slim as possible while addressing all necessary areas including tone of voice.
Illustration
The bold style of vector illustration was devised with the following things in mind:
- To differentiate the exclusive enRacha games offer from the 3rd party supplier ones also available on the site.
- To act as a canvas that could hold the intense and busy styles prominent on 3rd party games.
- To differentiate and distance the brand from the competition by presenting a “less gambling” and “more playing” personality, stroking a chord with the target market.
- To provide a set of visual tools that avoided the use of generic stock photography.
A vector illustration toolbox was created as part of the project. It included hundreds of individual elements that could be arranged to suit the purpose, enabling quick creation of marketing materials. Packs of Spanish and French playing cards were designed for use within the online games and in their printed format as promotional gifts. The designs were a modernised version of the classic designs retaining the flavour of the originals.
Animation
The animation style was developed in conjunction with the illustration style so as to maximise their possibilities. The style was fun and humorous, making use of parallax and drop shadows to help lift the bold vector style giving it depth.