Riot Games: The Logo that Packs a Punch

Riot Games: The Logo that Packs a Punch

A brief look into the history of the Riot Games logo.

Teamfight Tactics. Valorant. League of Legends. Some of the most popular multiplayer games in today’s video game market. And we can give thanks to Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill for helping to found the studio that delivered all these great titles; Riot Games. While most people who follow the company may focus on and give praise to the games made by them, for this paper, I want to bring your attention over to something about Riot Games that seemingly goes undiscussed; the logo. In this paper, I’ll be going over the early history and inception of the original Riot Games logo, how and where the first logo was used and how Riot Games eventually came to the decision to redesign and show off their new logo in 2019.

When Riot Games was first founded by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill in 2006, technology was still relatively young. Logos for big companies like Pepsico and Apple didn’t have the minimalist designs that are seemingly commonplace today. Logos during this time had a distinct shimmer to them. They glowed and radiated, catching the attention of consumers. Riot Games was no exception and their original logo would stand out with a personality all its own. Designed in-house by Riot Games employees and designers from Rinker Design, both studios chose a unique approach during the thought process of the original logo’s design. In an online article posted on the Riot Games website titled “Refreshing Our Logo”, Riot Games employees state that when Brandon and Marc needed a logo, “it needed to be something uniquely  recognizable, something with a punch. And thus, the fist was born.” Keeping this idea in mind, the designers at Rinker Design and Riot Games indeed created a logo that was uniquely recognizable and packed a huge punch. The logo was completely drawn by hand with no known typeface of the logo being available to the public. From 2006 all the way up until 2018, Riot Games used this logo in promotional material for their games and even as a visual signifier for their developers in live streams. For 13 years, everything about the logo from its design, to the typography, to even the colors were handmade and went unchanged. However, as time went on, Marc, Brandon, and Riot Games employees would begin to notice the imperfections of the logo. Noticing these imperfections is what eventually led the company to fix where they went wrong and create what would become the new logo for Riot Games. 

Riot Games - Wikipedia

The original logo for Riot Games which was used from 2006 to 2019.

On April 15, 2019, Riot Games released an article onto their official website titled “Refreshing Our Logo” in which they discussed the thought process of their old logo design, how it was created and even what imperfections the designer teams at Rinker Design and Riot Games later noticed in the original logo’s design. In the article, employees from Riot Games detailed the process of designing the first logo and how when their first art director designed the logo “no one thought about readability for app use or scaling.” The article also discussed how as technology advanced and the team began introducing their logo into new environments such as YouTube videos and Twitch livestreams, “it became clear that the logo we used for so long and had grown so fond of needed a rework.” 

“After working closely with Marc and Brandon, and our CEO Nicolo, we created, what we think, is something that captures the spirit of our original logo while giving it the update it needed.”

Some examples of how the original Riot Games logo was used.

A day earlier on April 14, 2019, Riot Games had released a short teaser video onto their YouTube channel, showing off the redesign of the logo. A day later in their web article, the design team elaborated more on the thought process behind this new redesign. The Riot Games design team had once again chosen to work with Rinker Design in order to create the logo redesign. However, this time, they were not going to make the same mistakes that had been made during the creation of the original logo. The design teams at Riot Games and Rinker Design banded together with a singular goal in mind: redesign the original logo to match with current design trends while keeping the personality of the original Riot Games logo intact. They wanted to capture the same “punch” that the original logo gave off while at the same time, updating it to match current logo design trends. The final result was a logo that the two teams became greatly fond of.

Top: Logomark behind an illustration of a character from League of Legends, a MOBA developed by Riot Games. Bottom-left: Riot Games logo in a black and red color scheme. Bottom-mid: Logo in a black and white color scheme. Bottom-right: Logo and logomark in a red and white color scheme.

The new logo was carefully constructed by both Rinker Design and Riot Games designers to be easily recognizable while still keeping the spirit of the original logo intact. In the “Refreshing Our Logo” article, the team at Riot Games went into detail about some of the decisions that transpired between both teams during the redesigning process. After testing and placing the old logo in places where it was normally featured (namely in company merchandise, social media and the Riot Games company website), the designers ultimately came to the decision to separate the fist from the main logo text. In the team’s own words, the decision was made so that the fist could be used separately as a recognizable logomark for any apps, publications or merchandise made by Riot Games. The text of the logo also took on a more blocky and angular look when compared to the original’s graffiti-esque lettering. The designers at Rinker Design and Riot Games have created their own typeface for this logo that is currently unavailable to the general public. In their article, they also listed some of the more obscure details of the redesigned logo such as the swapping of the hand’s position from left to right that was meant to “mirror the letter ‘R’ in the logo text”. In the photo seen below, Riot Games designers even chose to showcase some more obscure details such as the intricate angles that the text and logomark take on. Currently, the fist is being used as a logomark in Riot Games’ merchandise (ex: purchasable gift cards and clothing) and it can be seen on the official Riot Games website. 

Some official design notes of the new logo for Riot Games. The designers made sure that the lettering in the logo text mirrored up with the fist.

When the redesigned logo for Riot Games first debuted, it was met with mixed reception. Some liked and appreciated the more streamlined and minimalistic design while other people such as famous League of Legends streamer, Tyler1, denounced it, claiming it as “too basic and too minimalist”. The results were polarizing and the designers of the new logo suffered criticism from many who didn’t appreciate the changes from the original logo to the redesigned one. Despite the negative criticism though, it is clear that the new logo for Riot Games shows an evolution in the company’s image. With their logo, Riot Games has moved away from the graffiti-esque text and screaming logo design that was popularized by the early 2000s. Technology has changed and many companies including Riot Games have been forced to adapt and rebrand themselves to match current trends. The designers at Riot Games and Rinker Design worked to fix what the previous designers and art directors of the original logo failed to do. With this new logo, the designers have managed to recapture the spirit of the original logo while updating it to make it legible and uniquely recognizable. Riot Games has successfully adapted to changing technologies and design trends and created a new logo that matches the minimalist designs that have been popularized during the 2010s and that other companies use to this day. In a society dominated by minimalist logos, the designers at Riot Games have managed to stand out from the rest of the crowd and create a logo that truly does pack a punch. 

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