Joystick
Category
Branding | Digital
Client
Joystick Arcade Bar
Joystick Arcade Bar
Project
Visual identity and website for an arcade bar
Services
Logo and visual identity Typography and colours Illustrations Web design
Year
2023
2023
Context
Joystick is an arcade bar in Prague. Machines with classics like Mortal Kombat, Metal Slug and Streets of Rage, nine pinball machines in cooperation with Flippery.cz, and cold beer to go with it. A place for people who once spent their pocket money in arcades and now want to relive it with friends.
Challenge
The bar needed an identity that recalls the atmosphere of old arcades without sliding into a cheap retro parody. It wasn’t about drawing another pixel logo. The task was to find a symbol that works on a sign, on the website and in social media posts.
Context
Joystick is an arcade bar in Prague. Machines with classics like Mortal Kombat, Metal Slug and Streets of Rage, nine pinball machines in cooperation with Flippery.cz, and cold beer to go with it. A place for people who once spent their pocket money in arcades and now want to relive it with friends.
Challenge
The bar needed an identity that recalls the atmosphere of old arcades without sliding into a cheap retro parody. It wasn’t about drawing another pixel logo. The task was to find a symbol that works on a sign, on the website and in social media posts.
Identity
The logo is based on an arcade cabinet. I gradually simplified sketches of its outline until they became the letter J, which also resembles a joystick lever. The typeface Actay in wide, regular and condensed cuts holds the hierarchy from headline to small print. Four colours – yellow, petrol, red and black – refer to arcade cabinets.
The J symbol became a repeating pattern and a set of illustrations: arcade machines, pinball and a bar counter with stools.
Identity
The logo is based on an arcade cabinet. I gradually simplified sketches of its outline until they became the letter J, which also resembles a joystick lever. The typeface Actay in wide, regular and condensed cuts holds the hierarchy from headline to small print. Four colours – yellow, petrol, red and black – refer to arcade cabinets.
The J symbol became a repeating pattern and a set of illustrations: arcade machines, pinball and a bar counter with stools.
View the presentation (PDF)
Web and social
I developed the identity into a website with an overview of the games, a separate pinball section and a map, into social media templates, such as Pop Quiz invitations, and into a 3D version of the logo.
Outcome
The system is deliberately simple: one symbol, one typeface and four colours. A new poster or post doesn’t have to be invented from scratch, and the bar looks the same on the web as on Instagram.
Web and social
I developed the identity into a website with an overview of the games, a separate pinball section and a map, into social media templates, such as Pop Quiz invitations, and into a 3D version of the logo.
Outcome
The system is deliberately simple: one symbol, one typeface and four colours. A new poster or post doesn’t have to be invented from scratch, and the bar looks the same on the web as on Instagram.
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