Case Study
UK Speedrunner Gathering
UKSG is a live-streamed charity event held in Glasgow 3 times a year. It brings together a diverse community of people who enjoy going fast in video games (aka 'speedrunning'), while raising money for charity.
As a small grass roots event, UKSG was steadily growing in numbers and wanted to start building brand recognition and consistent graphics, particularly on their live-stream overlays.
The Challenge
The event heavily relied on sister events for their branding. It was time to start setting themselves apart and create a unique identity. The base logo already existed as a bitmap image ('UKSG' lettering and joystick) so the branding had to work around that. Being a live-streamed event, there were also a lot of technical considerations.
Requirements:
Re-fresh the base UKSG logo as a vector file and create new versions specific to the event themes (Red/Green/Blue)
Create a brand guidelines document
Produce large set of stream overlay templates
Designs for printed attendee badges
YouTube thumbnails templates
Other assets for Twitch and merch
Many of the materials required editable templates to be used by any future volunteers.
2024 Badge Designs for each of the 3 events during that year
Building consistency
I used the few existing materials for UKSG and the key features of the events from my own experience to start building up a simple set of brand guidelines for future volunteers to build upon.
Keywords and phrases:
Video Games
Live streaming
Scottish/British Identity
Charity
Inclusive
Fun and approachable
Colour Palette
The event is held 3 times a year, each being themed 'Red', 'Geen', 'Blue', which needed to be present and interchangable in the colour palette.
I opted to use a dark shade of blue as a base colour for multiple reasons:
Blue is part of the Union Jack and the UKSG logo
Darker colours are easier on the eye for viewers watching the streams for long periods
It serves as a great base to apply Red/Blue/Green elements in the stream overlays.
Logos
I refreshed the existing 'UKSG' logo and created variants for 'Red', 'Blue' and 'Green'.
I also made sure each logo had stacked, inline, RGB, CMYK and embroidary-ready versions for different applications.
Highly customisable stream overlays
'Stream overlays' are graphical layouts placed on top of live video content (gameplay, webcams) to create a professional broadcast, enhance branding, and display real-time information for the viewers.
This was the most complex task as live streaming is at the core of the event, with a lot of technical requirements.
Template I created for the 1-player 16:9 game overlay for UKSG Green
Live example of the overlay in use
Technical Requirements
To understand and refine the technical requirements of the overlays, I collaborated with the coder, tech volunteers and event organisers.
Customiseable options so the tech teams can adapt the layouts on the fly during live events.
Design files labelled meticulously for the coders to transfer the design to the streaming software.
Accommodates 15+ layout options
There are a large number variables that need to be quickly adjustable during events: The event colour (Red, Green or Blue), game feed ratios and playstyles (16:9, 4:3, Nintendo DS, co-op etc) and the number of names needed on-screen.
It was also important to consider variable text-fitting for differing game names, usernames and more.
Attendee Badges
Printed badges for attendees which have colour-coded roles for volunteers and speedrunners. These were iterated between events based on requirements and to keep it fresh for regular attendees.
YouTube Thumbnails
I created a template which could be automated to quickly create thumbnails from a text file.
Contact
jemredford@gmail.com
07593740131