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wax & wane esthetics

brand personality
Technological / Modern / Corporate

The Miami University Esports Program is the nation's first varsity D1 esports program with high-ranking teams in some of the most popular competitive online games--Overwatch 2, League of Legends, Valorant, Rocket League, NBA2K and Halo. The program proudly holds championship titles in several prestigious tournaments, such as the Esports Collegiate (ESC) tournaments.
deliverables
During my four years as the lead graphic designer of Miami's program, I worked at developing a unique brand for the program within the university's branding guidelines and created a large assortment of graphics for use digitally, on live stream, and/or print. Some of those graphics include:

•  Social media posts
•  Email signature
•  Stream overlays
•  Website banners
•  Advertisements
•  Pamphlets
•  Posters
•  & more
process
Prior to my involvement, the program's branding over-relied on generic JPEG textures and overall had an unremarkable design, as seen in the graphic on the right. I addressed this by using certain visual elements reminiscent of technology, linear glitches, lines, and halftones to appeal to the program's target audience (young adults with an interest in video games) while maintaining the modern corporate aesthetic dictated by Miami University's branding guidelines. To add visual interest, I also use imagery from the specific games played in the program, and more importantly, candid photography of the teams' players.
By incorporating photos taken by the Miami University's Esports Program's media team of the players in action at tournaments, another personal layer of brand identity is added while also advertising a big selling point for the program, the Lounge and Arena. These photos become especially important with recruitment graphics as it allows the more specific demographic, potential players, to visualize the unity of the team they could potentially be a part of.