Heading into the 2024 Season, one of the main missions of The Guard was to align the three brands - The Guard, The Los Angeles Gladiators and The Los Angeles Guerrillas - more closely together.
One of the only things uniting the brands was the color purple and that alone is not enough to make it known the brands are associated. To do this, we first started with a graphics and visual overhaul.
In the past, while each team's main color was purple they also had its own accent color. Which gave the benefit of allowing each brand to stand uniquely on its own with the color purple, however, it also added confusion on whether the brands were connected.
As The Guard is the parent brand, all the teams colors changed to The Guard's colors: the primary as purple and the secondary as gold.
Furthermore, assets were to be used across all three brands (Parent Brand Assets) but each team would also have their own set of icons, textures, an accent font, and specific color usage percentages (Brand Specific Assets). This would allow the teams to look unique to fit their tone, voice, fans, and game while also still connecting to the parent brand. I didn’t create the icons or patterns. They are various licensed icons from Envato with minor changes to some (I can't be good at everything sorry).
I also connected the brands through layouts. Information locations for graphics such as matchday, birthdays, roster announcements, etc. will be unified across all three brands so you can always find the information in the same place.
Here are examples of how both brands use the same colors, parent brand assets, and information layouts, but use their own accent assets to make their brand unique.
The graphics for The Los Angeles Gladiators were the first graphics I created using the new brand guidelines in their entirety. They are the best example of how the balance between the Parent Brand Assets and the Brand Specific Assets were supposed to work together.
Below is some of the work I did for them throughout the year.
This jersey was going to be the catalyst to the RISE ABOVE campaign that would be driving everything we did in the 2024 season. Throughout The Guard history, the VALORANT roster has risen through both leagues it has been a part of. From battling their way through the open bracket of VCT Main Event 2022 all the way to Masters 1 Reykjavik to winning it all in 2023 VCT America's Ascension - The Guard has always Risen Above the competition.
To go with the brand refresh and new jersey, here is some other merchandise including t-shirts, long sleeves, hoodies, and various other items. These are some of the concepts I created.
This project isn't as finished as I would love it to be. I never truly got to work on the Guerrillas Brand and it was only 3/4th implemented into The Guard Brand. Wish I could have seen this Brand Refresh come to life through all three brands. Onward.
