When Cameron, myself and a mutual friend started concepting this show, we knew we wanted to have a logo that was inherently “Star Wars”, but more, inherently us. We brainstormed many show titles before our mutual friend offered ‘The Infernal Brotherhood of the Scruffy Looking, Nerf Herders’. We instantly knew it was a hit.
Now you may, rightfully so, be hesitant in think this is a good Star Wars video podcast name. And though it’s not as ‘on-the-nose’ as most podcasters prefer, it spoke to who and what we are as podcasters more than an overtly “Star Wars” name would. You see, we wanted to do something different, something fresh. We wanted to forge our own brand, not borrow equity from Lucasfilm. We knew this would hinder us initially, but ultimately we would be better off for it.
When concepting the visuals of ‘The Infernal Brotherhood’, I wanted to capture the tone of Prophets of the Dark Side and the old Tie Fighter video game’s Secret Order of the Emperor feel. An ancient Dark Side order aesthetic for the logo to frame the show as having ancient Sith knowledge or wisdom when it comes to Star Wars news and lore.
Over that I wanted to place a Nerf skull, which was remarkably reminiscent of The Goat of Mendes. I referenced old Star Wars comic art and video game imagery to create the original artwork for the skull.
Knowing the logo needed to communicate the name of the show in addition to the visual iconography, I felt I should add some graphic elements that would afford layout options with the long title itself. I tried a couple different layout options and we landed on the current circle version.
The vibrancy in colors needed to feel Star Wars-y so I chose bright blues and deep reds for the graphic and stylized earth tones for the Nerf skull. The typography needed to be bold enough to stand on its own as well as feel ‘spacy’. I referenced Bungee Inline and Federant fonts from fonts.google.com.
In the end, I am quite happy with the logo, and was pleased it received such warm reception from Cameron and our mutual friend.
But what do you think? Does this logo successfully communicate the ideas presented? Does it feel Star Wars-y enough for a Star Wars video podcast? What would you have done? Let me know in a comment below, and may The Force be with you.