Osu! is a free online casual game for mobile devices, released in 2007 and developed by Dean Herbert, also known as Peppy. Despite being quite an old game on the global mobile app market, Osu! does not lose its popularity, and has millions of fans from all over the globe.
Meaning and history
Osu! – is a free music rhythm game written in C# in 2007. The gameplay is similar to such popular games as Tatakae! And Ouendan. The goal of the game is to create a musical rhythm by writing on colored circles on the screen. Osu! is the creation of one man, Dean “Peppy” Herbert. The first version of the game was available only for Windows, but today the developer offers Osu! for all mobile platforms.
As for the mechanics of the game, it is very simple. It’s a simple rhythm game with only a few basic elements. The first is the Cirlie, simply click on them when the field around them converges, and the print makes a sound. The second element is the Slider, which consists of a mug, and a small track along which it must be passed to extract the sound. And the third element is the Spinner, which you have to spin.
What is Osu!?
Osu! Is the name of a music video game that involves pointing at a target with your mouse to the music and pressing the mouse or keyboard button. Osu! has three types of games: Osu!, Taiko, and Catch the Beat.
In terms of visual identity, Osu! has always looked very bright and friendly, due to the use of cheerful colors and simple lowercase lettering, which only slightly changed throughout the years.
2007 – 2015
The original Osu! logo, designed with the release of the game in 2007, has stayed untouched for more than eight years. It was a glossy tender-pink roundel with gradients going darker from top to bottom, and a white lowercase lettering with the name of the game, set in a lightweight sans-serif typeface. The simple badge looked like sugar candy.
2015 – Today
With the redesign of 2015, the Osu! logo got refined and emboldened. Even though the color combination was kept the same, pink and white, the shades of pink became deeper and brighter. As for the white lettering, its typeface was changed to a heavier and more modern sans-serif. Another change was made to the pink roundel, as now it got enclosed into a pretty thick white frame. The pink background of the logo got some darker ornaments all over.
2018 – Today
Another redesign was made to the Osu! badge in 2018. The white lowercase lettering became even bolder and got some light pink gradients on it. The surface of the roundel was also refined in terms of shades and now appears to be a bit glossier and more vivid than the previous, flat, version.
Font and color
The heavy lowercase lettering from the premium Osu! Logo is set in a modern geometric sans-serif typeface with straight cuts of the bars. The closest fonts to the one, used in this insignia, are, probably, Diodrum Arabic Bold, or Ergonomique Black, with some slight modifications of the contours.
As for the color palette of the Osu! visual identity, it is based on a bright and friendly combination of pink and white, which represents the essence of the game and its kind and joyful mood.