Smite was introduced in 2014 as a free-to-play, third-person multiplayer online battle arena video game. It was first released for Microsoft Windows. A year later, the Xbox One release followed. In 2015, it became available for PlayStation 4, whereas the Nintendo Switch launch took place only in 2019.
The Smite logo doesn’t include a separate emblem. Instead, the wordmark is placed inside a frame that bears a pictorial quality. Due to this, the design is memorable and creates emotional resonance.
The centerpiece of the logo is the name of the brand. The overall proportions and the shape of the letters are pretty regular, which provides decent legibility.
What is Smite
Smite is a MOBA video game created by Hi-Rez Studios. In the game, users represent themselves with a mythological figure (typically, a god or a goddess). There are several different player-versus-player modes, which provide great flexibility for the players.
However, they are far from generic. One of the unique features is that the letters are very bold and heavy. They would have looked even heavier if not for the gradient. Also, they are dominated by angular shapes, especially by straight angles. For instance, the “S,” which is traditionally a combination of curves, doesn’t have a single curve here. Needless to mention, the ends of the letters also have a rectangular shape.
The triangular theme becomes prominent due to the 3D effect – the centers of the glyphs are mounted and at some point form triangles with the ends of the glyphs.
What’s the reason why the designers who worked on the Smite logo opted for such heavy, angular glyphs? We can assume that they wanted to convey such themes as war and masculinity. The male body has fewer curves than the female body, so designers often avoid curves when they want an image to connote masculinity.
Also, heavy shapes look more stable and powerful, more difficult to defeat. This also contributes to the link with the game itself – this is where some players will feel by far more powerful than in any situation in real life.
The website icon is a truncated version of the logo. Here, only the lightning bolt is left. We can’t say this icon is very representative of the game as there is no name and even no initial. Yet, there still is a symbolic connection.
In many religions and mythologies, the lightning bolt is the symbol of one of the gods (often the top god). In European mythology, it belonged to “Sky Father,” while in later Hellenic mythology, it can be discovered in representations of Zeus and Vedic descriptions of the vajra. On the other hand, the game’s tagline is “Battleground of the Gods.” Also, the god theme has a large part in the game as players choose their hero out of the list of gods, with Zeus being one of them.
To sum up, for the user, the lightning bolt is a reminder of the power they have in this game. In this interpretation, the website icon seems efficient.
What makes the Smite logo unique is the interplay of light and darkness. The wordmark is gold and is the element of the lightest hue within the whole design. This makes it stand out. The frame featuring two symmetrical thunderbolts also has a metal color, although it is darker. The darkest part is the filling inside the metal frame. It helps both the wordmark and the frame to stand out.
Despite its seeming simplicity, the type perfectly fits the project. That’s because it mirrors some of its core promises, for instance, power.