Minecraft - Welcome to our blocky universe
(in collaboration with Bold Stockholm)

Since its creation in 2009, Minecraft has rapidly grown to become one of the world’s best-selling and most popular games with over 132 million players each month. But ten years after its humble beginnings, Minecraft had outgrown the world of gaming – it’s a global phenomenon, and an entertainment franchise of similar complexity as Lego. During this process, the brand around the Minecraft games and experiences started to feel fragmented and without clear direction.

Together with the Minecraft Brand Direction & Creative team we’ve created new strategy, architecture, and a playful identity for the whole franchise – a design system and philosophy that brings together all the many parts of the Minecraft universe, from games to services, tv shows, festivals, events, toys and partnerships. The result is a new franchise-wide brand identity with a distinctive look and feel that’s unmistakably Minecraft, consistently rolled-out across all digital and physical touchpoints.

One grid to rule them all

Just like in the game, the new design system is built around a simple pixel grid. It’s the foundation of the Minecraft design system and sits beneath every single asset of the brand, from logos to typography, from layouts to images. The rigorous use of the pixel grid allows us to create a brand that feels like a natural extension of the game – it is even based on exactly the same resolution as the game (16×16). A playful design system that feels just as open-ended as the game itself.

All new logotypes

Our new logo system has helped the Minecraft team to create new, consistently good-looking logos. We have developed a comprehensive perspective pixel grid for all logotypes, using two perspective planes: One for upward text (main titles), and a second downward-facing plane for secondary text e.g. updates. Once the logo typography is designed, we can add more elements, like outlines, cracks and textures.


Team:
Creative Direction: Oliver Helfrich
Design: Michael Laning, Maria Ahlgren, Yun Yu, Ben Gibbs, Chris Conway, Whitney Macaluso
Strategy: Stefan Emrich, Harald Larsson, Mattias Hjelm
Sound & Motion Design: Martin Klint, Kristian Bjureby, Joar Lenz, Robin Burevall
Creative Writing: Lex Courts
Account Management: Harry Elonen, Helena Tencer, Ellen Heurlin