Challenging Social-Norms within Gaming & Esports at Western through Innovative Branding
OVERVIEW
The Western Esports & Gaming Association (WEGA) is a community uniting students passionate about video games. Comprised of two key departments—WEGA and Western Esports—we host diverse events, including tournaments, casual gaming nights, and social gatherings, catering to various interests. Western Esports manages our competitive teams, spanning popular titles like League of Legends, Valorant, Overwatch and more.
1 VP
1 Director
5 Executives
My Role
Team
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Duration
Tools
Figma
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Marketing Executive:
2020 - 2021
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Marketing Director:
2021 - 2022
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Vice President of Design: 2022 - Present
As the VP of Design, I am in charge of overviewing the design team and visual branding of WEGA. Our team is in charge of creating promotional graphics for club events (tournaments, game nights, socials), and designing all broadcasting/streaming assets and club merch.
Problem
Negative stereotypes surrounding gaming and esports hinder campus support and participation, stifling the growth of esports at Western University.
This year we were undergoing major shifts in our branding, and as such, I wanted to first educate myself on students' views on gaming within my university campus. I asked current club members of WEGA, actively competing students in Esports, and students on campus about their thoughts surrounding the Esports scene and gaming community at Western University and found that:
1
Gamers often described feelings of discomfort when speaking of their interests in gaming due to negative stereotypes
2
Collegiate Esports players at Western University feel unsupported by the school
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And so, this led to the challenge of,
HMW reshape our club's brand to dismantle gaming stereotypes and foster a thriving esports and gaming community at Western University?
Goals
All departments had their own specific department goals but the overarching goals that we had for the club was:
Increase awareness and support for gaming and esports within Western University
Create a welcoming environment regardless of levels, backgrounds, and interests.
Establish a strong pipeline and foundation for future esports teams and departments of WEGA
Solution
Rebranding WEGA to a clean, modern, and consistent branding
Through a clean, contemporary and cohesive brand, WEGA can leave an identifiable and reputable mark on campus. Although obtaining university support for our teams may be a gradual process, we aspire to challenge the prevailing stereotypes in the scene and motivate those passionate about gaming to explore the myriad career opportunities it offers.​
Old Branding
New Branding
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Our Process
WEGA's transformation this year consisted of four main components.
1
Rebranding
WEGA
2
Growing Brand Presence
3
Creating Promo Graphics
4
Campus Events
01. REBRANDING WEGA
Design System
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This year we decided to switch our club’s logo from the old gaming controller design to a new design based on our school’s mascot. The purpose of this change was to better represent the esports aspect of our club and to give a stronger association of our brand to the rise of the competitive gaming landscape. Traditionally, competitive gaming is seen as something much less than physical sports, the new logo combats this stereotype by introducing a sense of spirit through a mascot used by other sports teams at Western.
With the new changes in branding, we switched the colour of our previous main purple colour to the new official Western Mustangs purple for consistency purposes of our branding. Other shades of purple were also added to add more weight to the designs and variety to the purple tones
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02. GROWING BRAND PRESENCE
Jersey Design
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Creating a simplistic and modern jersey started with the use of curvy design elements to imitate the curvy design of the mane of the mustang from our school mascot. Other aspects of the jersey such as the alternative sleeve colours came from inspiration based on existing professional esports team jerseys.
I also worked on creating designs for our club banner, lanyard and esports flag. In order to create an eye-catching, but clean flag design, we used the curves from our logo, and shaped them into flame-like curves to represent the motivations of our esports players.​​
03. CREATING PROMO POSTS
Design works on creating promotional posts with different departments of WEGA. Below are a couple different examples of promotional posts that our Design Team makes.
Events & Tournament Graphics
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Working with Events / Internal / Partnerships, Design works on creating graphics for club events such as in person social events or gaming tournaments. Tournament graphics often include designing for streaming assets as well. To view more graphics we make for our club check out our Instagram.
Monthly Newsletter
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Every month the marketing and design team work together to release a newsletter about club updates and upcoming events. We feature a new game every month and any big events happening in the esports scene such as League Worlds.
04. EVENTS
Polaris Tournament
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The Polaris Valorant Tournament is WEGA's annual Valorant Tournament. To match the name of the tournament, we designed our promotional and streaming assets with an astrology like aesthetic and an added darkness to contrast our white branding theme. All graphics were made by my executives, I remained hands off of the design work and worked on leading my team through the design process.
The Results
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Although participants for this event was limited to a first come basis, there was a strong viewing for this event compared to last years events. Our twitch grew from 30 to over 150+ followers from this event allowing us to hit affiliate on Twitch
75+ Participants
800+ live stream views
Growth of 100+ Twitch Followers
Holiday Sale
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All designs were hand drawn and designed by the Design Team. As our sale was targetted towards the general public of Western, we made sure our designs could appeal to those who had no experience or knowledge about gaming. Half of the stickers were sourced from an outside supplier and I worked on creating the other half through my cricut and sticker materials at home.
Skip to Results
Sticker WIPS
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A couple rough drafts of sticker designs made by my design executives (Jessie Wang, Manisha Rambarack, and Yz He)
Final Sticker Designs
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While there were many other designs, we decided to take a vote from the club members to see which stickers most students were interested in. We would take those votes into consideration when ultimately deciding which final designs would be printed
Printing them out!
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I travelled back home during a week of break to print out and laminate sticker sheets for our designs.
Cutting out Stickers
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I used my cricut to cut out most of the stickers and and cut the rest of the designs manually while watching League Worlds with WEGA members!
Holiday Card Designs
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Lastly, each member of the design team worked on creating their own card design that would end up being printed and sold for our Holiday Sale!
The Results
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Although participants for this event was limited to a first come basis, there was a strong viewing for this event compared to last years events. Our twitch grew from 30 to over 150+ followers from this event allowing us to hit affiliate on Twitch
500+ stickers sold
100+ cards sold
1.5k+ in revenue
Reflection
Stepping into a VP role meant pushing myself outside my comfort zone. I embraced the challenge of providing mentorship and empowering my team by leveraging their unique strengths. This role taught me invaluable lessons about managing a team, such as organizing and leading meetings, fostering clear communication across members and departments, and ensuring deadlines were met. At the same time, I did my best to accommodate each team member's goals to create a supportive, motivating, and collaborative environment. Being part of the WEGA team for the past three years has deepened my passion for advocating for esports and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to grow both as a designer and a leader.