D&D 5E D&D Next weekly art column!

[steeldragons]

-snip- And to me, that's a dragon ampersand.

Just to make my own preference clear, since we have the eyes and cyber-ears of someone who can really make this happen...

I do not mean the logo should have "a dragon ampersand."

Nuh no.

I want THE dragon ampersand. The one posted by Klaus in the 1e logo. The D&D dragon ampersand from BECMI, AD&D (1 and 2e), not to mention the D&D cartoon of the 80's and just about every other piece of merchandising with D&D's name on it from that time.

We don't need a different dragon ampersand. We need that one! If it t'weren't broke don't think you are/need to be "fixing" it.

Again, I've posted more than once around these 5e threads, 1) Change for the sake of change serves no point; and 2) "New" does not equal "better".
--SD

 

[Slander]

These really have been interesting articles, thanks for doing these! IANAD, but here are some take-aways I've made after reading this.


1) "D&D" clearly in the logo. In the same way I don't have an Advanced Micro Devices processor in my computer, I don't play Dungeons & Dragons. I have an AMD chip, and I play D&D. I like the logos where "D&D" is clearly readable in the design, even if it's not obvious at first glance.

I noticed all of the designs I like, D&D can be read in the logo. The 3rd and 4th edition logos, #5 and #9 are the best representatives.

In a lot of the other logos, the ampersand is too big compared to the rest of the text. I guess it winds up seeming like it's own "thing" instead of linking the dungeons and the dragons. I dunno exactly. But the larger Emi made the ampersand when compared to the rest of the lettering, the less I liked it.

2) 2 lines. For similar reasons as #1, I was not as fond of logos with "Dungeons & Dragons" on a single line (1E, #8, #17). #10 is kind of an exception; still not a favorite, but there's something in it I like.

3) Small caps over lower-cased letters. Didn't like the 2E logo when I played it, still don't, and now I know why.

4) Red. Yeah, it's weird, and I probably never would have noticed it had you not called it out, but the logo needs red in the lettering. Or at the very least, none of the non-red alternatives presented come close to seeming like a decent D&D logo. Won't discount the idea that a non-red logo could work.

Gotta throw out another exception for #10 the white on black aged lettering could be an acceptable alternative to red. Still not a fav, but I kinda like it. The red outline in #7 also works.


All IMO of course, and only after a few minutes of reflection.

 

[Hussar]

Just as a thought, how wedded are we to the idea of the words "dungeons" and "dragons"? I mean, D&D is a very, very recognizable name in and of itself (dee and dee). Do we need to the logo to actually SAY the full words?

Why not a round(ish) logo with a prominent ampersand and a pair of D's?

 

[Marius Delphus]

I have all those fonts, so no, please don't use them.

#15 and #17 are intriguing though. I think something nifty could be accomplished with either one, but they don't excite me.

 

[Melkor]

I have posted my opinions on the logo designs elsewhere.

That said, If there is one thing that the D&DNext experience has taught me so far, it's that the style of D&D my gaming group and I have been playing for nearly 30 years is wildly different from the way most people seem to indicate (on the various polls and discussion boards) that they enjoy playing.

I thought that might be confined to rules discussion and theory, but after reading the responses here to the logos, I see it probably also applies to the art style of D&D as well.

 

[TwinBahamut]

Just as a thought, how wedded are we to the idea of the words "dungeons" and "dragons"? I mean, D&D is a very, very recognizable name in and of itself (dee and dee). Do we need to the logo to actually SAY the full words?

Why not a round(ish) logo with a prominent ampersand and a pair of D's?

The full name Dungeons and Dragons is a lot more recognizable and immediately understandable to people who don't play the game a lot, but have heard the name (which is a really large number of people). Making it D&D would appeal more to diehard fans than the general audience. Also, I prefer the full name. It makes it sound less silly...

 

[triqui]

In Real Life much smaller numbers of women chose to become soldiers than men, even if they have the option, and even in RPGs women rarely chose to play warrior characters. So why should the artwork represent a world in which 50% of all adventurers and heroes are women? That just seems to me like having a token black viking on your ship.

You mean real life female humans. Real life female elves have a mandatory military service. Real life female dwarves love axes and fight real life goblins.

Same goes with real life female dragonborns, they are quite battle-minded. And don't get me started on real life female Tieflings. Oh my god, those are real serial killers.

I guess you get the point. Real life is meaningless in a fantasy RPG. Real life nuns cant cast blade barrier.

 

[Dausuul]

You mean real life female humans. Real life female elves have a mandatory military service. Real life female dwarves love axes and fight real life goblins.

Same goes with real life female dragonborns, they are quite battle-minded. And don't get me started on real life female Tieflings. Oh my god, those are real serial killers.

I guess you get the point. Real life is meaningless in a fantasy RPG. Real life nuns cant cast blade barrier.

Let's not dredge that up again. Pretty much everything that's to be said on that point was said, at great length, earlier in this thread.

 

[Hussar]

The full name Dungeons and Dragons is a lot more recognizable and immediately understandable to people who don't play the game a lot, but have heard the name (which is a really large number of people). Making it D&D would appeal more to diehard fans than the general audience. Also, I prefer the full name. It makes it sound less silly...

I suppose. Then again, logos don't have to actually spell out their product and quite often don't. Aren't they usually just some form of symbol that gets associated with a particular product? It's not like the Nike Swoosh actually has any words on it, but, it's certainly recognizable. Now, granted, D&D isn't anywhere near in that league, but, I'm not sure if you really need the logo to tell people exactly what the product is.

Chances are, if you're looking at a gaming product with the logo on it, you're not looking at the logo for information about the product.

I mean, heck, we had how many TSR logos over the years. How many people actually know what TSR stands for? But, pretty much everyone in the hobby knows that TSR=D&D makers. (or at least did at one time)

 

[Yora]

Let's not dredge that up again. Pretty much everything that's to be said on that point was said, at great length, earlier in this thread.

It also works both ways: If it's all just fantasy, then everything is fair game and no sensibilities of anyone need to be considered.