Magic the Gathering, better known as just Magic among fans, was released in 1993 and became the first collectible card game. For much of that time, other than a logo and the card back graphic, Magic did not have much of a set visual identity. Instead, packaging and advertising would often reflect the theme of the latest card set or expansion to the game. A strategy that worked well for the company when they were just focused on card sets. However, Magic was evolving beyond this to include other entertainment media and had transitioned from a focus on playing cards to a focus on its diverse group of characters. To this end, Magic needed evergreen branding and a set of brand guidelines that could serve as a guide for end users who would be writing stories about these characters as well as designing games, media, and consumer products to support the brand.

The first step of this project was reviewing roughly 30 years of brand creative to find the reoccurring visual themes and the brand’s visual DNA. These bits of visual DNA would then be used to construct brand assets and pieces of the evergreen visual identity. The five colors and their icons associated with the game’s play mechanics, the cast of characters, mystical smoke, energy waves, and, of course, the logo soon bubbled to the surface as this evergreen visual language.

The next step was to craft a brand book that could present this visual language but also work for writers, producers, and film and TV studios who would be building this new franchise. Working with the rest of the franchise stakeholders, I designed a set of story-driven guidelines that would introduce the end users to the characters, worlds, and underlying ideas that make up the Magic universe. This guide serves as an introduction for anyone needing to create media to support the brand, including not only providing traditional guidance around brand assets such as logo, color, brand art, and typography, but also writers and producers creating print, digital, and television media. E.g., TV shows, books, comics, cartoons, and more.