How did this come about, well for a long time I have felt that my tired old blog banner which I cut from the Warhammer 40,000 3rd Edition codex Witch Hunters page border didn't reflect the content of my blog which is very much Warhammer 40,000 Rogue trader era blog, some of you might remember my blog started off back in January 2013 and focussed on using Rogue Trader Citadel Miniatures for the Dark Heresy roleplaying game but as I got more engrossed in the Oldhammer community the blog evolved into painting and sometimes gaming with Classic Citadel Miniatures from the golden era.
Now I am pretty poor at graphic design, photography and photoshop type activities or maybe just being a busy working parent I value my hobby time of 45 minutes a day and this is ring fenced mainly for painting over all other endeavours. I have been thinking for a long time I needed my blog logo banner updated and when I want a job done to a high standard at home I bring in a tradesman and this thought stayed in my mind for over a year, so out of the blue I contacted Zhu Bajiee of Zhu Industries and author of the wonderful and insightful Realm of Zhu as I have always admired his graphic design for years and his knowledge of typography of the classic gaming products that can't be surpassed. I asked Zhu if he could do a commission and although he was very busy with other projects that I am sure you will see, he came back with some great concepts really quickly, we discussed these designs and this lead to Zhu designing the great work I am proud to unveil on the blog today.
The following images were designed by Zhu Bajiee for this blog.
Concept design phase.
I explained my requirements to Zhu and was excited when he send me his preparatory rough sketches done in pencil to get some feedback on his ideas, there are many influences from Rogue Trader publications and super ideas like the word 'Heresy' stamped over the word 'Rogue' on number 4 but what got us both really excited was number 2, now I had always wanted to incorporate the Chapter Approved skull design into my blog banner but my personal attempts had been amateur at best so when I first saw Zhu's concept number 2 I was blown away.
Enjoy the Concepts below.
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| Rogue Heresy Logo Concepts |
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| Rogue Heresy Logo Concepts |
Logo Design Phase.
After the Zhu's showcasing of the concepts we agreed Zhu should run with concept 2 and produced these amazing designs for this blog.
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| Rogue Heresy Logo Design |
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| Rogue Heresy Logo Design |
I really fell in love this the design above the fonts, style, background which is definitely homage to the styles in Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader The Book of Astronomican.
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| Snippet from The Book of Astronomican |
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| Rogue Heresy Logo Design |
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| Rogue Heresy Logo Design variants |
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| Final Rogue Heresy Blog Banner |
I hope you enjoyed this post, a big thanks to Zhu for all his hard work in making this possible, get over to his blog Realm of Zhu if you want to see more.
J
