Here is a photograph taken from page 12 of my sketchbook depicting a few basic pencil sketches me and my teammate created when trying to come up with a logo for Last Chance Saloon.
I always liked the idea of an old saloon sign, once a proud and iconic symbol of the American frontier, now hanging battered, weathered and in disrepair as a metaphor for the degradation of the American frontier thanks to the rise of industry. Sketch #1 was the very first idea I had for a sign like this, hanging at a jaunty angle but still clearly displaying the name of the game.
The notes alongside the sketches were little brainstorms of what we wanted the logo to represent most and, in turn, what the game itself had at its very core, like the characters and the iconic saloon setting. I also wrote down what the logo must feature, including those things which I believed to represent Last Chance Saloon most.
We explored a number of potential symbols and icons, including different sign designs, both the double barrels and the ejector from a shotgun to make up both 'O's in 'salOOn' (design #7), and even a half- empty bottle of whiskey and an empty beer glass on a scratched and worn bar. Sadly, we didn't have much time to focus on coming up with a logo, so we decided on one design we would expand on after one long day session of work.
In the end, me and my teammate settled on design #6: a better version of the sign from design #1 which we could elaborate on and put more style into whilst it went through the design process. After a few weeks, a finalised logo was designed by my teammate, which featured an elaborate yet weathered wooden saloon sign with bullet holes, tally marks, broken chains, stylised 'Western' lettering and a hanging sign underneath featuring the word 'Saloon' branded across the sign:
