Counter-Strike is a legendary game that has captured the hearts of gamers worldwide, evolving from custom maps and DIY skins to a vibrant in-game skin economy. Skins have become a cult phenomenon, enhancing the gaming experience by letting players express their unique style. Recognizing the demand for secure and effortless skin transactions, white.market was born — a platform created to simplify the process of buying and selling skins while keeping the excitement of the game alive.
Branding for white.market
A bold and dynamic brand identity was created for white.market, combining Counter-Strike-inspired graffiti elements with vibrant visuals to capture the energy and excitement of the gaming community.
Introduction
Challenges
The project required creating a visual identity that would resonate with the Counter-Strike community and highlight the platform’s focus on secure skin purchases. The challenge was to blend the iconic gaming culture with modern design aesthetics, ensuring the brand stood out in a competitive market while staying true to the essence of the game.
Solutions
Logo
Bold strokes: the inspiration behind the white.market logo
We noticed that the first letters of the platform name, ‘w’ and ‘m’, form a zig-zag shape, which could represent the ups and downs of price movements in trading, which is exactly what white.market is all about.
However, we also wanted to explore how this logo concept could work within the context of CS.
During our exploration of the game’s world, we noticed a few interesting things:
- Graffiti on the maps symbolizes iconic moments from various tournaments
- Bombsites are marked with paint.
These elements sparked the concept of the white.market logo: a quick, bold stroke made with a wide brush, intended to leave a lasting impression, much like a graffiti tag.
Corporate identity
Colors
We analyzed popular skins and noticed a trend toward vibrant, juicy colors reminiscent of delicious chewing gum or sugary energy drinks.
Inspired by this, we chose three stunningly bold color options for the brand, along with some sleek grays and a timeless white.
Font
For readability and universal appeal, we chose sans-serif fonts:
- Ubuntu for bold headings and block text.
- Stem (Medium) for subheadings and most other body text.
Text background
We highlighted key elements by placing them behind a colored rectangle-shaped background that reflected the brand identity.
Stickers
Our logo is bold, and the colors are vibrant.
One more versatile tool is missing: stickers. Stickers, like those used on skins, can vary in shape, design, and content. They can function as mini-billboards, carrying messages that reinforce or highlight headlines, memes, gradients, barcodes, road signs, emojis — anything you can imagine. You can apply them to weapons, packaging, etc.
Graffiti
The theme of graffiti and paint strokes extends beyond just the logo. This means we can incorporate graffiti as an additional visual element whenever we need to complement the composition or add depth to the meaning.
They can be of any brand color; the main thing is not to forget about gravity in the paint streaks.
Background
The background we chose imitates paint strokes, creating a sense of movement and dynamism without being visually overwhelming. This approach not only makes the design easy to reproduce but also allows for flexibility when changes are needed. The contrasting yet subtle brand color gradient further enhances the overall design by making the skins stand out.
Skins packaging
This project is a marketplace where anyone can purchase and sell skins. When people buy something cool in the real world, they put it in branded packaging. If it’s a cool skin, you want to show it off. So, we played on this idea of transparent packaging, combining a physical object with a virtual one, strengthening the emotional connection with our product, and building a key visual.
It can also be customized with brand identity elements: add a sticker, draw graffiti, etc.
How we scaled it
Content
We redesigned social networks to reflect the new corporate style and created engaging content to drive user activity.
Partnering with a major eSports platform
white.market teamed up with a major esports platform and kicked off a series of joint events. We assisted them in developing promotional content that aligned with their new corporate identity.
CS:GO tournament
In 2024, white.market became a partner of a major gaming event — the prestigious IEM Katowice 2024 CS:GO tournament.
This partnership granted white.market a range of exciting opportunities. Beyond traditional advertising banners, they secured placement of engaging video content on screens, created their own interactive stand at the event, distributed materials for audience interaction, and launched online activities to extend their reach further.
We created banners and motion videos to seamlessly integrate white.market into the tournament.
Website promo event design & Banners for integration into Twitch broadcasts & Banners for social networks
Printed materials for offline interaction with gamers
Tournament attendees had plenty of chances to win prizes. We created various interactive activities, for example, guessing the price of a skin. These prizes included skins and vouchers with money for the website’s accounts.
We also designed and developed merchandise for white.market ambassadors, along with materials to support the activities.
Insights
- Great product branding inspiration often comes from the product itself or the situations it’s used in. It definitely pays off to delve deeper into those aspects.
- The biggest challenge is to create flexible branding. Often, playful customization options, like stickers and graffiti, can be helpful. These elements allow for some creative freedom within the designer’s original style but also open up a much wider range of possibilities. They can even completely break the mold.
