Torn Banner Studios is an independent video game company based in Toronto, Canada, best known for the Chivalry series of medieval combat games. The studio’s visual identity centers on a banner motif that directly references its name, a concept that has remained consistent since the company’s founding.
Design and History
Torn Banner Studios was established in 2010, evolving from a team of mod developers who had created the Age of Chivalry mod for Half-Life 2. In February 2011, the team announced that it would operate under the name “Torn Banner Studios” Incorporated, a change described at the time as “an administrative change more than anything else” but also “a statement of how seriously we are taking this opportunity.” The announcement introduced the company’s new logo alongside the rebranding.[1]
The studio’s brand identity was later redesigned by Fully Illustrated, a creative studio founded by designer Michael Heald.[2] According to the project description on Fully Illustrated’s portfolio, Torn Banner Studios invited the firm to “re-design their studios brand identity,” a project that also included a brand introduction sequence to open before their games. The designer noted that “the name of the studio itself made the idea generation fairly straight forward,” and the team settled on a direction that involved animating a falling banner.[3]
Meaning and Symbolism
The banner concept is central to the logo’s meaning. The designer’s stated intention was to make the banner “feel as though it was being dropped from a castle window and opening against a castle wall,” a visual that ties directly to the studio’s medieval-themed games and its name.[3]
Brand asset data lists the primary brand color as orange, with the hex code #FF8F00, a shade identified as “Pizazz.” Additional brand colors include #FFF7EE (“Seashell Peach”) and #AF6301 (“Rose of Sharon”).[4]
Typography and Design
Fully Illustrated’s portfolio describes the redesign process as moving “straight into concepts to find the right direction” before settling on the final look. The project involved both the static brand identity and an animated introduction sequence, with the designer noting that it “took quite a few attempts to get the material and physics working ‘just’ right” for the banner animation.[3]
Fully Illustrated also designed the brand identity for Chivalry 2, Torn Banner’s 2021 sequel, creating a logo that “had to feel like it was part of the Chivalry world, as if it had been hand crafted and forged out of real world materials.” That project used a combination of 3D, Keyshot and traditional painting to achieve the final look.[5]
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