Greetings Geeks!
Many of you have followed my writing since I launched Game on Girl to recruit participants for my dissertation. After I finished my degree, I launched a podcast to build upon the community I built through that research. Much to my delight, Game on Girl was a huge success as a blog with a handful of contributors and a podcast that hosted more amazing guests than I can list.
Last year, I made the decision to expand the vision I originally started with to include many facets of geekdom. Although my dissertation needed a specific focus (gender and gaming) the site and the podcast moved far beyond that focus. Much of this I said when we originally launched The Geek Embassy, but, as with many creative endeavors, it took me a bit of time to wrap my head around what I wanted this site to be.
Read. Write. Watch. Play. Geek.
My desire to move the site into a broader brand was driven by the idea that there are so many wonderful geeks on the internet, those with lots of knowledge about their favorite geekdoms, and oh so much information to share with the world. But there is a lesser known population, one I felt wasn’t served particularly well with many fan driven communities. TGE evolved to represent the geeks who want to learn more about geek culture but haven’t had a place to go to do so.
To make our content more accessible, I came up with the tag line: Read. Write. Watch. Play. Geek. This covers pretty much every area of interest we want to cover on the site from movies and TV to board and card games to video games and comic books. It’s also allowed me to organize our content by each of these areas. If you listen to the podcast, you’ve probably already noticed that we now run episodes of “TGE Plays” and “TGE Watches.” Yet to come are “TGE Reads” (or first selection will be the first book of The Dresden Files) and “TGE Writes.” Each content area has its own focus and gives us plenty of room to cover topics we love in a fun and welcoming way.
But beyond figuring out how to organize the content in an engaging way, I had to conceptualize a logo that would communicate these ideals as well.
Why a Chess Pawn?
For the last few months, I’ve been quietly working on a new logo design. I needed something that would quickly communicate “geek” and “beginner” and “welcome.” If any of you have worked on branding in any way, you’ll know what a tall order that was. One designer suggested to me using a chess piece as the “geeky” element for the logo.
Immediately, I thought of a chess pawn. Often the starting piece for a chess game, the simply designed pawn has clean lines and a recognizable silhouette. Beyond the aesthetic though is the idea that this is the place to begin a journey as a geek. Readers, watchers, and listeners can find new ways to geek out and new fandoms to appreciate.
So welcome, again, to The Geek Embassy. We are glad to part of your journey into some of the most rewarding fandoms we know.
Until next time, get your geek on!
Regina
