Bethesda Softworks - Designed for exploration

Insight

Starfield is the first new universe from Bethesda Game Studios in 25 years.

As a new IP, the slate was blank, underscoring the need for an original brand strategy, vision, and visual system that could unite in-game content, marketing and other communications. Together, AKQA and Bethesda Softworks defined all of these and more, all while the game was being built, planning for materials and deliverables that were years away from creation.


Idea

A call to those who look beyond their earthly boundaries and dare to dream.

A distinct identity emerged from the brand spirit “forever in adventure”, charting a course for the art direction, logo, animation, key art, and supporting materials. Connecting the work was a set of guiding principles that ensured all materials were scientifically inspired, grounded in warmth, unapologetically optimistic and ambitiously daring.

Starfield is firmly rooted in science and astronomy. The visual identity would be no different. Starfield’s art direction emerged minimalistic and clinically simple, yet grounded in reality, with visual cornerstones like the starmap and gravitational wave. Evoking future technology but still bearing the mark of something human-made, the visual identity is inspired by the game itself but flexible enough to extend outside of it.

An intrepid group of the last explorers called Constellation is at the centre of the Starfield epic. A stripe composed of four earthly colours became their emblem, seamlessly bridging the game’s graphics with its marketing visuals, and setting Starfield apart in a crowded sci-fi gaming space.

Less sleek and sterile than other games in the genre, Starfield’s world feels lived in and its journey through space is filled with hope. Ultimately, the player will step into the suit of the captain. The digitally handcrafted key art captures the captain in a warm, heroic light, with gaze uplifted toward the horizon as the shape of a new planet dawns across the character’s visor. Set against the sleek graphical elements and typography of the identity, the art singularly captures Starfield’s distinctive aesthetic.

Starfield was built on the question: What’s out there? With danger certain, it’s a courageous spirit that propels us to far-off places in search of answers. Tonally, all the materials speaking for the game needed to express the great-hearted spirit it embodies, which meant balancing the implied danger with the hopefulness that even permits us to step foot into the unknown.


Impact

The highest compliment any brand can receive is instant recognisability. Pre-launch, Starfield came to occupy a place in the public’s collective consciousness with a strong sense of its own identity.

With precious few in-game looks available to the public, the pressure on assets to drive anticipation was high. Fans, critics and the media alike enjoyed what they saw, launching expectations exactly where Starfield aimed to take players: into another universe.