Update: After initial user feedback via SWAGCORP I decided to replace the mono paper version in this one with a green foil version as its a bit more glam, visuals have been updated.

I wanted to submit just 3 foils which were colour and text variations on a single insignia, but I knew from previous experience the publisher limits your submission to no more than 3 variants, and at least one paper/glossy/color-replace iteration. I could have gone to two submissions but it made sense just to separate the submissions by word content - sorry about the repetition! But I might as well fill in the gaps with already made versions.

I wanted to make a halloween sticker that wasn’t anchored to the calendar event to expand its appeal. So I went about relating bridging themes between Halloween and CS. One idea that sprung to mind is based on something that annoys me considerably - dead team mates having a jolly-old chinwag while you are single handedly trying to win the round. This struck me as a ripe idea as it's literally a case of the dead interfering with the living. The dead team mate icon also lends itself to halloween as it's a skull - which became the first component in a custom made insignia.

To give the idea some visual strength I researched Ouija boards which are allegedly items to facilitate ‘talking to the dead’. The most useable part is the ‘planchette’ which is an upside down heart-shaped item with a hole in the center which reveals the underlying board letters as the ‘spirits guide you’. I took the planchette as the form of the insignia as its more interesting than a wooden board or generic circle insignia, and integrated the skulls into the composition. I’ve also integrated the phrases of the board ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘goodbye’ and two of the letters of the alphabet which through chance correspond to the ingame bomb sites.

The most interchangeable part was the phrasing to adorn the scrolls - which admittedly is the weakest element. Other phrases I thought of but didn’t implement (as 3 is already too many): ‘Team - Spook’ (weak), ‘unholy - communion’ (might offend), ‘undivine - intervention’ (awkward), ‘dispiritual - guidance’ (awkward), ‘Thrill - communication’ (too long), ‘Dead Man - talking’ (too vague), ‘Spooky - voices’ (weak), ‘Spite-Geist’ (weak), ‘radio killed - the HLTV star’ (forced), ‘Team - Necromancer’ (better word but unbalanced & too long). ‘Team Seance’ is essentially describing the process but the phrase lacks kick. ‘Team Medium’ is describing the survivors role, but the word medium could be a problem. ‘Corpseless Whispers’ is a pun on the George Michael song that I find amusing but perhaps is not right for the target market. I think in this specific case the phrase is secondary to the design as users who don’t speak english might find the appeal in the aesthetic rather than the actual words.





The foils are the real powerhouses, so I’ve made two options per phrase (standard woodcut & metal, and colour underlit) with the exception of ‘Corpseless whisper’ where I’ve submitted a coloured up paper version just to avoid doing the same thing over and over. I’ve also made monochrome versions like tattoo/woodcuts which lack punch but still look pretty cool on the guns.

Let me know what you think - especially about the phrases as I have my reservations.