The first-person shooter video game Halo: Combat Evolved, released in 2001 for the Xbox console, propelled the Xbox and Microsoft into the gaming world and defined the console shooter genre for years. As iconic as the gameplay and universe of Halo are, so are the banners and icons associated with it, which have endured for two decades. This article will explore the Halo game banners and icons’ design, legacy, and cultural impact.
Iconic Logo Design
The most icons and enduring element of Halo’s visual identity is, without question, its triangular logo depicting an angular alien head in profile. Designed by Sean “Shiny” Bradley and Ryan Payne of Bungie, the original developers of Halo, this logo established Halo’s distinct and alien visual language from the very start. The logo communicates Halo’s blend of technology and ancient mystery with clean, geometric lines and asymmetrical shapes. It has remained largely unchanged across twenty years and many games, becoming one of the most recognizable logos in gaming.
Multi-Purpose Game Banners
Beyond just the main logo, Halo games featured banners everywhere, from the main menu to loading screens, to accomplish different purposes. For example, the green triangular banner titled “Halo” served as the campaign select screen above the version number. Different coloured strips indicated different playlists in the multiplayer menu. These repeating banners tied the other parts of the game together visually while conveying different meanings through subtle colour variations. Even minor banners like the equipment loadout screen adopted the triangular motif, weaving an instantly recognizable and consistent visual language throughout each game.
Cultural Legacy and Fan Creations
After two decades, the Halo banners and icons have taken on a legacy far beyond the games. Countless fan creations like artwork, costumes, weapons replicas, and more have adopted and expanded on the banners’ triangular designs. Even non-gamers who have never played Halo would likely recognize aspects of its iconography due to its popularity in geek culture and merchandising. Meanwhile, the games have continued to refine and evolve the banners to keep them fresh while still hewing closely to the original triangular-based motifs. From gameplay to marketing and fandom, Halo’s banners and icons have had an enormous cultural impact.
Inspiration for Other Games
Not only have Halo’s banners influenced geek culture, but they have also left an impression on game design itself. Many subsequent first-person and third-person shooters adopted a similar approach of using subtle colour variations or modifications of a core design to represent different parts of the game, like playlists, modes, characters, and more. Game series like Call of Duty, Destiny, Gears of War, and others took cues from Halo’s example of employing consistent and easily recognizable banners to structure their UIs and games. In this way, Halo helped establish an iconography-based approach to game design that has endured and been expanded on by many studios since.
Evolution of the Logo
While largely unchanged, the Halo logo has seen subtle evolutions. In Halo 2, the emblem gained a hint of three-dimensionality with added contours. Halo 3 thickened the lines slightly and made the head stare straight ahead rather than gaze to the side. More recently, Halo Infinite streamlined the logo further, giving it a sleeker, more refined look, befitting the game’s art style overhaul. Despite these tweaks, the core triangular shape and asymmetrical alien profile remain iconic touchpoints fans instantly recognize.
Variations for Different Games
Each new Halo game employed banners customized for that entry while maintaining connections to those that came before. Halo 3 featured banners with a worn, weathered metallic look and the subtitle “Three” beneath the main logo. Halo 3: ODST went for a nocturnal, neon-tinged aesthetic with its banners. Halo: Reach signs evoked a noble, militaristic feel in keeping with that game’s themes. Halo 4 banners had a sleek, high-tech quartz-like appearance that fit the Forerunner setting. Though varied, all signalled instantly what game was being referenced through subtle reinterpretations of the core triangular designs.
Storytelling Through Banners
Beyond conveying gameplay information, Halo’s banners often included nuanced story elements—the worn banners of the Master Chief collection hint at his many battles. Banners in Halo 3 signalled the Covenant’s fracturing alliance through their mix of colours and symbols. Halo Wars banners blended imperial designs with military markings, reflecting that game’s expanded universe tale of the Spirit of Fire. Even loading screens carried narrative details that deepened the experience for attentive fans. Story and design intersected meaningfully throughout.
Marketing and Merchandise
Nowhere has Halo’s icons identity shined more than in marketing and associated merchandise over the years. Game boxes, trailers, posters, and articles all proudly leverage those recognizable banners. Countless T-shirts, hats, and collectables employ variations on them as well. Even peripheral products like controllers feature these iconic banners, tying marketing collateral into a cohesive brand experience. The banners represent the gameplay and membership in the larger Halo community for longtime fans.
Impact on Fan Art
Beyond merchandise, fans have delighted in remixing and reinterpreting Halo’s banners in their original artwork, costumes, and more for many years. DeviantArt, Twitter, and other platforms overflow with fan re-envisionings of the banners with new aesthetics or mixing with other franchises. Some fans achieve startling photorealistic renderings, while others use animated or minimalist interpretations. Either way, the banners inspire creativity that enriches Halo fandom and ensures these icons will endure via grassroots circulation for generations of players to come.
Everlasting Inspiration
It’s a testament to the timeless quality of Halo’s banner designs. Over two decades later, games still reference that original trilogy for iconography that feels both nostalgically familiar and contemporary. New properties like Destiny, Apex Legends, and more continue to subtly interpret the triangular motif. Meanwhile, Halo still rolls out updates that closely resemble those earliest banners despite myriad opportunities to rebrand. That consistency, even as graphics capabilities exponentially improve, ensures the Halo banners remain touchpoints of inspiration for gamers and game creators for many years.
Conclusion
From the icons triangular head logo to the banners employed throughout its many games and media, Halo established an instantly recognizable and nuanced visual language from the beginning. These banners and icons not only conveyed information and tied the experiences together but took on their own lives, influencing geek culture, fan works, and even approaches to game design at other studios. After twenty years, the legacy of Halo’s banners lives on in the games themselves and in the aesthetics of video games at large. They represent not just visual continuity but the evolution of an entire genre.
