A dubious new look
December 1, 2025
Dubious Design are building challenging grand-system games for people who “love the struggle”. As a company, they’re bold, fun, and have no qualms about messing with their players. Their new branding had to capture both the cognitive demands of their games and their distinctively dubious personality.
Logo
The Dubious ‘D’ logo icon was inspired by the Penrose impossible triangle optical illusion, a shape that looks like a solid structure but can’t exist physically. As well as being a fitting choice for a name like Dubious, this visual trickery reflects the studio’s love of difficult puzzles and their knack for making players pause and think, “Wait... what just happened?”
The logo is mainly used on black backgrounds, which makes one side of the shape disappear while your brain still fills it in, adding another layer to the illusion. At one point we wondered whether everyone would see the shape as intended, then decided it didn’t really matter; after all, everything here is a bit dubious. Dubious’ games “don’t hand you answers but demand you find them” - an attitude now mirrored in their logo.
Type
The headline typeface (used in the logo and across the website) has hard edges and cut corners that give it a structural, engineered feel - a nod to the mechanics and systems within the games Dubious Design are building. It’s paired with a monospace font for body text, chosen to add an extra techy edge to the overall brand.
Colour
The branding uses a dark, greyscale colour scheme to create a mysterious tone that ties back to their dubious personality. This restrained palette also doesn’t compete with the game visuals, letting the incredible detail and colour in their artwork shine through.
Altogether, the brand leans into the same ideas that define Dubious Design’s outlook and shape their games: thought-provoking and fun at their core.
I’ve really enjoyed working with these Dubious people on their brand and website. It’s been a very fun project to be part of!
