During the making of the police badge sticker I was conscious of the fact that it would only really work on CT weapons, (unless you're cop who is going deep, deep undercover.) So I thought about making a Terrorist-biased sticker for balance.



I had an idea based on the word 'Thug': instead of presenting it in a coarse manner, present it in a 'cheap gangster' visual style - so borrow from cheap and hideous jewellery, but also from tattoo lettering, and sports wear typography that would typically adorn baseball caps or hoodies. Later on I decided to change it to 'Thug Life' as Thug on its own was a little vague and 'Thug life' is an established term that fitted in with the ingame characters' life choices!

I couldn't find a typeface that fitted the bill exactly so I observed a rigid typeface, a script typeface, and also a blackletter face, then set upon creating an amalgamation in illustrator using the proportions of one with the style of furniture that dressed the other two - customising it further through visual adjustments as I saw fit.

The arrived at result also features symbolism from real world tattoos I found through researching a border patrol handbook online. Apparently 3 dots is a common theme for gangster lifestyle, the trident/pitchfork means overcoming oppression, the teardrops can mean several things - either number of murders committed or something else related to prison time! The knuckleduster/crown is the centerpiece - I came up with this idea quite early on: what better way to suggest 'King Thug'! The colour scheme directly ascended from the crown idea - royal purples and golds, with silver detailing. The foil versions have a 'padded cushion' backdrop applied to the normal to drive the message home.

I've submitted 3 versions:
1. Paper - Flat colour version with a subtle ink texture overlaid I made from scanning in a fat marker pen scribble
2. Foil 1 - A Round-bevel version - my favourite! - but because of the amount of bevel it sacrifices legibility a tiny bit.
3. Foil 2 - A less-bevelled 'Flat' version - more legible but has slightly less punch.

Let me know your thoughts!