Case 04 of 04 · Saber Interactive · 2026

Giving the (saber) cat its claws

A cold-pitch for the game developer Saber Interactive, bringing its complete digital presence up to date for its current audience.

ClientSaber Interactive

RoleArt Director · Lead designer

TeamBrand, Web

Timeline~2 weeks

ToolsFigma, Adobe CC

1,000+employee studio

2→1two typefaces consolidated into a single system

72pxa logo that works at minuscule sizes

Problem + Context

A cold pitch. With no hard data, I’ve made some reasonable assumptions. Saber Interactive recently bought its way out of its contract with Embracer Group and has several major successes, but its brand doesn’t reflect that. The outdated website has no retargeting strategy, no clear points to capture interested buyers, and likely almost no conversion. PROS, their system for rewarding players with free in-game cosmetics, is missing entirely. As a cold pitch, I set clear boundaries:

The saber cat has existed since the company’s founding and can’t meaningfully change
The brand lives in grayscale and reds, no reinvention
No changes to core website copy (about, games listed, etc.)

From market research and playing their games, Saber’s core demographic is men 24–40, drawn to shooters (World War Z) and industrial builders (SnowRunner, RoadCraft).

How I built it.

I dug up how the brand had changed over it’s 20+ year lifetime, and hooked into what had always been the heart of the brand, the saber cat. This isn’t about a big shift, it’s refining and defining.

Understanding its history.

The Saber Logo has always retained the Saber cat as a key component. It's always appeared to be aggressive, reading emblematic of the company's willingness to take on challenges that others might shy away from. To be focused and determined as they achieve constant growth and their ultimate prize, a company that dominates the game development space. However the most recent iteration post Embracer group sell-off feels static, and the cat itself feels more like it's opening its mouth, not as if we've caught it mid lunge.

The key decision.

Revising, not re-inventing.

My revision keeps the core of the cat from over the years, the triangular eye, wide jaw, the cut behind the ears and jaw that feel assertive and create an impactful silhouette. I've refined what's always been present, creating a contour from head to snout, with an incision for the nose. The jaw was heavily reworked with a shape that flows more smoothly, and teeth that break that flow while reinforcing heavy rightward momentum. The Saber text was originally set in Phonk with a handful of manual adjustments, however I felt that the typeface was a bit too chunky and the negative space was very uneven. It's been reset with Macrosoma Grotesque Loose Bold with a slight obliquing was applied to reinforce the left to right movement. For built small (below) additional adjustments were made to the cat so finer details weren't lost.

Rethinking typography.

All Saber materials are set in Bebas Neue Pro, a fairly tall somewhat industrial and bold typeface. This reinforces the games and brand voice indirectly, while having numerous weights that leave ample room for clear hierarchy, and continued exploration of the brand.

Typographic hierarchy across Bebas Neue Pro weights

A palette to begin

Saber has and will continue to be an "on dark" company, but now features hints of red in its primary scheme. Internal testing showed that skewing the black to a softer tinted red created a subtle moody atmosphere that echoes their most successful games. It's also a small but very noticeable differentiation when compared to its competitors such as Activision, Undead Labs, and Krafton. The palette overall is simple, predominantly grayscale, using the core Saber Red for high conversion/engagement points like buttons, and carousel sliders. An optional Saber Red 2 is used only for clarifying hover states where Saber Red is used.

Saber palette — primary black, white, red and secondary grays

Color volume — proportional usage across the palette

Web presence

The website is a significant pain point, it doesn't communicate anything about the brand and isn't interesting for a user to explore. There's nothing to keep the user engaged and potentially convert a curious customer into a sale. I've rebuilt the site from the ground up, working within the confines of Elementor (what they currently use) with flickity for carousel support. I've also used the homepage as an opportunity to convert interested players to sign-ups for Prism Ray Online Services (PROS) instead of it being found only as a link through in game UI. Users link their supported games to their PROS account to gain rewards, transfer their saves to different platforms safely, view their in-game statistics, and keep track of important game updates and events by e-mail. Something as significant as PROS should be included as a core website traffic point.

Old New

Other assets in situ

A few common ad sizes and a banner to showcase the flexibility and solidity of the system across touchpoints.

Saber × Space Marine II leaderboard ad (728×90)

Saber × Space Marine II medium-rectangle ad (300×250)

Saber × Space Marine II half-page ad (300×600)

What I’d do next

Finalize and pitch the proposal to a few art directors at the company to get an insider to vouch for me and essential feedback on my interpretation of the brand story.
Build out the system in full so the complete website presence could be rebuilt with Claude.