i don’t want to be a magical girl

a magical logo

All magical girl Aika wants is to be a normal girl living a normal life. Pretty Pretty Please I Don't Want to Be a Magical Girl is an animatic pilot created by Kiana Khansmith which follows the story of  Aika desperately trying to escape the duties of her magical girl job.

Illustration of two main characters (Aika and Zira) and Aika's flying star sidekick (Hoshi). Logo is stamped in the corner.

When creating the new logo, I drew inspiration from the visuals of existing magical girl stories like Winx Club, Steven Universe, and The Powerpuff Girls. Aika is a little rough around the edges when it comes to her fighting style, so I hand-drew MAGICAL GIRL to give it a more relaxed look. Elements of Aika are also injected into the logo, such as the heart cutout in the M and the swashes of the script typeface.  

Illustration of magical girl character (Aika) and her flying star sidekick. Aika is holding a gun and a bat with nails sticking out the end. The "I Don't Want to be a Magical Girl" logo is stamped above.
Old version of logo, saying "プリティー・プリティー・プリーズ I Don't Want to be a Magical Girl"New and current version of logo, saying "プリティー・プリティー・プリーズ I Don't Want to be a Magical Girl".

magical logo transformation

The client originally had a hand-drawn logo and wanted to fix the negative space issues as well as improve the typography. We explored many directions and ultimately landed on one that best encapsulated the spirit of the show—friendly yet graphic, and very sparkly. ✧˖°.

Logo suite showing blue and yellow color palettes, along with typefaces used.
Handdrawn sketches of logo options.
Grid of preliminary logo options and directions.
Illustration of two girls and sleeping star character staring at a night sky. The "I Don't Want to be a Magical Girl" logo is stamped above them.

credits

Illustration: Kiana Khansmith, Jonah Cabudol-Chalker