After her scene-stealing breakthrough in “Suicide Squad,” DC Comics antihero Harley Quinn gets her own star turn as the lead character in “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),” a new adventure set for release by Warner Bros. Pictures on February 7, 2020. Margot Robbie reprises her role as Harley, joined in the title crew by the Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), and Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) as they face off against the crime lord Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) in Gotham City. Pentagram created an identity for “Birds of Prey” that captures Harley’s love of mayhem and features a custom typeface inspired by the character. The team also developed the “Prey for Gotham” tagline for the advertising campaign.
The Birds of Prey logo features strong, modern typography that sets the film apart as something new and different from other “superhero” films. The powerful wordmark holds the weapons of Harley and the Birds of Prey in its type, hidden as visual “Easter eggs” for fans. (The customized letterforms are based on Monotype’s Smart Sans.) The circular DC logo previously designed by Pentagram punctuates the name like a period.
In the movie, set after “Suicide Squad,” Harley has split from the Joker and is taking ownership of her own life. The subtitle appears in handwriting that looks like Harley scrawled it herself, claiming her own space and disrupting the film’s logo with an element of chaos. The approach also helps set up the Birds of Prey identity as a master brand that can act as an anchor for any future adventures—and logo interventions—featuring other stories and characters. For the subtitle, Pentagram designed a custom typeface called Hysteria Hand that resembles the handwriting of an unhinged mind, referencing Harley’s manic nature and also alluding to a small segment of the plot. The complete typeface includes dingbats of graffiti-inspired weapons, hearts and harlequin diamonds, for an added touch of madness.
In addition to the DC logo, Pentagram previously designed the logo for the 2017 DC film “Justice League,” as well as the identities for the DC Universe streaming platform and DC Vertigo comics imprint.
