designing with c.r.a.p

we were tasked at designing a magazine cover/page.
due to uploading difficulties, this can be found in my sketchbook. (the world of warcraft magazine design)

Space

Space! the final frontier.

we did some experiments as a group utilizing the ideas of deep space and negative space

 this was an experement in negative space, we were to create a scene of a bird attacking a man, as you can see, allthough the bird seems solid it's actually quite broken up in pieces.
unfortunately, i was unable to do it on time, and thus the bird was not accompanied by the man being attacked.

this was an experiment in deep space, i wanted to put the feeling of a city behind the figure, and i believe i achieved that by usage of shading and the way that is fades out of tone towards the bottom adds a feeling of luminescence, it would have had a lot more detail in it, but i was not confident in my own abilities to do this.

haikus

 ideas:

Haikus are not fun
I don’t want to do the task
but Ramses makes us.

We have had three weeks to work
and I have done none

this work is half assed.
it’s not like I really care
I’ll just get a pass

I overslept today
came in late and not at nine
yet I’m still tired

Cthulhu will rise
he will destroy the world
he is an asshole

six haikus is enough
I could have done more really,
although I did not

typography

logo

logo originals

 the design i decided to finish on.

(let it be said, that originally i didn't want to put choose this one, and would have preferred the similar style but full text version)

a selection of designs i could use

research

We weren't here first?

there are many other companies that go by the idea that they make games that everybody can enjoy, but they do target a specific audience with each title they put out.

Rare Ltd.

               new logo                                                                 old logo

rare are a british games development company based in Lancashire, England,
it was originally founded in 1985 and for the most part, worked under nintendo creating classic games such as; Banjo-kazooie , Donkey kong country, the revolutionary Goldeneye 007 on the nintendo 64 and even the hilarious, yet crude, Conker series.
they have since, left work for Nintendo and do a lot more for Microsoft  though they have done some things on the current formats.

as you can already tell, they have a large variation of genres they are juggling there, with the FPS of golden eye and the cartoon-ness of donkey kong it's hard to pin them to a particular target audience, even though the vast majority of their games are more structured for 10-13 year olds.

because they have a large variation of productions their logos are actually pretty simple, consisting of a shape that resembles the outer curve of the letter R, for rare.
this is a very neutral seeming design and it is effective in allowing them freedom to produce what they can, without having to stick with a sort of style.

(it's worth pointing out here that some companies that do the multiple genre thing tend to re stylize their logo depending on the game they are making, though their main logo stays the same.)

PopCap Games


popcap's logo
Popcap games are an america video games developer and publisher in seattle, washington, owned by the dark and evil overlord of games EA.

Popcap are a developer of the more casulized game, such as Bejewled, Peggle, plants vs zombies and feeding frenzy.
because of how simple and casual their games are, they have a large market they can expand into, as they don't really have to worry about who plays it, because pretty much anyone picks these up and gives them a try, from kids on their mothers phones, to grandparents having fun on the web.
so because they have such a vast pool of potential customers, they have to keep up a company image, so that merits the smooth and friendly logo they have, it clearly shows who they are, and to some extent gives you a feel of what sort of games they make.

Team Ninja

Team NINJA's logo

team ninja is not like the other two examples.
team ninja doesn't take S*** from anybody, they play by their rules and their time, and they have a bad ass looking logo to prove that.

Team ninja was founded in 1995 by members of techmo specifically for creating home versions of the fighting game Dead or Alive 1 & 2

when that went over well they created a 3d version of Ninja Gaiden, a hard as nails game that is part of the main series originally beginning back on the NES.

because of their heady combat based gameplay, and graphical feature dubbed "jiggle physics"
their games are far from being children's games and more for adolescents from the age of 16+ (probably from age 17-19 as a target audience).
their logo can easily reflect this, as it doesn't look like a logo you would find on something like a kirby game.

logo: the company

the company!

What?

The company i have decided to create a logo design for is actually something i'm doing to kill two birds with one stone.

for another project that is group based, we have to create a game as a group/mock company.
as i have the role of lead designer in that project i thought it would be a waste to do anything different.

the company we have decided on is called vectophobe (or Vecto-phobe), and the idea behind the name is that we ate scared of vector graphics in favor of bitmap style images. (which is ironic due to the fact that i will have to use illustrator to make the logo)

though for the purpose of this assignment i will have to pretend that the company is already successful as a games developer/studio

The company itself:

The company is a Video game development studio that tends to produce a wide genre of games.
games that range from simple platformers and extravagant puzzelers, to the more popular genres of Survival horror, and the first person shooter.


Target market: 

due to the wide Variety of different genres there is no constant target market, as their games change in complexity, maturity and even play style.
they aim to try to provide a playing experience to those whore are not into gaming too much and instead enjoy it casually on their iphone/android
but they also try to give those who are more into gaming a decent play time, with more indepth shooter games aimed at an older audience (17-25(the late teen/student years)) as oppsed to some of their more tastefull games such as puzzlers that offer a more varied experience in gameplay and are best suited to the sort who enjoy a quick fling on a flash game they find online.
despite this the majority of their games are in the shooter style and they do favour the 17-25 teenager stereotype as a target audience.

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can you guess which letters are used?