During the second workshop of Semester B I followed a tutorial on Colour Palettes and the importance of complimentary colours within design. For this exercise I started by visiting Pinterest and found images which I liked, from there the exercise continued in Adobe Illustrator and Indesign.
I found the exercise to be more informative than I first thought, and I found myself breaking down every image I liked to it’s Complimentary Colours and Shades. Overall I feel as though the exercise is a good skill to practice, not only does it look visually appealing and professional but it also changes mundane work to something you don’t mind examining further.
A link to higher resolution versions of these images is below.
When setting out in writing my brief for the semester I had a rough idea of what I wanted to create, however at first I didn’t know how to break it down into individual components. Understanding every aspect of the brief, to me, feels like a vital part in creating an end product at the best possible standard.
There was an initial learning curve involved for some terminologies for my brief and the emphasis on certain components. A few things I learnt after research which I didn’t know prior, were small components which felt insignificant but they all play an integral role in the branding of any company. These include: Typography Research, Working with colour palettes, sticking to and working with a permanent name (For company and IP) and constantly re-working ideas. It might seem blatantly obvious that idea development is integral to creating a product however many times in the past I have never critically evaluated or reworked ideas, I feel as though this is a good skill to foster to be able to progress as a designer and to ensure a project has the best possible outcome if the choices of development have justification behind them.
Development Plan
The development plan below details a time scale for different elements I’ll work towards in order to create a final completed brief. Certain areas will require more time dedicated to them depending on the complexity and workload required. I feel as though a time plan will help to organise a project of this magnitude and should also be a useful skill to learn for other briefs/modules in the future.
Week 1 – Research/Project Planning Stage
Name for the IP
Name for the Company
Research on inspirations
Look at survival games & horror games
Progression with the Logo/Overall Branding
Research websites and output formats from similar companies
Week 2 & 3 – Concept art and further ideas development
In-depth game research (What is expected of a protagonist, how will the game work? what is inspiring about other games of a similar nature?)
Experiment with branding packages (How does the logo look? What can be improved?)
Highlight a particular element of the game, stick with it and use it as a point of reference for further work on concept art.
Week 4- Concept and Promotional Art
Finalised Logo (Reach a point where I feel only minor changes are needed)
Typeface evaluation, new choices from old, variations and how well it works
Further Character concept art, overall game aesthetics, further environment exploration
Screenshots of sketches, evaluate likes and dislikes
Further develop environments, showcase significant features from the game
Week 5 & 6 – Advertising
Experiment with poster design (Change concept art into more polished versions, play with the sketches and try to create promotional advertisement material)
Create mock up websites (evaluate other websites, what elements work? How can I make informed choices about my own website?)
Finalised Company colour palette
Examples of merchandise and other outputs including the logo
Week 7 onwards – Polishing Output Formats
Have a finalised web output (Document the constant progression of ideas, what works/doesn’t etc.)
Have a finalised poster (Include the company’s brand, and the smaller aspects of the brief, integrate into a final professional document)
Create mock-up documentation for my proposed company (Does the brand work? what can be changed?)
Finalised corporate branding package (finalised logo usage on documentation, merchandise, office items etc.)
Research & Source Material
Below are a few YouTube videos I will use to guide me through creating: concept art, character designs, environment art and general help towards illustrating my own vision for my project.
When I set my own brief I knew the direction I wanted to take with it from the start, a few inspirations and current video games which have inspired the style I want to take with my own imagined IP are:
Firewatch, Minecraft, The Long Dark and The Last of Us.
Within recent years the video games I’ve found myself playing has gone down the path of Survival and themes which deal with human struggles within a post apocalyptic world. Games like The Last of Us don’t just highlight the brutality of the world, a lot of juxtaposition is given between the horror/gore and the natural beauty of a world being reclaimed by nature, this is the element I want to focus on within my concept art and the branding of my own IP
The title for my game is Entropia, I feel as though this name highlights the theme and general story I want to tell, a few examples of the games mentioned prior are below, and should give an indication towards the theme’s I want to develop for my own game.
For design Semester B my proposal is a new video games company who have signed a partnership to Sony and the exclusive platform of PS4. This new games company will need a brand, and a concept of the IP they’re going to create.
For the brand I will produce a corporate branding package, which will include:
The Company’s Name, Documentation and examples of the usage of their Logo on official products/merchandise
As for the game, I will produce concept art, posters, and potentially a website. For concept art I will focus on the environment, items, and the main protagonist. In order to be thorough and execute this brief correctly I feel as though I will need a consistent flow of ideas, development and variations.
Overall I feel as though this brief will be challenging, but I aim to make it manageable through allotted time on different sections of my work. the first area I will work on is the branding of the company, I will look at existing companies and decide on the direction I want to take with it after research.
The outcomes for this brief are:
Concept Art and documentation of sketches for my IP
A mock up Website
Corporate branding (Official Documentation, Merchandise, General office items)
A finalised A4 Poster from the promotion of my game
