Game keynote

KEY NOTE
Aaron Newbigging
Wednesday, 25 June 2014

Type/Typography/Font

My analysis of App
Store icons

Flappy Bird
Icon
Analysis
I have put these lines across the image in order to
determine the center of the image, using the lines I can
see the center of the image is also the center of the
“Flappy Bird”, being the center of the image it draw
immediate attention to it, also we now know that this bird
is the main character of the game from this.
This can also speak for the gameplay, it hints to the
player that during the game the bird will be in the center
of the screen most of the time.
The colour palette for the Flappy Bird
logo is very simple, containing 10
main colours, the bird itself is very
simple in colours as it is pixel art,
there are about 4 colours in the bird.
The background is the more complex
part, if you look at the tall hills in
almost right at the back there seems
to be a gradient created.
If you look at the bird itself its facial
expression seems to be very worried
or depressed, which says a bit about
the game, that itʼll be a hard
challenge and that youʼll likely fail.
The style of this logo is pixel art, which means it is a
bitmap rather than a vector, a vector would have
smooth edges so that is the best way to tell.
Because the logo is styled in this way it lets you
know that the game will also be in the style.
We know it is pixel art due to the big pixels present
on the screen which are just big squares.
The bird is very simplistic in its
design, using a minimum amount of
colours, no gradients are used.
But there is some very simple
shading going on here, the top of the
bird is white which is the highlight of
the bird and it gets darker as you
look down the bird. The shading is
simple yet effective as it sticks to the
simple colour palette of the logo yet
gives off a good effect.
Around the bird is all negative space, which tells the
player that youʼll spend most of this game in the air
rather than being on the ground, also since there are no
objects around the bird it hints towards the fact that you
must avoid touching things in the game.
To further back up the point of the
negative space hinting towards the
inability to touch objects, notice how
there is a strong drop shadow under the
bird, clearly showing it as not being part
of the background, it separates it from
anything else so itʼs not touching any
objects.
The drop shadow also backs up the fact
that the player will be ﬂying in the game
rather than being on the ground as it
creates the effect that the bird is ﬂoating
in front of the background.

Five things which make
a good app store icon
The platformer logos where good as it was easy to show the core mechanics of the game within the logo, such as having
boxes you can hit to break and also having the main character in the centre of the logo looking like they are about the
break the boxes or hit them. This shows that having elements from the game shown in the logo works well.
• The best logos I have seen are ones that effectively use the colour wheel theory as they look a lot better than others that
do not use it, such as the skateboarding game logo, it looks nice and the complimentary colours is pleasing to the eye.
• Having the main character in the logo has proven effective, especially for the platformer and shooting games. This almost
instantly sets up a connection with that character and also people may recognise the character, for example if someone
made an app and in the centre of the app was Mario they’d instantly know what kind of game it is because of that
character.
• Simplistic logos with the title of the game on them works well as well, especially the “2048″ logos, this game has become
quite popular and just seeing that number tells many people what the game is about almost instantly, this could work well
with other games that have similar short titles that could easily fit and be visible in the logo.
• The art style is important in the logo, some of these logos are obviously vector art so in theory the game should be in a
similar style to that, then others are a bitmap images and you expect the game to be a bit more cartoony and old
fashioned with a different style of graphics than others.

Three things that make
a bad app store icon
One thing I noticed is people trying to make logos that are so simple that it’s impossible
to tell what the game is about, this seems to happen a lot with card games I’ve noticed,
as all the card game apps I have seen just have images of cards rather than actual
gameplay or something saying what kind of card game.
• The objectification of women doesn’t work well for logos, it doesn’t accurately depict
what kind of game it would be, the example we have below it doesn’t really suggest a
card game.
• Sometimes the logo will be to vague and not give people the impression it should be, an
example of this is the construction game logo, where all you see is a bridge and really
nothing suggesting construction.

Why those games are placed in
those locations on my graph
EVE was placed in the top left being more of a Niche and Core game because it has a very small
target audience, due to the complexity of the game. It’s not the kind of game you can pick up and
start playing straight away.
Titanfall is in the top right being a Mainstream and Core game because of its vast target audience, it’s
the kind of game you can pick up and start playing without much thought, which contributes to its
popularity.
Don’t Tape The White Tile is a Niche and Casual game, it’s a musical game where you play a piano but
you can only touch the black notes, due to the difficulty curve in this game and its small target
audience appeal it is a Niche game, but it is the kind of game you can pick up and start playing
straight away so it is a casual game.
Dragoncity is a Mainstream and Casual game, it’s a social game which can be played on Facebook which
contributes to its popularity making it more mainstream, it’s mechanics are similar to that of Farmville
and other Facebook games, it is simple and easy to use and people usually play it in their spare time,
making it a casual game.
Squidiverse is a Niche and Casual game, but is almost into the core category. The style of gameplay
and the mechanics makes it more of a casual game than a core one, though it can be quite difficult it
is mostly played casually, it is more of a Niche game than a Mainstream game due to its odd themes
such as sci-fi themes which aren’t very Mainstream. It is close to the core category due to the
difficulty of the game, it’s not to difficult but some may class it as more of a core game because of it
though.

5%
20%
10%
65%
Achievers Killers
Explorers Socialisers
5%5%
60%
30%
70%
5%
25%
I’ve created 3 pie chart above to compare my game to other games currently in the market, Titanfall is a
Mainstream Core game and Dragon City is a Mainstream casual game.
If you look above you can see how Squidiverse is different from these two games in the type of audience
that it attracts, Squidiverse mainly attracts achievers and also some explorers, whereas Titanfall attracts more
killers and also some achievers as well, Dragon City attracts mainly Socialisers and some achievers also.
Squidiverse is more appealing towards achievers as the main objective is to complete the level no matter what
it takes, unlike the other two games here you must complete a level, advance to the next and complete that
one and continue that cycle, this appeals to achievers because the drive themselves to achieve well at a
game.

How would could increase Killer and
Socialiser interest in our game
As seen in the graph on the previous slide the game doesn’t really appeal very
much to both socialisers and killers, below are two ways we could appeal
more to killers and socialisers:
To appeal to killers we would have to get some sort of scoring system into the
game and have a leader board to display the highest scores, this is probably
one of the biggest attractions for a killer as it allows them to become much
more competitive and challenge their friends and also people online.
To appeal to socialisers we could have Facebook and Twitter integrated into
our game which could allow you to share you scores or share what level you
got up to so maybe your friends could give you some tips on how to pass that
level, we could also have rare collectables which possibly give you a power up
for a little while which you can also share to your friends on Facebook or
Twitter, similar to the Facebook game “Bejeweled Blitz” which allows you to
share your power ups with your friends.

I have created this mock up of an iPhone home screen to show what
apps our potential target audience may have on their iPhone, these are
mainly casual games, shopping apps, apps for watching videos and apps
for fun such as the songify app and the xbox smartglass app.
Our potential audience is likely to be casual gamers so I have found
some of the most popular casual games on the iPhone app store,
including: Angry Birds, Temple Run, Tetris, Minecraft and Doctor Who.
Minecraft is a casual game and for a while was quite Niche before its
popularity drastically improved, though tetris was a very popular game
on the app store it is quite Niche as not many people have it on their
phone, so this can relate to our game.
Many of the apps on the homescreen point towards a geeky character,
with the Marvel and DC apps and also the Doctor Who app, our game
is mainly aimed towards sci-fi fans so it only makes sense that our
potential audience would have these kind of apps on their phone.
Also our target audience is geared more towards the younger
audience, so games such as Angry Birds and Minecrafft fit well into
the image of our target audience as these are games that younger
audiences enjoy.
Since our audience will typically be into sci-fi it only makes sense to
have apps for watching videos and movies such as Netflix and YouTube,
Netflix can be used to watch movies and TV shows, this app is quite
mainstream because it has a wide variety of content which can suit
many people with different interests. YouTube is very mainstream and
hosts a large variety of content also.
Since our target audience may typically be into sci-fi they likely collect
items from sci-fi shows, this is why there are Amazon and eBay apps
on the home screen, they’re likely to want to keep up to date with
anyone they are wanting to purchase so these apps work well for
them.

Little White Lies Cover Analysis
The main cover-line on this
cover is completely different
to the one which is on the
Total Film one, this one is
small but as the
background is matte black
it stands out and looks a lot
more neat a sophisticated.
The Total Film main cover-line was very
cluttered and a lot bigger.
The Little White Lies masthead is always the
same on all issues, it is in the center in a circle
with the barcode on it, what
theyʼve done is taken the
most unattractive part of
the cover and stuck it in
the logo so thereʼs more
room on it for the amazing
design they have. This
logo is well recognized by
many people, especially big
fans of the magazine so it makes
sense for them to make it noticeable and easy
to see and consistent, on the Total Film cover
Superman was covering a lot of the logo,
almost half of it whereas on this one he is only
covering a small part of it, this is because the
cover is less crowded and they have gone for
a simplistic design over a cluttered one which
appeals to the target audience.
This cover has a simplistic design
compared to the Total Film cover, the
Total Film cover is cluttered and full
of advertisements trying to draw the
reader in to buy their magazine and a
lot of the time that work, but Little
White Lies has gone for a simplistic
design to appeal to more artistic
people, both magazines have
different target audiences, hence the
different designs.
This magazine has an artistic design and
direction, on the cover is a design of
Superman, it is an abstract
design which appeals to the
target audience, whereas the
Total Film cover has an
image probably from a photo
shoot or a still from the ﬁlm,
which is more for the regular
consumer.

Hunger Games Poster Analysis 1
The character here in the poster
stands out from the background
behind here and her face is also
well lit, the way she is posing
and the way she stands out from
the background shows that she
is strong and also shows that
she may be crucial to the plot of
this sequel and is one of the
main protagonists in the film.
The way this poster is styled kind of makes
it look like a drawing to me, the textures that
are on it and the overall feel look and look of
it gives me the impression that this may
have been drawn. This could
show that the movie will
be artistic and creative
or the textures and the
colors used could show
that she is a hero
within a dark world as
the cliff she is standing
on is lit where she is
standing where the other side is dark which
could symbolize this.
The logo is small but it stands out within the
poster as it is placed on the part of the cliff
which is darkened and is brightly colored.
This catches the
viewers eye quite
quickly and they then
know that it is a
poster for the hunger
games and then will
look at the poster in a
different light as they will
know what it is referring to.
Notice how at the bottom the date is the most
visible part of the
text, this is obviously
like this so that the
viewer can easily
see when itʼs coming
out and it stands out
from the dark
background and all the crowded text around it
as it is bold, bigger and lighter colored.
The color scheme that has been picked here could match the
theme and tone that the movie will be, at first glance I see
use of the colors red, brown, orange and yellow which to
me could symbolize corruption or a world gone wrong,
and the fact that she is also holding a bow and arrow
this could show that there will be an epic fight
somewhere in the movie and this also goes with the
color scheme.
This color scheme could also hint towards the genre
being an action or adventure story possibly with a
slightly darker tone to it, someone had never seen the
first movie (like me) theyʼd imagine it having an epic fight in
it somewhere and some sort of fight for survival.
At the top appears to be
a quote possibly from the
movie, the quote is most
probably from the
character we currently see on the poster and may refer to her sense of
strength and will to fight no matter what against those who do wrong
or challenge her.

Hunger Games Poster Analysis 2
Again in this one we have the same color
scheme to it which is; red, yellow,
orange and brown. There is a
lot of fire in this poster
which foreshadows
fighting a lot more than
the other.
This points towards the
protagonist in this poster
here having to fight for
something and could also show her
ʻburningʼ passion for something and her
willingness to fight for what she believes in.
Again this also hints the genre to the viewer as
an action adventure movie, the use of the
color scheme and the fire also hints to it being
more action packed than the other.
The logo in this poster is very different to the other
one, it clearly shows that it is a Hunger Games
sequel and they want the audience to know that,
this could be because it is targeted towards a
different demographic, the date on this poster is
november 21 instead of 22 like the other one, so I
assume this poster was made for Americans.
The logo here is very big and it has to be since it
is the only way to catch the eye away from the
epic design that the poster has, so it makes sense
fro them to make the logo much bigger.
Also note that the title of the sequel is much
bigger than the part announcing itʼs a hunger
games sequel, this shows they want people to
know itʼs a new movie.
Again in this poster we see her with
her bow and arrow which seems to
be creating a trademark for her as
her primary weapon and is symbolic
of the way she is, notice how she
isnʼt holding a gun or a sword or
anything, the bow and arrow is a
light weight weapon which speaks
for her personality which could
mean she started as a normal girl in
the first movie but is being forced to
do things she is not wanting to do to
survive.
In this poster we have a different sort of quote at
the top, I say sort of as it seems to be a more of
a tagline this time than a quote, I could imagine
that being on top of the DVD cover or something,
but it also hints to the possibility of her or another
protagonist within the movie becoming corrupt
and possibly fighting against the others, it is also
very mysterious and will draw viewers in to think
as to what it could be referring to and it is also
interesting.
Similar to the other poster you can see that the date of release
is much bigger than the text
surrounding it, this is to make
sure the audience knows when
it will be out and to make sure
that they remember that it is on
this date, this is also the same font and color as the logo so it
kind of fits together with that and makes it more memorable.

Book Cover Analysis 1
I love the abstract feel and look this cover
has, with such a simple design. The red in
the leaves obviously
represents fire but in a
subtle way and the red
leaves really contrast
against the green
within the eye and
also her skin.
Unlike the American cover this cover does not
contain The Hunger Games logo which is odd
as in the other cover it was the main focus of
the cover and this one itʼs not even here. It still
has a similar color scheme to the other with
the inclusion of red seeming to be one of the
main focuses of the cover.
This cover is very vibrant in its colors, all the
colors are very saturated and stands out
against each other, we also seem to have
two maybe three light sources, from the left
and right of the model and also there seems
to be one straight in front of our viewing
angle of her to really brighten her up and
add brightness and contrast to the image
without photoshopping it.
ʻDie Tribute Von Panemʼ means ʻThe Hunger
Gamesʼ and it stands out against the
background and is very large in size, the the
section below that is the name of the book
which is substantially smaller than the title
itself, theyʼre trying to bring in more people
with itʼs unique design and the title is very
large so people whoʼve heard of the series
will see it and recognize it.
The color scheme which is used here can
represent a few things, for instance the red
in the leaves could represent fire which is a
major theme in this book or it could even
represent rebellion,
then the green in
her eye could
show the games
themselves as it
takes place in a
lot of forest
terrain so it could
represent that.
Compared to the American cover it is much
more cluttered, as the American one has a very
simple design this one is slightly more complex,
this could show how the different demographics
react to a certain cover design, also comparing it
to the American cover we have many more
colors used such as the skin tone and the green
in her eye where the other one was mainly red
and representing fire.
Another thing to compare to the
American cover is the different font
and style used on the text, on the
American cover it was very bold and
silver, on this one it is a lot less bold
and looks more sophisticated than
the other.

Book Cover Analysis 2
What I really love about this design is
its simplicity, itʼs a very minimalistic
design which really makes it stand
out against other books that have a
cluttered design which nowadays I
think just puts people off buying the
book sometimes
Another thing to note is how the name of the
series ʻThe Hunger Gamesʼ is very small and
doesnʼt even catch your eye and the ʻCatching
Fireʼ part is very big and bold and stands out
from its background, this is because the logo
which is on the book under the ʻCatching Fireʼ
part is
very well
known
already
and
people
who see
that
instantly know itʼs the Hunger Games, this
gives artists more space to work on a lovely
design.
Also the authors name is in a similar style to
the title of the book, this is so people who
recognize the author will likely be interested
in this book, chances are this isnʼt her first
series of books
she has done so
people who
some how may
not of heard of
this series but
liked her
previous works
maybe
interested.
The color scheme used for this book cover
represents fire, in the center of the logo
which represents The Hunger Games is a
bright yellow or the heart of the flame. Then it
slowly blends to a firey red as we reach
outside of the flame which is a great effect to
match the mood and themes of the book.
Compared to the German cover it is a lot more
simple, we have The Hunger Games logo
accompanied with some nice pattern designs
which gives it a very strange and unique design,
also ʻThe Hunger Gamesʼ is very
small compared to the
German cover shifting more
focus towards the
ʻCatching Fireʼ part of the
book rather than the
name of the series.
Also to note is the simplicity of the color
scheme compared to the German cover,
with the main theme being a gradient
from yellow to red to create the effect of
fire, the main colors here are yellow
and red, on the German cover we have
many different main colors such as red

Total Film
Cover
Elements

Total Film Cover Analysis
The pull quote is big and stands out, this is
most likely to be one of the first things to
catch the
readers
eye.
This is a quote from inside the magazine
and it will interest the reader and make
them want to read it to find out what it is
referring to.
The Masthead is the first thing that
will catch the readers attention, it is
important that this is big and catches
the attention of the reader as it
advertises a well known brand name
and letʼs the read know that it is
reliable and what they like.
The Qualifier is also
important as it
shouts to the
reader that is is the
worldʼs best movie
reviews, not just
good reviews or
best in the UK, itʼs the
best in the WORLD.
The main cover-line tells the reader what the
magazine will be about and what they can
expect
inside of
the
magazine
and also pulls in people who would be interested
in the movie and want to find out some more
information about it.
The top section could possibly be the first part of the
magazine a reader may see, if it has other magazines in
front of it this will be the visible part, and it lists a lot of
popular characters which will also attract potential
The additional content is there to give
readers a little more insight
into what this
magazine could
possible hold for
them, it advertises
the other articles.
The splash interests
the reader usually by
showing some sort of
exclusive that only
this magazine
contains, it normally
has some bold text
to bring the reader in,
in this case it is the ʻ100ʼ.

Bioshock Infinite Analysis
This cover follows the standard Xbox 360
game case conventions, the Xbox 360
logo stands out at the top, in a bunch of
games stacked up this is the first thing
you see, you know itʼs an Xbox 360 game
from this when youʼre in a store.
The logo, like the on all game covers
is big and stands out and it follows
the colour scheme of the cover, itʼs
just above the main image of the
character so it doesnʼt interfere with it
and doesnʼt crowd the page.
The main image is carefully placed and
stands out from the background, this is
typical on most game cases. Notice how
his arm holding the shotgun is just a few
pixels away from the ESRB rating, as to
not seem to cluttered and packed
together. The image is well designed in
the fact you can see itʼs a first person
shooter, with the inclusion
of a shotgun and the
mid-shot of the main
character. You also
know from this image
that you will play as
this character, being
the main focus of the
cover and the only
person on the cover.
The rating is big but tucked away into this small corner,
this is standard on all video game cases as this is
where people look to see the rating, if it
were not there people may start thinking
the game could be a fake copy. The M
lets the person know that it is rated
mature, and above the M is a “MATURE
17+” so people know this game is not
suitable for children.
The developer and publisher logos are also quite big
and tucked away into the right hand corner, this
again is like this on all
game covers, itʼs
common now for people
to look in this position of
the cover to see who has
developed and published the game.
From the logo you can get an idea on some
of the themes of the game, the logo
appears to be rusted and has an old timey
feel to it, the colours used again reflect the
old time feel, there is a gradient going on
where the colour is more saturated and
vibrant on the right
of the word
“BIOSHOCK”
and fades to
the left, which
again adds to
the feel of the
game possibly being set in the past or
maybe even a forgotten city.

Game Box Art
Breakdown

Banner ad initial ideas
This was my first idea, the logo is
centred and has a graphic of Squid
jumping to the left, to the right of it
will be a “CLICK HERE TO PLAY”
button which I have noticed in many
banners so I shall use this concept.
This is my second idea, it will have
Squids had in the centre with the logo
to the left of it and a tagline to the right
of it, this is going on a different style of
banner ad, drawing more attention to
the iconic and symbolic Squid head
rather than the logo.
I have two designs in mind for my banner ad, to quickly get them down I just got the pen tool out in Photoshop
and drew them up, I shall refer back to these when designing my banner, I shall make two designs and then
based on the feedback I’ll get from them I shall choose the design I shall continue working on.

Banner Ad Rough Draft 1
I have made a rough draft of the banner that will go on
websites I found during my research.
Currently I have the logo, Squid’s head and the tagline which
is “Underwater… but in space” to try draw in the audience and
peak their interest with the interesting tagline.
I decided to colour correct it as I felt with the original colours
the design seemed kinda washed out and not as pleasing to
the eye, so I colour corrected it so there is more red in the
design and after that it looked much more pleasing to the eye.
Original
Colour Corrected
I’ve made Squids head close to the centre as
to draw as much attention to it as possible,
because of this people will know that
somehow Squids head is symbolic and iconic
for the game.
What I need to do now is get feedback on my
design and improve it based on that feedback.
I did some research into the standard size of a
banner ad and found this graphic online listing the
correct sizes of different web elements. I have
decided to create my banner at the full banner size
which is 468×60 so this is the resolution that I
have made my banner.

Banner Ad Rough Draft 2
This is my second design which could potentially go on the websites found during my research.
With this design I put a bit more thought into the actual style of it, trying to create something a bit more eye
catching as I want people to just stop for a second and be like “whoa what’s that?” I first put everything where
I wanted it to be, unfortunately due to the size of the “CLICK HERE TO PLAY” I can’t have the Squidiverse
logo as centred as I’d like so it’s slightly offset to the left.
This is my initial design, I basically just got everything
laid out as I wanted, it’s currently very dull and isn’t
anything to special or pleasing to the eye.
I had the idea to create smoke behind the text on the
banner so I made a new layer above the normal
background and rendered clouds onto it and set the
blending mode to colour dodge, I decided wanted it slightly
offset from the right, meaning it won’t be the main focus of
the ad but it’ll create a nice effect. I also noticed it affected
to much of the image, so I create a mask and created a
circular gradient on it from white to black so only the part
offset to the right was most present and slowly faded out
from that centre point.
I then decided I want to give the smoke a bit
more character and also make it kinda of
highlight the logo a bit more, I added an
outer glow to the logo at a opacity of about
40% and a size of 27px which surprisingly
gave the smoke a really nice lens flare like
effect to it and had a really nice trail going
across the text which works really well and
looks really nice.

Banner Ad 1 Response To Feedback
I’ve altered banner ad 1 based on the feedback I received from the client, it was mentioned that the
one problem with design was that the tagline should stand out a bit more and be of a different font and
possibly a different colour, so I played around with some fonts and decided on “Stone Sans Sem ICT
TT” which fit quite well with the design and doesn’t stand out to much.
I also used the colour wheel theory to play around with some colours for the font:
I used analogous colour wheel theory and decided I should use blue for the text so it’ll contrast with
the purple nicely creating a nice underwater/space theme.
Green is part of the triad for the colour theory of purple, yellow is as well. I didn’t feel like this fit as well as the
blue one.
Yellow is the other part of the triad in the colour theory, again this does not portray the themes as well as I’d
like
I experimented using a gradient from blue to purple on the font here, I think it works pretty well but I may
get client feedback on both this and the blue design to see which they like best.

Banner Ad 2 Response To
Feedback
Above is updated banner I have created, as you can see the glow
is a lot less subtle now and starts with Squid and ends on
“Squidiverse”, this is so there is not as much attention on the SE as
there was before, I have also added a subtle gradient to the
“Squidiverse” text to help it blend in with the glow around it which I
think worked effectively.
Now my design looks a lot more professional and more eye
catching which is important.

After speaking with the client we decided that we
would use the gradient design as it better reﬂected
the themes of the game and looked more effective.

T-shirt Research 1

T-shirt Research 2

T-shirt Niche/Mainstream Comparison

Squidiverse Draft Hoodie Designs
For the Niche design I have chosen to use the
rocket from the game, this is Niche as only
people who have played the game or have an
active interest in it will recognise this iconic
design.
The Mainstream design is a lot more in your
face with advertising the game, it clearly has the
logo display in the centre and just below this is
Squid’s head which would be more well known
than the rocket ship.
Both designs can be seen as indirect advertising, especially the niche design as someone may get the
hoodie because they like the design or for another reason and they could potentially see someone playing
the game and see them get into the rocket and be like “Hey I got a hoodie with that rocket on” which may
encourage them to play the game.
Niche Mainstream

Niche Hoodie Response To Feedback
I’ve made changes based on the feedback
response to my niche hoodie design, a few
things that were looked down upon were;
Having a bright glow behind the rocket ship as it
ruined the simplicity of the design, also to have
some stars to get across the outer space theme.
I’ve made these changes by sharply reducing
the glow to make it very minimal, it’s just there
not to give some light to the stars that are
currently present within the design, and like I
just said I’ve added stars that are mainly based
around the rocket ship but fade out as the
distance from the ship increases.

Mainstream Hoodie Response To Feedback
I received the feedback for my mainstream hoodie
design and altered it based on the feedback, first
of I centred everything up as the feedback
suggested as it was indeed slightly off centre.
I then redrew Squid so that he was looking directly
at you rather than looking to the right, this was
suggested in the feedback as it seemed odd and
didn’t fit so well, so I changed it and it works much
better now.
Also the font colour brought into question, I tried a
few different colours but nothing other than purple
really fits, I changed the font to blue as that
seemed to fit best out of the colours other than
purple.
I’ve also done it in purple, I’ll get some
feedback to see which is preferred.

Further Feedback On Mainstream
Hoodie Design
After having a meeting with
the client we decided that we
would use the mainstream
hoodie design, I have received
ﬁnal feedback on the design.

Gameplay/ScreenshotCharacter/Action Iconic
Language-as-Image Title-as-Text Symbolic/Thematic

I’ve decided to use this logo as my ﬁnal design.
Certain improvements that need to be made are:
Removing the stroke around Squid, adding to the
background to make the logo a bit more interesting
and change Squid’s stance or add a rock to show
that he is throwing an item and to show the core
mechanic of the game.
I’m choosing this design as it clearly shows the
character to a potential audience and also sets the
moods and themes of the game effectively. This
design was very well received during the feedback.
I may get the glow from the other design I got
feedback from since I made that glow separately
rather than using the blending tools and use that
instead, as it looks a lot nicer and stands out more
than the subtle one I have right now.

App Store Ratings
Preschool Playmat: Farm Fun
Battle Monkies
Battle Supremacy
The Mystery Of The Opera

Drugs There are no drugs or references to show in our game.
Imitable Behaviour
Squid throws rocks at crabs killing them, rock are easy to get hold of and
throwing this is easy to imitate.
Falling from heights has no consequences in the game
Language There is no bad language in our game.
Nudity
There is no nudity present in our game, Squid wears a hoodie
and jeans and the other characters in the game are sea
creatures.
Sex There are no references to sex or sexual behaviour in our
game.
Threat
The plot is threatening as Squids father has been kidnapped, this can be
troubling for younger audiences. There is also the threat of death if you fall
off the map, though death is not shown and you have multiple lives.
Violence
There are situations in the game where violence is needed, such as throwing a
rock at a crab to progress through the level, the violence is at a cartoonish
level and there is no detail.

1 2 3 4
Before making my colour design I’ve made some grayscale versions of what my potential design could be, I used Squid in different poses to
try find the right one which looked the pest and for each one I tried him in a few different position on the grid.
Designs 1 and 2 are of him in his idle pose, it’s not very exciting and that was probably my biggest problem with it, for a logo it needs to be
exciting and reflex the gameplay and if I were to stick with that design people would think the gameplay is boring, though I still put him in
two different places on the grid, from this I have deduced that it looks best when Squids eyes are within the inner circle, and that I need
a more exciting pose for Squid. For Designs 3 and 4 I went for the original pose I used for my draft design, this pose is a bit more exciting
and reflects the gameplay a little better, the problem is that if I were to use this model I’d have to fit a rock somewhere into the design
which would be quite hard to see as a small icon on the iPhone home screen, despite this I did some more tests on the positioning of Squid
and decided that the position of his eyes in design 4 is a lot more eye catching and looks more in place.
After much thought I decided to use the jumping pose instead, it looks a lot better as an icon and also reflects that the game is a
platformer and makes the game look a lot more exciting because of this.

5 6 7 8
Once I found a pose I liked I made 4 different versions of the same pose, putting Squid into a different position on the canvas for each one
and making him different sizes, the idea was that doing this I could compare all 4 of them and using the grid I’d ﬁnd the one that worked
the best and was the most eye catching. Design 1 was my initial design idea, again I had the same issue with the eyes not be within the
inner circle which is something I wanted in my design, though this design was pretty much in the centre of the grid which is what I
wanted, I decided to experiment and try making Squid bigger to see if it were more eye catching. After making Squid bigger in design 2 I
noticed it was more eye catching than the ﬁrst design, but when I overlaid the grid onto it the eyes were not in the position I had wanted,
I wanted his eyes to be in the inner circle completely and if I moved him down he wasn’t centred enough. So I decided to make him a bit
smaller and move him into a position where his eyes were within the inner circle, he was also as centred as I wanted him to be, none the
less I decided I’d see what the design looked like if I made it a similar size to the original, doing so I noticed it was a lot more eye
catching than design 3, even though it was smaller than design 3 it was more in the centre of the grid and didn’t come out of the white
background.

Colour wheel theory
Using the colour wheel theory I’ve used yellow as
the background as it compliments purple, the logo
looks good as the colours compliment each other, but
the yellow is a bit overpowering, the biggest problem
though for me in this colour scheme is that it really
doesn’t reflect the themes of the game as much as
I’d like.
For this design I used the triad theory, using three
colours that are of a equal distance away from each
other, I’ve used orange, green and purple, the colours
works well together but not with the black
background, if i were to choose this design I’d have
to have a more colourful background so it doesn’t look
to out of place, again not reflecting the themes of
the game that much.
This design also uses the triad theory here but the
green is more dominant this time, this works better
than the other design as orange really doesn’t fit a
space theme very well, this design fits a lot better
than the other but I still feel like it doesn’t fit very
well for the space theme, though it is more appealing
and eye catching than the other colour tests, I don’t
think this is the right colour scheme for my design,
though it is close to what I want.
This design using the analogous theory, it’s the idea
of using 3-4 colours that are next to each other on
the colour wheel, it is thought that this type of
colour scheme is more pleasing to the eye. This is
more of the colour scheme I was going for, the
colours work well together and convey a space theme
effectively, the green glow works well with the blue
backdrop and the blue backdrop stands out well from
the black background. This will be the colour scheme
that I will use for my final design.

From the tests I did in the grayscale designs and the colour wheel tests I’ve created a colour design, I made it from
design 8 as I deduced that was the best design from my tests.
The logo I’ve created follows the colour scheme and themes from the game and feature various improvements over
the original design I got feedback on, for one I’ve removed the stroke from Squid so it doesn’t have the cut out
feeling, I’ve also added the new glow behind Squid, it doesn’t use the blending options, I’ve used lighting effects
within Photoshop to create a glow instead and works a lot more effectively, it makes the logo more unique rather
than using the normal generic glow, also it gives it a more spacey feel than the old one. I have also added some
more stars into the background, though they are subtle, I’ve made them so it looks like they’re only visible because
of the glow around Squid and this works well.
I’ve used a different pose for Squid, a jumping one. I’ve done this to give the impression that this game is a
platformer and to make it looks like he is ﬂoating in space to give the idea that he is lost, which hints towards the
fact he must ﬁnd clues in order to rescue his father in the game.

The colours are more faded
Squid has a stroke around him
Looks like Squid is throwing a
rock
Plain black background
Colours are more vibrant
The glow is overlapping
over Squid
Squid pose is a jumping one
Stars in the background

Feedback
From Client
I have received feedback from my
design I had made, the feedback
was mostly positive which I am
happy about, the colour scheme is
liked so that shows all my colour
wheel tests paid off.
There are two things I need to
change, the ﬁrst being that the
client felt that the glow was in
the wrong position, so I’ll have to
move the glow so it covers Squid’s
head a bit more, also there is a
white patch behind Squid which
makes the design look messy and
unprofessional so that will need to
be corrected also.

I have now updated my design to what should now be the ﬁnal version of the design, I have removed the
white bit behind Squid’s head that was making the design look messy and looking at it now, it just catches
your eye when it shouldn’t do. I have also moved the glow but in a certain way, I tried moving it but I didn’t
like how it looked when it was offset from the centre, I then tried smudging the glow more towards Squid’s
head but that didn’t look very good either, in the end I just duplicated the glow, added a mask to it with a
radial gradient from white to black from that certain area, this proved to be the most effective way to move
the glow into that position.
Another thing changing the glow allowed me to do was to make the glow a little less intense where his hand
is, if you look at the old design you can see the glow looks very harsh there compared to the rest of the
glow, using some masking has allowed me to lessen the glow around that area and spread it out a bit more.
All these changes have really improved my design for the better, I’m very happy with how it looks now and I
think it is an effective app icon.
Old New

This logo works well as it clearly
represents the themes present
within the game, this is done by
effectively using a colour scheme to
reﬂect these themes. Also the design
of the logo plays a key part in this
process, the main character ‘Squid’ is
right in the centre of the design
drawing more attention to him, which
makes the design a bit more eye
catching.
Also another thing that makes this
design more eye catching is that the
part that stands out the most is
Squid’s head, it is the only purple in
the design and it is quite central also,
this is effective in making the design
work well.
Below is approximately the size that
the icon will be on the iPhone home
screen, it is still effective as the
purple stands out and makes it easy to
see what the logo is. I’ve made Squid
big enough so that anyone looking at
the logo will know what it is.

Schedule
App Logo Concept and Ideas - 2014/06/01
Banner Ad Initial Ideas - 2014/06/01
Initial Hoodie Designs - 2014/06/03
Banner Ad Rough Draft 1 - 2014/06/03
Banner Ad Rough Draft 2 - 2014/06/03
Feedback on Hoodie Designs - 2014/06/05
Feedback on Banner Designs - 2014/06/05
App Logo Draft - 2014/06/06
Banner Ad 1 Response To Feedback - 2014/06/06
Mainstream Hoodie Response To Feedback - 2014/06/09
Niche Hoodie Response To Feedback - 2014/06/09
App Logo Feedback - 2014/06/10
App Logo Response To Feedback - 2014/06/11
Banner Ad 2 Response To Feedback - 2014/06/11

Evaluation
Designs Compare and Contrast Professional Products
One thing to notice is how both my design and the Angry
Birds design have used a grid in order to see which
Squids head, on the Angry Birds design it is the beak,
sign it
to be more eye catching and also choose where the
main focus of the design will be.
Also both designs use the colour wheel effectively, in my
design I used both analogous and also triad and it works
well, the Angry Birds logo uses Triad with the primary
colours of yellow, red and blue.
One thing which is comparable is how both my banner
colourful fonts in order to draw in the eye, my design has
a lot of purple to represent Squid and I have blue to
order to represent death.
My design has a dark background to reflect the outer
earth in a lighter environment.
Both my design and Minecrafts design depict the style of
the game, Minecraft is a world made of blocks and the
design on the hoodie depicts this, the game is also 3D
and the 3D elements of the design depict this. My design
reflects Squidiverse as it is an 8bit 2D game which is
depicted in my design, also it brings focus to the main
character of the game.
Though one difference to note is that the Minecraft
hoodie does not have a logo on it, this is because it is an
established franchise and a mainstream game, whereas
mine is a niche game and also a brand new game,
hence why the logo is on it as a form of advertising the
game to grow our audience.

Evaluation

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