WK9 Video Game Graphic Design

Focusing on logos and their development from video game consoles, old and new:

LINES
 
Lines will be actively used in graphic design in order to outline quick, general sketches for website layouts, logo shaping, dimension, and texture. In terms of the Nintendo 64 "N" logo, lines would be needed to outline the two-point perspective in dimension of a four panel "N" shape. With the line being an essential tool for previsualization, it is capable of being manipulated in forms that are non-existent, but only in imagination. (Dondis) The line is also used for standard notation, such as the Alphabet letters and Arabic numerals in this design such as six and four. (Dondis) The name itself had to be initially written down in notepads over and over again to obtain Nintendo, a company founded in Japan.

COLOR
The existence of color, and/or the lack thereof is an essential tool in graphic design. Especially in videogames, where graphics and eye catching is key, color will bring the emotion, category, and predisposition of the game to life. For example, in the previous image, the "N" logo was set in four bright colors: green, red, yellow, and blue. Three are primary. Besides the function of shading and highlighting the "N" to see it in three dimensional perspective, the four colors give the logo a predisposition of playfulness, and enticement. It's colors are carnival-like. These composition of colors attract people, especially children, to play this console (which was actually came in dark gray initially, and different colors such as purple and green in later developments).




The PlayStation logo by the Sony company also utilized these four colors initially to entice customers, attract children, and give off a sense of fun and enjoyment through usage of this bright colors. However, the usage of full-on red for the incomplete "P" made it more serious than the "N" in the Nintendo 64 logo, and perhaps encouraged a more sophisticated type of fun. These two companies rival to this day in gaming consoles alongside Microsoft's XBOX system.

 

It can be seen in this image of the progression in the PlayStation logo design the the three primary colors were used for basic purposes. However, the green was implemented in the very last design in order to define the "S".

DIRECTION


Further development of these consoles, focusing on Sony's PlayStation logo, allowed improved video graphics; therefore, there was an urgency to change the logos after subsequent systems (and the PS3 logo changing twice in three years). In shape, the more sophisticated PlayStation 2 took a more Gestalt approach with an incomplete and minimalistic "P", a two-directional "S", and a boxy two. It also only used two colors: purple and blue in a gradient fashion.

In the third installment, the 2006 PS3 logo had become italicized, giving it direction, such as going forward with progression, almost like a car. Three years later, the shortened signature logo was just the "PS3" than the whole name "PlayStation 3". It kept its slight italicized style. With the usage of differently weighted lines, and reflecting back the classic PS2 logo, it became a streamlined version of the PS3 logo in late 2009. With slightly bold lines, squashed look, and classic appeal, it used less ink and/or paint to print, and charmed older generations of gamers that remembered the great PlayStation systems.