Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Reworking the Warning Label

In my reworking of the labels, I decided to try a darker background. I thought the 'M' should glow to draw your attention like the other information on the box shown below.




I also decided that since the letter warning should be shown on the front and the back of the box, that I would redesign the labels to wrap-around the spine. This way, if the game are stacked vertically, back-to-back, game employees and parents would be able to identify the rating at a glance. This was my next design for the ESRB rating.



This design lets the M stand out more than the big white block around it in the other design. It blends in better when actually seen on the box. The colour bars are a bit distracting, and after feedback from several people, game employees and gamers, I'm reconsidering attaching colours to each content descriptor and instead, attaching a specific colour to each of the 6 ratings, like E for everyone and M for mature.  I also had an EB employee point out that the location on the spine that I placed the 'M' is where the developer's logo goes. This led to this new design:

This design is ALL red because that would be the colour at the top of the scale for severity. An E for Everyone game would be designed in all green, EC for Early Childhood would be a soft baby green or blue, and so on. Also, the colour is carried over to the spine without interfering with the spot that the game developer's logo would go, while still identifying the rating. I think this design is the best so far for integrating into the design of the back covers while still drawing attention to the rating and content descriptors.

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8 comments:

  1. Unknown29 February 2012 at 15:36

    Hey Tiff,
    Great topic! I think the revision you made are headed in the right direction. The previous incarnation where the "M" was a pixelated 3D model was somewhat difficult to quickly and clearly read (when I was looking at it I had someone who was reading over my should ask if it was a castle).

    Since you have 9 categories of descriptors I'm curious how you intend to handle the content warning when many of those are necessary. Take GTA4 for example. I think most, if not all, of the categories apply. As I see it, you'd either need to reduce the scale of each so much that they'd become impractically small or take up a significant amount of real estate on the box cover...

    Good luck with the project. It's long overdue that this was addressed.

    - Matt Jamont

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  2. Unknown1 March 2012 at 23:45

    Hey Tiff,

    I'm really digging your illustrations! I like the message you are sending with it too. Big topic to tackle, but I think this is really appropriate work and you'll make a great portfolio piece with this project!

    It might have been helpful to have a brief overview of the project, maybe I'm just tired but I had a hard time piecing all the info together :) Good work!

    - Pip

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  3. Briana12 March 2012 at 18:52

    I think that you've found a really great topic. I've been watching your process in class and there is a great motivation and passion that is clear from seeing where you are at at this stage.
    Good Job Tiffany. Very cohesive and legible design work.

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  4. Laura Service12 March 2012 at 22:11

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Laura Service12 March 2012 at 22:13

    Hey Tiff,

    I had just finished writing a response and I somehow lost it trying to post. So, I will just cut to the chase. Really great job on the design evolution and project overview. Your blog was easy to read besides the white text on black which hurt the eyes a little by the end. I initially thought the first design was quite successful but, when reading through your logic and reasoning I think you chose a better route with the black one and the colour coding between the levels of game warnings. Nice work!

    Laura

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  6. Unknown12 March 2012 at 22:20

    Hi Tiff,
    I like white type on a black screen it seems to hurt my eyes less. Great job. I agree that a single colour for each rating is a good choice. It's unfortunate that the developers logo goes on the side as I think your original idea to have an "M" indicator on the side was good. Video games are often stacked sideways, especially in video rental stores.
    Good luck,
    Jeff

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  7. erik13 March 2012 at 19:04

    Very informative! I like your treatment of the issue at hand and I think it is working so far. Very gamer blog! haha

    -Erik

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  8. jenniferelizabeth13 March 2012 at 23:19

    Great stuff so far! I love the idea of having the rating on the spine and the color coding is great as well. Always a fan of color coding.

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