The Joystick Generals
It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to start my own games company, and the wonderful little device that is the iPhone has made this dream possible. Myself and Chris Wilson, owner of www.abitofcode.com decided to join forces and fulfil a dream that we had both shared for so long! But creating a brand, identity and website to represent our dream was no easy task! We knew that the brand and site had to be 2D, as we both LOVE 2D graphics, and plan to only ever create 2D games. We also know that we LOVE retro gaming. So, putting those two things together, we soon realised what the two main influential factors had to be. Surprisingly, the brand came together really quickly and we settled on the look within a couple of iterations. The site then flowed on pretty naturally and we soon had a full identity sat before us! We were overjoyed! There will be a lot more to come from the Joystick Generals, so keep your eyes peeled! I hope the world enjoys our little venture as much as we do.
Off Road Velociraptor Safari HD
Yey, I was overjoyed to find out that Velociraptor Safari was going to be brought to the consoles, so when the guys at Blurst enquired about the site and re-branding, I was rather excited! The brief for this project was simple and to the point, make a single page microsite and new brand that shows off Velociraptor Safari in all its glory...simple!
Haypi Kingdom
Haypi Kingdom is a new iPhone MMORPG set in bygone times, so when I was invited to create the brand and website, I knew this was going to my cup of tea! I love oldie worldly typefaces and drew lots of inspiration from movies like Lord of the Rings and Gladiator, so once I had my inspiration sorted, I was well on my way!!
Thumb Arcade
Say hello to Thumb Arcade, a new and exciting mobile games developer! This project required some rather fun illustration, branding and site design! The brief was simple, create a bright, exciting and somewhat bonkers new brand and site design for this fresh new mobile games development company. Just the kind of brief I love. And when they said they wanted all of it to be cartoon illustrated, my eyes lit up!
Candlelight Interactive
This was such a nice project to work on. I was tasked with creating the brand for a new company called Candlelight Interactive, who's aim is to promote scientific thinking through the use of interactive technology, which essentially translates to some seriously kick ass e-learning. Sounds complex doesn't it, but the vision was such a nice idea, so creating the brand was great fun! The brand had to be ultra versatile too, so I had to create versions of this brand embossed into stone, floating in environments and printed on wood, great fun indeed!
Trenches
This was one of the most fun projects I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of. Trenches was a gargantuan and totally awesome project! I was tasked with creating everything for this iPhone game from the ground up, game art, branding, interface design, HUD design, you name it, the whole shebang...I don't think I could have asked for a cooler project if I tried! Trenches is a tactical WW1 trench warfare game, where you can control endless amounts of troops in an attrition style of play, with the sole goal of taking over the enemies trenches. Take a peek at the design and illustration section for more on this project. This was way too much fun :)
Football Media
This was another football related project that I did recently for Football Media. The brief was pretty cool as they wanted an old school badge design for the logo! I'd always fancied creating something like this, so it was a nice chance to try my hand. A fun job overall!
Voodoo Controllers
This project was nothing short of brilliant! When the guys at Voodoo Controllers got in touch and outlined the project, I was very, very excited! Being a new company they needed a new brand, character design, site design, packaging design, 3D prototyping and banner ads...the whole shebang! I knew immediately that this was going to be ace. Everything seemed to flow really naturally too, the brand and character came together really quickly and then the rest of the elements just slotted into place. It was great to work on an e-commerce site that was a little edgy and needed to have more punch than your run of the mill online store. You can take a look at the rest of the work in the other sections of the site. So if you’re in need of a kick ass modded controller, give these guys a shout, they’ve got everything covered!
Stone Skipper
Stone Skipper was my first full iPhone project, including the in game art, branding, interface design and web site design, awesome! The brief was to create two characters, a young mischievous boy and his cheeky sidekick dog. The pair are always getting into trouble and in this outing they are out stone skipping! To go along with this they needed a world within which to live, so there are LOADS of levels set in different places around the globe. The whole project was a joy to work on and loved every minute! If you fancy a quick pick up and play game, give it a try, its great!
Marvelous World
This was a very interesting little project, as it initially started out as purely a piece of concept art to help the author of the Marvelous World books to visualise a concept that he had in his mind. The 3D medallion was provided to me by the client, and my task was to visualise his vision for the text treatment. By the time the concept art was complete, he was that happy with it, he chose to run with it as is and it is due to adorn the cover of his next book!
Soccerlens
As you all know, games, gaming and games sites are what I spend the core of my time on, so now and again it’s nice to play with something a little different (not too often though as my obsession for games hasn’t waned once in the past 20+ years ;), so when the guys at Soccerlens got in touch I thought it might be fun! They required a new brand and full site design.
Time Donkey
This was another blast of a branding project for the guys over at Blurst, only this time, it was for their crazily entitled Time Donkey...awesome! The brief, as expected, was to make the brand reflect the game's style and back story, so in this case using characterful donkey influences and futuristic metallic effects...what fun!
Thunder Game Works
The solution had to be epic, bold and in your face, and with a totally blank canvas, this was going to be fun! After a number of meetings with the owner we nailed down the direction and started working. I wanted to the design to have an epic and movie like appearance to show that TGW was more than just an average flight by night iPhone developer, as their mission is to source the best people from around the world to create the best games around, no expense spared. There will be a lot more to show from TGW very soon, as I was lucky enough to be selected as their official artist for their very first title, Trenches! Trust me when I tell you, Trenches is shaping up to be something VERY special!
Pocket Monkey Games
I love creating illustrated brands, and when Pocket Monkey Games got in touch I could see potential written all over the brief!!! Bizarrely enough, I'd been wanting to create a cartoon monkey for a while (no idea why, I'm just a tad strange I guess) so when this came along I thought to myself 'perfect opportunity!', and subsequently went away and started sketching. This was a great fun brand to create and one that I am really, really pleased with!!!
Touch KO
Man this was awesome! This project encompassed not only the branding of this kick ass iPhone game, but also the HUD design, interface and overall look and feel! Creating the brand was so much fun, as the premise of the game is a rags to riches boxing story played along to a killer hip hop soundtrack, so the brand had to reflect this in every way. Gritty, texture rich and very memorable.
Playback
This was a cool little icon/branding project for a new application from Yazsoft that allows you to stream content from your Mac to your PS3 or X360! The icon, which essentially is the brand had to be slick, rich and very contemporary to fit in with the feel of both the PS3, X360 and of course the Mac!
Blush
Branding Blush was one of the most natural processes I have ever been through! As soon as I laid my hands on the beta before launch I knew immediately how this brand was going to look! It uses light effects and organic curves to portray the feel and essence of the game. I loved this one!!! Top game too!
Crane Wars
This was a great little branding project for another one of the cool little Blurst games, 'Crane Wars'. The logo obviously had to communicate a strong feel of the game, so the order of the day here was an industrial work zone feel, using metals, bolts, screws and hazard markings, great fun!!
Fishing Cactus
Ok, so the brief was to create something that was as playful, fun and crazy as it was respectable, a challenge you would initially think, but this came together so naturally! It was so much fun to create and stands as one of my all time favorite characters!
Jetpack Brontosaurus
Awesome, another branding job for Blurst! This time its for the very addictive Jetpack Brontosaurus!! As the title suggests this needed to have some form of jetpack included in the design as well as some of the 'oldy worldy' elements that are portrayed in the game, so the latter part of the name is spread across an old scroll, creating a nice contrast from the metal above.
Black Jacket Studios
As I absolutely love the creative direction of Black Jacket Studios first game, Metal Drift, I was really excited to create a brand that would slot into this feel. The logo had to be slick, futuristic, gamey and also proffessional. The end outcome is one both the client and I were really happy with!!
Find A Vine
This was a really nice brief, something quite different from my usual stuff. This time it was for a new online service dedicated to finding the perfect wine. My task was to create a brand that was both sophisticated and playful, quite a challenge!
GEN – Green Energy
GEN was the fictitious brand that I created for my feature in .NET Magazine, where myself and two other designers had to create a design for a new energy company. The brief was initially quite dry, 'to create a website for an energy company', well, me being me, I wasn't willing to let that get in my way :) I wanted to put a serious twist on the whole thing and play this from a green energy perspective, playing to today's obsession with going green. GEN was the result. You can see the associated design that went with this in the design section.
Mac Montreal
This was part of a complete project, including both the branding and the site design. Mac à Montréal offer Mac integration and deployment into businesses and homes, so due to the subject, it had to be pretty slick. The main shape of the logo is intended to portray integration, of two things slotting together perfectly, reflecting the services that Mac à Montréal offer.
Nabi Studios
I was really excited to recieve this brief as these are the guys behind Toribash! It was great to give these guys a new and highly polished brand as they needed something more than just the Toribash site to showcase themselves as a company and not just a game, so the brand had to feel as gamey as it did professional.
Nurvex
This was quite a fun brand to work on! Nurvex create a range of web applications for a multitude of needs and needed a new brand to encompass their offerings.
Elektra Media
Elektra Media designs and creates amazing high end e-learing software for all ages and are true specialists within their industry. The company needed a new brand that was both contemporary and very trustworthy, so I opted a dose of helvetica, as lets face it, its safe, classic and always seems to fit a wide variety of briefs. The end result was just right, balancing seriousness with a creative edge.
FI-Faves...
Turbary Woods – Shoot 3
This weekends shoot from Turbary Woods, another brilliant day!! This time we had the two Harris Hawks out together and they were simply breathtaking.
Euston
I'm really getting into this movie style photography! First I did the Bolton Abbey shots and now this one.
Twittering
@JoeTheDough congrats Joe, just heard the news!!! Welcome to world of parenthood! I'm a veteran now, I've been at it 6 weeks ;) more...