ANM 324 Project 4
Creating a package such as the DVD/Game requires a broad range of illustration and design skills.  These are small works of marketing art that, if successful, demand attention and help sell the product they represent.

Here’s my general grading criteria for this project:

95-100- Cover, spine and back are complete and artwork is challenging.  It has excellent shelf appeal and demonstrates clear command of the Illustrator toolset.  Your package design is a work of art!

90-95-Artwork is very well done but there are some minor flaws in concept or execution. Type styling may not resonate with the content or theme of the product or you may have created a less than spectacular composition of image and text.

85-89-Cover is good but may not completely communicate the essence of the product in either type resonance or design elements

80-85-Coverl has obvious technical and design issues that will prevent it from having good shelf appeal.  Type doesn’t fit or image is too complex to be clearly understood by shoppers.

70-80-Cover is not effective is communicating the essence of the product and major requirements are missing.  There are significant technical flaws.

70-below very late work

Note: Late work will be downgraded by 10 pts and the lack of group critique will result in a 5 pt deduction.

Late -10

No Group Critique -5

Missing sketch or design rational -5

I was very pleased with the overall success you had with this project. It was a new project that incorporated thoughtful marketing concepts, strong artwork, text that resonates the theme and finally transferring your artwork to a 3D model of the DVD/Game package. You all had very focused designs with excellent shelf appeal. I appreciate everyone’s hard work on this and hope you will be able to use these techniques in future design work.

Frazier Group

Joseph Leclaire-First person shooter games are one of the most popular genres of gaming. Your title “Shoot em up” tells it all. You’ve completed all three panels of the layout with the appropriate markings and upc. I do have some suggestions regarding readability of the title. It takes a few seconds to “get it”. I realize the splats are supposed to be bullet holes but I think a more traditional graphic of a bullet hole with the actual hole in the center might read more effectively…it could be red just like the splats. Your image of the shooter is very distorted…I would rather see it in normal view with the walking dead blended-in
horizontally. The 3D mock-up looks good and distorted cover image gives it more accurate perspective.

Julya Matsakayan
- Your layout is excellent and the vector artwork looks great! Your SPY TALE title font works very effectively both on the front, where it has contrasting imagery behind it, and on the back and spine where the outline enhances readability. I especially like your description of the game, which helps market the most important features that would be appealing to gamers. Productions markings and the 3D mock-up are very complete. Thanks also for offering a more complete history of your creative involvement in the storyline in group critiques. Great work!

Christina Tovani
- I’d never heard of Ashanti Yoga so I learned something new from your layout. My first impression is that it reflects a clean inviting style. The color palette, type, and cover art all server to effectively market the video. Your type on the back is a little too close to the left edge…this tight look does effect readability. Markings on the layout look complete but you did not submit a 3d mock-up.

Lucha Olguin- Who could resist Hot Hula…I’m wondering if this is your own invention or is it a real workout? It reminds me of the very popular “hot” yoga..why not hot Hulu? Your cover is very attractive with the dancer over a Hawaiian sunset. Is the hula dancer original? I especially like the combination of text and images on the back. The type alignment with the photo is very attractive and inviting to read. My only suggestion is to modify the background image so that the first couple words are not lost…this is especially important for the first words of the description. Your production elements are complete and the 3D mock-up looks good…something is wrong with the perspective at the bottom of the case?

Rosenwald Group

Malcome Blackhall-Wow this some dangerous mission, beheaded by the Zetas! I think I’d learn how to outrun them very quickly. Any game title with airplanes and adventure has got to be good. Your layout works well across all panels with the route crossing several countries and dangerous seas. The aircraft look great..what if there were tracer rounds being shot at the pirate plane? That might be interesting and add some dynamic energy to the composition. You’ve added all the production markings and upc. The 3D mock-up is very precise..it’s tricky putting the spine in place . Looks great!

Sitarah McDonald- What a fun looking game that would definitely appeal to the 2K audience (and their parents) The mouse if playful and the colors reinforce this fun theme. I really like your original title artwork…its playful hand-drawn look adds to the composition. My one concern is the distorted name on the spine. It looks like you just shortened the width to make it fit. As is it’s not very readable. The alternative is to scale-down proportionally or substitute a font that retains readability on the spine. You could color the letters to make them look more compatible. The production marks look complete and the 3D mock-up is fine..the distorted spine looks better with this perspective.

John Pastor-You can’t go wrong with TETRIS and your version highlights the Legends and is part of a Classics Series. All these markings would appeal to gamers who used first enjoyed video games with TETRIS. The block type you’ve chosen resonates the block pieces in the game that we are so familiar with. Overall the layout has great shelf appeal and readability. You have included all the production marks and the 3D mock-up is excellent!

Ruchi Shah-
Your game topic “Runway” is very creative. I’m curious if anyone has thought of this or if it’s entirely original. Your might be on to something! The flowing fabric background and stylized models resonate the theme. You’ve used the type on path tool to give your type energy and motion that would reflect the movement of a runway fashion show. I do think the small images of clothing items and type are too small…as a result readability is a problem. I would definitely enlarge. The backside without type is actually stronger with the hierarchy provided by the larger model…maybe scaling-up the front model would help? The other type is readable and you do have the production marks (kind of small upc). The 3D mockup is missing the spine. You indicated that you had trouble with this. I hope you gave it a try again..it does work.

Kroencke Group

Roxana Jonczyk-I love the Roger Rabbit movie so I suspect this dvd would be very popular among the movie fans who saw it years ago. The packaging is bright and inviting. I love the type you created for the title…it’s playful, awkward layout is fun. The fingers all pointing at Roger tell the story…my question, why is the stroke on the finger at left thinner than the rest…just stands out unnecessarily. The “flowing text box” is also fun and resonates the idea of a handbill or newspaper flyer. Your production marks and upc are all complete. The 3D mock-up looks perfect!

Damon Lyon- I love the creature on your front cover! That alone would get me to check this game out. The large title name BELOW definitely makes viewers want to know more. I didn’t know what
the storyline was until I read the backside. I’m not sure why you chose to have the diagonal black line covering part of the type, but it’s difficult to read as you figure out the words. On the backside, it might be fun to have the robot in the background…maybe under the bullet hole? I suggest this as a way to incorporate continuity in the design. The production marks are complete and your 3D model looks very realistic!

Anita Kunz Group

Tanea Devriend-Your colorful packaging is definitely eye-catching! I especially like the rays of color coming out of or pointing to the title. The “neon edition”, with neon-tube styling, further adds to the theme. I also like the fact that you’ve use the hand-drawn style to highlight Hours of fun and Fun for Everyone. I would expect to have a more complete description of the game itself.. like; Learn color palettes while you try to capture the neon color monster”. Just say’in. The production marks are complete (upc doesn’t look as realistic as it could be), and your 3D model is totally cool. Yes, I see the label on the top too!

Melissa Whaley- Your Metalica cover tells the story simply and completely; “30 Years of Tours”. I guess this image is not original but it is compelling. As is typical of music DVD’s you have listed the tracks. The small images aren’t especially creative in placement..I think they might be album covers? What if you had an image of the band in the background? I do have a suggestion about the track names, in the last block the 10, 11,12 should be aligned one space left so that the track names line-up. Markings on the layout are complete and the 3D packaging looks great!

Jorge Oceguera-
Your Caveman Survival game has to be fun to play! I love all the survival reality shows so why not see what survival skills were necessary in the stone-age! The images on the cover look original and the layering gives the composition good depth and hierarchy. The title is fun and tells me that this is a game that’s not all that violent. On the back, you’ve include a cave painting, text and some examples of the tools and weapons we would find in the game. The layout seems a little awkward and doesn’t really flow very well visually from the front. I think color or typestyle from front need to be repeated (probably type for headline at top. The text is a bit hard to read as it goes across dark areas of the background. Your production marks look great and the package (3D) looks mighty fine.

Christina Richardson-Candyville has a very appealing tone with the beautiful title font and collage of Candyville images in the background. I especially like the road engaging all three panels. This adds continuity to the composition and helps lead the viewer’s eye through it. The character makes more sense on the cover once I read the description on the back. I can’t figure out what the graphic in the lower left is about? Looks very out of place to me….maybe I’m missing something or was it part of the background you used. If so, it must be cleaned up! The other thing that I’d suggest changing is the type on the spine. You’ve squished it to make it fit the narrow width of the spine but it has become unreadable. Just make it smaller in height too. The marks look fine and the 3D mock-up looks good took. The added perspective makes the distorted Candyville on the spine less noticeable.