Presenting SUPER iam8bit: More Art Inspired by Classic Video Games of the ’80s

Video games are no longer a niche market. They’re big business, having long-since eclipsed Hollywood blockbusters in revenue. Culturally, we’ve grown used to video game franchises with their own storylines, plots, and characters — a complex web of merchandising, marketing, and gameplay.

It’s easy to forget that these paths were forged by a cast of simple, clever little characters of ’80s videogames. Their screen time may have been short, but Pac-Man, Q*Bert, Mario, and many other characters were bursting with personality, fun, and an ethos that we wanted to capture in the book, SUPER iam8bit: More Art Inspired By Classic Video Games of the ’80s. With our client-partners and co-publishers, iam8bit, we designed the entire volume, helped curate the mass of excellent artwork, and launched our creative imprint, Plastic Highway.

For more details about this project, power up to our iam8bit portfolio page.

And if that’s not enough ’80s video game goodness for you, be sure to check out iam8bit’s 5th art show in Los Angeles, where the book will be officially released and available for sale.

Behind The Design: Our SUPER iam8bit Book

We’re wrapping up the production on a book we’ve designed called “SUPER iam8bit: More Art Inspired By Classic Video Games of the ’80s.” The book was written by our partners at iam8bit. Hexanine designed the entire volume, from cover to cover, and we’re also co-publishing it under our new Plastic Highway imprint.

While the book won’t be officially released until next month, here are some fun moments we’ve had during the process:

Super iam8bit cover shoot

Read on…

Our Squirt Package Design Review at BevReview

Squirt Packaging Review on BevReview

Recently Dr. Pepper Snapple Group redesigned one of its flagship products, Squirt soda. We teamed up with client and collaborators at BevReview to bring you an analysis of the new package design.

Here’s an excerpt:

There are so many factors that influence the success of a beverage brand that have nothing to do with the actual flavor or taste of the drink. In some sense, the way a drink tastes is last in a long chain of events leading up to purchase and guzzling. Every step that leads up to the actual drink pouring down your throat is what brand designers call a “moment of brand engagement,” a singular opportunity for beverage makers to connect with you, the prospective audience/purchaser.

Check out the rest of the article at BevReview, and let them (and us) know what you think.

New iam8bit Print Work Added

GDC poster series for iam8bit

We’ve just added our poster series project for iam8bit to the Hexanine portfolio. Follow the link for more iconographic video game fun.

Our Work In Big Book of Packaging

Hexanine work in Big Book of Packaging

When they say it’s big, they’re not kidding! We just received our copy of Harper Design’s Big Book of Packaging and it’s chock full of great package designs. We’re happy to be in such good company, as we have several entries in the volume as well, including work for Jim Beam, The Art of Spice, Omaha Steaks, and a few others. The solid design of the book keeps all the inspiring work front and center. Highly recommended!

Does Crowdsourcing Work In Design?

Does Crowdsourcing Work In Design?

Whether you call it crowdsourcing, spec work, community-based design, or participatory creation, it’s fundamentally the same animal. Crowdsourcing is the act of oursourcing tasks (in our case, design) to a large group of people as part of an open call for solutions or deliverables. This might take the form of a contests, RFPs, or clients who want a “test drive” before committing to a creative firm.

In the design world, some examples are crowdsourced logos, tshirts, and a variety of other marketing and design initiatives. While the crowdsourcing concept has worked its way into the business practices of some organizations, the execution is still controversial. AIGA, the professional association for design, has taken a stand against it specifically and also contributes to the ongoing dialogue against its use. Heated comments and criticism always fly in this debate, but most of the questions boil down to one for practicing designers: Is this practice “the way of the future” or is it a deeply-flawed model of working in design and branding?

Read on…

First ARP Identity Work Online

Our logo design work for First ARP is now live on the Hexanine site. A website redesign is coming after the holidays as well.

10 Ways To Fail Better

How To Fail

“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard … is what makes it great.” -Tom Hanks, in A League Of Their Own

Here’s one of the reasons why I love baseball: Even the very best players, the absolute pinnacle guys — Mickey Mantle, Tony Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, they all failed basically 70% of the time. Hitting .300 for a career pretty much gives you enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but that works out to only getting a hit about 1/3 of the time. That’s a 70% failure rate. These players are the cream of the crop, but they have to learn to live with failure. They breathe it. It follows them around, sleeps in their beds. A 70% failure rate is pretty high, but these guys endure it and push through to levels of greatness, even though failure dogs them at every turn.

Read on…

BevReview Case Study at Processed Identity

Processed Identity Case Study By Hexanine

We are big fans of Steve Zelle’s design blog, Processed Identity. He digs in deep with identity designers on how they strategically solve clients’ logo issues, highlighting the inherent value of custom logo design. It’s all about the process, and we’re excited to once again be featured on PI, with a case study of our work with BevReview.

Thanks to Steve for his great continuing work.