Details
For the last three years, we have been commissioned with implementing the Games Convention website created exclusively for Electronic Arts EA@GC. This website offers a wide range of content specifically aimed at the Games Convention, including current and new games, videos, and demos. The offering features the latest news from the convention, keeping visitors up-to-date: Podcasts and vodcasts convey people’s views and the news, and offer interviews with developers and gamers alike. For the 2006 convention we developed a new design to create an awesome atmosphere there. We designed special stickers that were based on platform logos. The overall design offered a strong, yet flexible framework for the different EA Games brands from EA Sports to cell phone games.
Screenshot of a Product Page
The EA@GC2006 website features the traditional three column layout to highlight the fact that it serves as a portal and to adopt the navigational structures from the previous versions. The content for the Games Convention was prepared from the content management system on the main EA website and filled into the code segments that we had prepared as templates.
The head of the website was the playful element of the design and laid the foundation for more exciting presentations of the individual games and various areas within the website.
Some Drafts of the Homepage
Diese Studien der Startseite, die in Form einer großen Collage die aktuellen Highlights aus dem Messeprogramm von EA zusammenfasst, zeigen, wie sich inhaltliche Gewichtungen der einzelnen Game-Characters verändern. Hierbei spielen primär unternehmenstrategische und rechtliche Überlegungen eine Rolle. Die Startseite bietet Nutzern den Einstieg zum EA-Messeangebot getrennt nach Brands. Um zusätzlich auf das Angebot der tagesaktuellen Berichterstattung aufmerksam zu machen, haben wir uns entschieden, unter die große Collage einen breiteren Abbinder zu installieren, der genau für solche Hinweise Raum bietet und die Zusatzangebote prominent featured.
The Homepage
Here's the final version of the home page with the base that presented information such as current news during the convention. The collage gave a sense of balance to the page, incorporating all requests from the various departments at EA. The assets supplied by the different studios and partners with high-resolution game characters were released, edited, and properly scaled. Their tonal values were corrected and they were appropriately inserted into the composition.
DVD Packaging
As an added perk the EA decided to distribute the entire website including a range of bonus material to GC visitors on a free DVD. We designed and implemented the packaging for it all. The design of the DVD case closely resembled the website, yet it received its own appropriate look befitting the format of its packaging.
DVD Sticker
The DVD label printed directly using the four-color process fit perfectly into the design of the overall exploitation chain: an entire range of products from the website to the DVD case, including the DVD itself. EA Austria and EA Switzerland also used the DVD and have been adding it to a variety of product packages for some time now.
Draft
This sample shows the modular layout of the content elements, defines the floating basic color of the design, establishes a clear defining line for the typography, and already employs the released games assets. However this example shows how the brand logo was compromised in the eyes of EA. Not long ago EA decided to use a floating corporate design, which means adapting the brand logo to the relevant game design for the product. Nevertheless, the fact that a game element covered the logo slightly was seen as going too far. In later stages we rectified this.
