Nintendo dev talks about making the Xenoblade 3 logo and boxart
A little while back, Nintendo staffer Osamu Nagai shared some insight into the making of the logo and boxart for Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
For both the key visual (which would go on to be the boxart) and logo, Nagai thought about the importance of the series’ previous games while also focusing on the individuality of the newest entry. A key point for the logo “was the particles of light that appear when people mourn.” Meanwhile, for the key art, Nagai “used the concept art from development as a base, then combined it with the giant Mechonis Sword and Titan that were in the previous games’ boxarts.”
Here’s our full translation of the piece:
Actually Playing the Game to Discover Its Charm
The main task of my group is to design packages and logos that many customers will lay eyes on. To properly convey the charm of a product to customers, we convert ideas and effort into visual mediums.
When designing packages and logos for products, we listen to the game developers about their thoughts and details they focused on, or play the game to gather information about the product, and during that process we work our imagination to start creating.
After I joined the company and was assigned to this group, I first started by helping my seniors with their work, then after gaining more experience, I became responsible for creating designs for Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
First off, to understand the product, I played the previous works in the Xenoblade series, and looked up reviews of them, and I understood that these games are beloved by customers for the appealing story and characters, as well as the vast world that connects to the gameplay. Along with that, I became motivated to design something that would not let customers down. And then, I played Xenoblade 3, which was still in development, to find the charm of the newest entry with my own eyes.
Working Towards a Design that Could Assuredly Please Customers
An important thing when designing the key visual and logo for this game was that, as the final part to the Xenoblade trilogy, it had to connect back to the previous two games. Also, to make it clear that this was the newest game in the series, the designs also needed to reflect the “charms unique to itself” (individuality).
When designing the logo, what I paid attention to was the particles of light that appear when people mourn. In-game, it is an effect that leaves a strong impression. Using this effect in the logo’s design was meant to demonstrate one of the core themes of this game’s story – the fleetingness of life.
For the design of the key visual, I used the concept art from development as a base, then combined it with the giant Mechonis Sword and Titan that were in the previous games’ boxarts.
Xenoblade 3 takes place on the land of Aionios, which is a combination of the first and second games’ worlds. I think that we managed to show both the connection to previous games as well as the large scale of the new game.
Also, to further symbolize that, we put the six main characters in the foreground and made their shadows fan out, and this design would draw people’s attention to the giant statues in the center.
When I had a general idea of the direction of the design, in order to make sure there were no disagreements in what needed to be conveyed in the key visual, I shared it with the game developers, sales department and marketing department to make sure we had a mutual understanding. After that, with a completed design, I brought it to Monolith Soft, who was working with us, to have them create an intricate piece of CG art for us.
I think we managed to create a design that customers would find satisfactory. In my opinion, the appeal of this job is that designs I think of and create myself end up in the eyes and hands of many people around the world.
Besides the cover art, I also worked with relevant departments to create designs for retail booklets, goods, and a variety of media such as for events. For all of those, I had to imagine how I could convey things to customers as I created them, which was fun. Seeing customers actually hold the game in their hands at stores pleases me greatly, and in order to keep making designs that demonstrate a product’s appeal to customers, I aim to be more meticulous.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 released for Switch in July 2022.
Translation provided by SatsumaFS, Philip Proctor, and Simon Griffin on behalf of Nintendo Everything.
