Xbox 360 Collection

[Jerick]

Hi guys

After not designing a cover for over 7 years, I decided it was time to make myself some quick covers for my X360 games. The sole reason is so they look uniform while displayed. Because I feel all the different spines and colours used in them make my collection look really messy as you can see here: [attachment=29156:2.jpg]

So I decided to use a standard template for the spine and top-frame of the front. Other than that I was just planning on throwing in some images to the front and back and be done. But after doing 3 of these in around 2 minutes each, I felt like it might be a missed opportunity to make something bigger/better out of this. Any suggestions you guys have that I can add to these covers? Because I know all my games (150+) I see no need in putting on any game information and/or text. Especially stuff like NTSC/PAL logo's and or ratings are useless, just ugly. I'm not trying to make viable retail-covers here, just trying to personalize the collection.

In the attachments I've added the 3 covers I just made, any thoughts?

[attachment=29158:Xbox_360...volution.jpg]

[attachment=29159:Xbox_360...on_Age_2.jpg]

[attachment=29157:Xbox_360...ad_Space.jpg]

[Bunny Dojo]

This is a great idea for a project. With Xbox games especially, there are always a few spines that really call attention to themselves, usually due to lackluster design. Having everything match should look very impressive.

For the design itself, linear gradients and drop shadows are two elements to use carefully. Going with a flat color or more of a radial gradient (brighter in the middle, darker along the outside) could be a safer bet.

On your font selection, using something in the Helvetica family could better complement the Xbox logo. Or, if you have a favorite font, that would work too. The current Myriad-esque font looks a little default (this might be partially due to the drop shadow). Similarly, using the official game logos could spice things up.

My best advice would be to try printing out a sheet of spines only. That will give you a strong preview of your resulting collection without a huge investment in ink.

[Jerick]

Thanks for the feedback Dojo. All valid points you made!

I just wanted to do this fast, quick and easy knowing I could have upwards of 150 covers to make. And also afraid to fall back into the trap of designing covers like I did 7-10 years ago. I used to spend hours on a single cover. But also after reading your comments I feel this could be my last (but ongoing) cover-designing project.

I'll just design custom covers for my X360, Xone, PS4 - and since i'm a fanatic gamer, this will keep my creating covers for years to come.

Come to think of it, this is a great way of combining my life-long hobby (gaming) with the hobby from the past I abandoned..

I printed out these 3 and placed them in my rack. They actually look pretty cool already, and that's with 1-2 mins work I spent on each of them. (and 3 minutes for the basic template I'll use for all the covers)

I will take your suggestions into consideration and will design a better spine-template on sunday. Thanks again