Aesthetic &

Target Demographic

Here I will look into different influences, colours, and themes in other people's works in order to get inspiration for my own project, as well as look into the way that these themes can impact on a target audience.

After reviewing all of my research fully, and analysing what I would enjoy the most and what I would be best at, I think that the kind of thing I would love to do is some kind of Greco-Roman inspired environment and asset, with colours and shapes that allude to comfort and peacefulness.

The ideal demographic for this kind of imagery would be teenagers or young adults, who are interested in this kind of style, and who are likely to understand and appreciate the Greco-Roman imagery and research. Perhaps younger teens/children would be intrigued by the bright colours and feeling of awe I would like to create, and perhaps older adults might understand the mythological/historical influences a bit better, and so be interested by that aspect of my environment.

The two extreme ends of the aesthetic I am looking to go for is the extremely childish aspects, utilising bright colours and soft, round shapes, and then the more adult concept of history, mythology, and architecture. To research this further, I will look into the two extreme ends of this desired aesthetic. This is in order to appeal to both of these target demographics, as well as to appeal slightly to my own tastes, as there are aspects of both extremes that do not appeal to me.

The extreme childlike influences that I would like to include are mostly surrounding colour theory, shapes, and a certain dreamlike quality. According to my research, round, circular shapes translate to safety, comfort, and changeability. As you can see by the images I collected online, most of this style is comprised of soft, rounded shapes and circles (for example; round flowers, chubby bears, large eyes, and spheres). This is appealing to children, as the bright colours catch their attention, and the round shapes make them feel happy and safe. This feeling of safety and comfort is something I would like to carry through into my final environment; I especially like the idea of clouds, as that is a theme that can combine with the other ideas I've had.

As for the opposite extreme, which is the more mature idea of history and architecture, I want to put emphasis on the more aesthetically pleasing parts and try and minimise the parts that might seem boring or uninteresting. I think that the Greco-Roman style of architecture is one of the most beautiful and (most importantly) recognisable forms of architecture in all of history. The vision of majestic pillars and rolling Italian fields and mountains is incredibly appealing to a wide variety of audiences, and can be combined with a huge amount of different aesthetics to give the desired effects. I also think that by using Greco-Roman iconography in my environment, it gives me a good excuse to research mythology and theological symbols and imagery, in order to make my environment immersive to audiences interested in history.

Dream and Surrealism

I had a look online for any kind of aesthetics or imagery that linked to the kind of thing I was looking into, and I found this interesting article all about this internet movement, both in content and art, called "dreamcore". From the sounds of things, this is an internet community who create images and content based around the idea of the familiar, or the uncanny. They often use eyes or wings, to allude to something supernatural or even biblical; these images often use the setting of a basement, or a field, which are vague and common enough to be oddly familiar and uncanny to any viewer. A lot of dreamcore images try and use 90s or early 2000s iconography, in order to create a sense of nostalgia and déjà vu. Obviously these aspects are very interesting, but would not be relevant to the kind of thing I'm looking into creating.

I think that, from this style, I would like to take inspiration from the ideas of familiarity, although I don't think that anything strange or uncanny would fit as well. Whilst dreamcore specifically tries to create feelings of fear and unease, I think that my environment should be more idyllic and fairytale-esc, in order to appeal to younger audiences, and to create that sense of awe I would love to instil in my players.

After looking into all these different aesthetics and imagry, this is the kind of thing I've come up with. I'm imagining, in my head, a glorious temple in some kind of cloud realm - I imagine it having lots of different shades of pink, grey, white, and blue. Imagery of statues, pillars, carvings, and laurel leaves all stuck with me from looking at different influences, and I would really enjoy researching around Greek/Roman mythology and iconography in order to form this idea more clearly in my mind.

The cloud influences that I am intrigued by take inspiration from both the childish aesthetic I looked into earlier, and from dreamcore. I want my environment to be peaceful and euphoric, like a kind of abandoned "cloud kingdom".

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