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Art Director, Pogo.com

Sixagon — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:39:27 +0000

Pogo.com Homepage, click to visit site.

Pogo is a subscription-supported casual game service operated by Electronic Arts. They’ve been doing casual games for over a decade, and developed microtransaction and virtual item merchandising to a fine art.

When I joined Pogo in 2009, the company was going through a substantial re-branding exercise. With over one million subscribers, they were cautiously trying to expand their presence on new platforms (Facebook, Mobile, etc.) without alienating their core customers. It’s a classic brand challenge that can be guided by smart graphic design.

In my role as the Features Art Director, I led a team who updated the look and feel of several customer touchpoints. In some cases we were designing from scratch, but on others, we had a significant user base we had to respect. The redesign of Pogo.com, launched in Spring 2011 is a great example of the evolution of the brand style.

Visually, we moved the site into a much more textured and dimensional space. Where before we relied on bold primary colors for navigation and site elements, now we used much more silver and gray. Quieting down the page increased the legibility and usability. It also created a neutral base from which the games could shine. After launch, we saw an immediate rise in registrations to the Pogo service, a key metric for the redesign project.

Pogo.com Redesign
Art Director: Justin McDonald
Lead Artist: Mauricio Guimaraes
(2011)

On the Web: Pogo.com

Art Director, Pogo Games on iPhone

Sixagon — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:29:35 +0000

Click the image to get it on iTunes.

With the recent explosion of mobile applications, many companies have struggled with how to bring their established Web products to this new market. At EA, we had a sophisticated and reliable mobile game pipeline. EA has been making mobile games for years. What we did not have, however, was a mobile social graph that included shared leaderboards, achievements, levels, and Facebook integration. Pogo was chosen to solve this problem, and solve it fast.

In 2010, my team was tasked with developing the look and feel and creating the production art for this newly-created Pogo on iPhone application. Later to be called, “Pogo Games,” the app was the first of its kind for EA. You essentially brought your Web subscription with you: your avatar, your virtual goods, your currency. You were able to compete with friends on the application and share results on Facebook.

It became clear very soon that the flat, bright, primary colors of the Website would not work on the iPhone. The interface had to mimic the Apple aesthetic while still staying true to who we were as a company. We added an elegant touch, depth, and texture, while always respecting legibility and usability.

When Pogo Games was launched in October 2010, it rocketed to the #1 free app. It has been so successful that we are now in production of a second version with a list of new features.

Pogo Games on iPhone
Art Director: Justin McDonald
Lead Artist: Roberto Perluzzo
(2010-2011)

Available on iTunes: Pogo Games

Art Director, Pogo Games on Facebook

Sixagon — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:07:54 +0000

Click to go to the Pogo Games Facebook app.

Pogo.com existed for nearly 10 years before the arrival of Facebook. Pogo was a self-contained gaming social network. Pogo subscribers had friends, a virtual currency and goods, chat, and a community to hold them all together. But with the arrival of Facebook and Facebook games, we had to adapt or die.

Instead of challenging Facebook head-on in a competition for page-views and members, we created an outpost of the Pogo service as a Facebook application. My team worked with producers and UX artists to define the flows, features, and art style of the application.

As is the case when any Web app is modified and packaged for a new distribution channel, we had to modify the way Pogo felt and acted on Facebook. At launch members would have different entitlements, and would have to play a sub-set of games. We had to tailor the look for a younger audience, and entice people new to Pogo to stick around and sign up.

Technically, we moved from Java games to Flash games, and from traditional HTML to an all-Flex app. Currently the application hovers around 500k MAUs, and more features are in store to improve stickiness and time spent playing.

Pogo Games on iPhone
Art Director: Justin McDonald
Lead Artist: Daniel Gagne
(2010-2011)

Play Pogo Games on Facebook.

Art Director, TheSims3.com

Sixagon — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:36:13 +0000

Click the image to view full-size.

In 2008, I was the art director for The Sims 3 Web team. We were tasked with redesigning the flagship website for the launch for The Sims 3 PC game. This was no ordinary event. The Sims 3 was a game that had been in production for four years, and was the newest installment of a franchise that had sold 100 million units worldwide in 10 years. The Sims 3 launch was an anticipated event among hundreds of thousands of fans, gaming insiders, and especially EA executives.

The business requirements were substantial. We were to create a successful Web virtual goods storefront that served millions of customers, worldwide, in 15 languages. But our team decided to push it further. We approached the project like we were making a social network for Sims. Profile pages, friends, machinima, and so much more.

The visual style was light, open, and asymmetrical. There were no hard edges in the design. I wanted it to feel like a fun, safe place where you could create your own world. We used lots of transparency and sweeping game images to immerse the visitor in the world of The Sims.

TheSims3.com
Art Director: Justin McDonald
Lead Artists: Justin McDonald, Anna McMillan
(2008-2009)

On the Web: TheSims3.com

Art Director, The Sims 3 Launcher

Sixagon — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:53:38 +0000

Click the image to view full-size.

As the art director for The Sims 3 Web team, I created Internet-connected pages that lived within The Sims 3 game UI. These pages had a modular design, and could be configured for subscription upsell messages, serve virtual good store content, or system messages relating to the game.

By creating a slick but neutral UI, we could put any kind of background image under the modules to create a mood. On promotional pages we could have a lot of fun and have Sims breaking out of the bounds of the page. On store pages, the layout was much more straightforward. It had to be, because each page had to be translated into 15 languages (including Asian languages and German).

The Sims 3 Launcher
Art Director, Lead Artist: Justin McDonald
(2008-2009)

Art Director, The Sims People Corps

Sixagon — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:01:51 +0000