Establish a Style

Hi everyone! Today I want to talk about style. Have you ever noticed how a designer usually sticks to one way to drawing? If you're interested in games and game design you will see that each piece of the game is drawn in one consistent style. If you look at the popular MMO Club Penguin, you will notice that their early designs from 2006 and 2007 are all in the same style and when you walked from room to room, the style flowed nicely throughout your experience. Here I have the old dock and the iceberg rooms from Club Penguin:

Images from clubpenguin.wikia.com

Now take a look at the rooms now. Some rooms are newly updated from just a few weeks ago, but there are other rooms that haven't changed since Club Penguin opened up! Here you can see not only how the style has changed throughout time, but how the style actually differs right now as of today! When you go from one of these new rooms to an older room its almost as if you've walked into another game. Here is the new dock and the current iceberg:

 Images from clubpenguin.wikia.com

These new designs look great, but they aren't consistent with the older rooms. When you guys are out designing, please oh, please establish a style before you get too far into your career. Yes, your style WILL change as you develop as a designer, but if you are creating a collection of pieces (like you would when creating a game) the gaming experience is much more enjoyable when your designs flow evenly throughout the game. Whether your style is loud or quiet, lined or unlined, dark or bright, please stay consistent throughout a project.


Stay stylish
    —Alex Eskimo