Idea and Inspiration
As a part of my gaming hobby, I’ve lately been super invested in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. Within the game there is a side minigame called the Steamworks, which is essentially a slot machine that you spend fuel that you collect in game to roll for chances at coveted items in the game. Like a slot machine it’s largely random, however, there’s some slight depth to it as well. As you build up steam you enter different stages before it blows up and finishes, and during these different phases you can get more chances at rolling for rarer items. There’s also other nuanced events such as bonuses and etc.
Long story short, I’ve been working on a spreadsheet where I log my experience each time I use the Steamworks to gather data on what the best strategy is on getting the most chances at these rarer item rolls. I’ve been planning on making a detailed video about it for Youtube, and thought giving a shot at making a Youtube thumbnail would be incredibly fitting for this assignment.
Design Process
It’s obviously very loud and obnoxious, perfect for the competitive click-bait culture that surrounds Youtube today. I was inspired by other big name gaming Youtube channels, such as the likes of DestinyFunPolice, Datto, TrueVanguard, as well as general searches of “Monster Hunter” and “Destiny” in Youtube and seeing what crops up. Using eye-catching imagery, vibrant colors, and large strokes around text and images are all seemingly staple Youtube thumbnail practices that help get more attention from potential viewers.
The design process was pretty simple: I aimed to create a very clear visual hierarchy and stuck to a vibrant analogous color palette.
Technical Detail
The process of making this image was pretty straight forward. I assembled all the screenshots I took myself from the game, as well as a couple that a friend took themselves as well, along with an image or two from Flickr that fit with the steam motif. From there it was just cutting out the images I wanted to use with the pen tool and applying strokes and glowing effects to each. Some images such as the background were desaturated and dimmed to give a better since of separation from the other images. Layering them all accordingly, I stuck the bold contrasting yellow and black sans-serif font on top to really pop.
The only big challenge I had was the meme of making the eyes glow red, but had a rough time finding a flare image that was in the creative commons. After some digging I found I could achieve the same effect using Photoshop’s built in lens flare feature, even it was sort of brute forced to get it to work correctly.
Sources and Materials
Background image and machine are thanks to Shark, an online friend who shared some of her screenshots. The steam effects are thanks to Flickr. This image belongs to Antti T. Nissinen, and under a Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Common license. I has been modified from it’s original: https://www.flickr.com/photos/veisto/2742673343/in/photolist-5bmVer-9fzNdr-enJxR-5c1eeU-a43uu1-2euxPYS-5VJJwd-9AmEd8-4WKWdb-2suY4-9AmEk2-47Uo2C-gQLGZT-4wAd5V-3nMKE-AfEwG-2kzjw-uWcgf-4cnK3P-dPGt16-GU3TVr-7WYJbW-arpvSt-5vwPMv-7EuVju-7LPGW4-s91rs-2iajVXN-mJCzv-2gMsALZ-2fN61mm-w3ShrC-GfNGBb-2imDXNs-KevbSx-MktxWV-2i4NtsM-2eBgZyy-2ipAmNd-jq2zAk-HjVdY5-2b5Wmub-FwuiAN-4vBGx7-G848iy-vMrbh6-adaQ9N-6ahftF-8WcJk-24WfVWj
Gaming with Cody Tucker 