This week, rather than analyze movie posters, I attempted to break down two ad posters of video games created by indie company Playdead. The first poster is of "Limbo" a 2D platformer containing heavy elements of black-and white tones to generate an eerie and almost noir-like atmosphere. The second is of "Inside" a similar yet different game from "Limbo" that takes inspiration from the dystopian and mystery genre.
Already, we can see a resemblance between the two game posters, despite variation in color and content. Playdead's game design style is very cohesive, and due to the 2.5D nature of their works, their games also feel somewhat related to one another. To get a better understanding of the overall composition, I split both posters into 5x10 grids.
We can now observe the techniques that the designers implemented on both posters, and why they seem so similar upon first glance. Both layouts have strong focus points that not only draw the eyes of the viewers, but also directs the path of their gaze in the way that Playdead intended. I highlight the main focus points below.
Both "Limbo" and "Inside" place the main subject at the intersections of the gridlocks, and at the left side of the posters. The secondary subject or point of focus is presented at the right side of the poster, also within the intersection of the gridlocks. The title text for both designs is of the same size, and is perfectly aligned beneath the scenes above, as well as centered in the middle, bringing together the overall composition.
If we take out a few gridlines, we can see this relationship clearer. It seems that Playdead always keeps three main focus points: the centered title on the bottom, the main subject on the left, and the secondary subject on the right. With some slight differences in position, the main composition for both posters are very much similar. We should also note that most of the action happens near the bottom half of the posters, and the top half is essentially "white space", generating a sense of empty space and isolation.
Once we split the layout into hierarchies, we can see that the formula is the same for both posters as well. The first visual 'hook' is the title text on the bottom, (large white, bolded text for "Limbo" and large red bolded text for "Inside"), the next immediate visual in the hierarchy is the boy (both posters have the boy on the left side of the poster), and then finally, the secondary subject on the right. Interestingly, the visual pathway moves from the bottom of the poster to the top, rather than from top to bottom. The pathway also goes from right to left, then left to right, in an almost zigzag pattern.
If we bring back the gridlines, we can see that Hierarchy 1 conquers all of the space at the bottom portion of the image, thereby attracting the gaze of a majority of viewers.
Meanwhile, Hierarchy 2 and 3 make up the middle portion of the poster, creating the main scene for the layout. Because Hierarchy 2 and 3 elements work together to form an interactive relationship (in "Limbo" the boy is looking up at the spider, while in "Inside" the boy looks down at the entrance to the derelict), it not only forms the meat of the poster, but is able to draw the viewer's gaze quickly enough from the Hierarchy 1 title element. As a result, the viewer glances from the title to the main scene instantaneously.
The main driver behind the viewer's hierarchal pathway is the usage of color. Here, we have removed the excess details from both posters, leaving only the main colors in the layouts. As we can see from "Limbo", the most powerful component here is the white bolded text. After looking at the text, we are immediately drawn to the white light beaming from above at the boy, as well as the whiteness of the boy's eyes. The connection between the boy and the text is through the color white, and because the white on the text is much heavier than the white on both the light and the boy's eyes, the movement from Hierarchy 1 to Hierarchy 2 is established.
Likewise, it is the same for "Inside". The bolded red text of the title draws the gaze first, and then the red of the boy's sweater catches the viewer's attention second. Just like "Limbo", because the red on the boy's sweater is so tiny, it comes after the Hierarchy 1 text element, establishing the pathway from 1 to 2.
Here is another look at the color composition for both posters, with rough details added back in. It is very impressive how the designers were able to utilize very sparse elements to create an effective scene for both game posters. We should note that the white space is very noticeable after the edits, and always covers the right and top part of the images. This further emphasizes the emptiness of the settings, as well as the small size of the main characters compared to the world around them.
Here are the text extractions from the posters. It seems that "Limbo" utilizes a unique, custom created font style, so I was unable to retrieve any information on it. However, I managed to find the closest styled font family to the "Limbo" text. Both font families are Sans Serif, and are bolded. Just looking at the text raw, without any extra additions, it seems that the "Inside" text (CA Geheimagnet Bold) is quite assertive and refined, while the "Limbo" text (Campione Neue Sans Semi Bold) has more of a rugged, unpredictable feel.
The addition of color and a black background to the texts really shake a few things up. Taking a look at "Limbo" first, the switch from black text on white background to white text on black background really brings out the title, accentuating the strange, sharp curves on the lettering. The off-axis tilt of some of the letters, coupled with the uneven 'cuts' on the edges makes it seem as if "Limbo" is something a bit unordinary, and a bit creepy. There is also some form of a childish element to the text as well, albeit in an eerie manner. It almost seems as if the letters from "Limbo" could dance to some jittery, spooky music.
In regards to "Inside", the addition of a deep, muted red creates a very noire, murder-mystery tone. The assertion of the bold letters hits quite hard, and the muted red both stands out sharply from the black, and at the same time, blends in quite well. Red is well known for being a very outspoken, passionate color, and when placed in front of a black backdrop, catches the attention of every viewer. However, the choice of the designers to go with a more deep, muted red rather than a bright red shows that rather than utilize the color to generate a loud, expressive environment, they wanted to create something that stands out, but also offers a mysterious, foreboding feeling as well.
In terms of color usage, both posters are also quite similar. While Adobe Color has picked out quite a few different tones, we can simplify the colors down to three basic shades. For "Limbo", the main colors are white, black, and gray. For "Inside", the main colors are red, black, and gray. As we can see from the types of colors used, Playdead mostly utilizes contrast as the main element in their color composition. The black tones in both posters serve to outline elements in the foreground, while the gray is used to fill in white space, create an eerie, fog-like atmosphere, and most importantly, create the contrast between the foreground elements and the background. The white in "Limbo" is used similarly to the red in "Inside"; both colors are very eye-catching and sharp when placed in front of a black backdrop, and is used to draw the gaze of the viewer, as well as highlight the most important elements in the scene. For "Limbo", the white is used to emphasize the title, and connect it to the boy character, who has white eyes. For "Inside" the red is also used to emphasize the title, and connect it to the boy character, who is wearing a red sweater.
I was very impressed with the design of both posters, and while I liked the design even before the analysis, breaking down the various techniques used by the designers just made me appreciate the composition even more. If anyone is interested, both games are amazing, and are often touted as the best video games of all time. Having played both, I feel that the poster design for both games fit the atmosphere perfectly.