Alvin is Designing @alvin-is-doing-graphicdesign - Tumblr Blog

A magazine style poster design for Wipeout!

I tried to incorporate elements of the first 3 games, using the ship design from Wipeout 2097, screenshots from the OG, and the background I made reminiscent of a magazine interview for Wipeout 3 (that might just be straight from the game idk I’m sorry it’s actually the only one I haven’t played please forgive me). I think it came out great! Super happy with it!

devonfs

Industry | I: "Genshin-ification" of Character Design

Gacha games typically make most of their income from their characters, thus perpetuating marketing tactics that involve forgoing character design principles for the sake of sex appeal or "coolness factor". I discussed this briefly in the case of female characters in Zenless Zone Zero (2024) during Semester A. Despite this, many games still maintained some level of acknowledgement for the theory behind character design and balanced this with audience appeal. Since the release of Genshin Impact (2020) and it's subsequent meteoric rise, however, there seems to have been a slow decline in the quality of these character designs within gacha games.

The first victim of this trend is, of course, Genshin Impact itself. Although I critiqued Noelle (released in September 2020) previously for her physics-defying jiggling metal breastplate, her design balances player appeal with character design principles. Although simple, her long skirt and headdress made her silhouette distinguishable from other early game characters, and it conveys quite clearly her story as a maid who wishes to become a knight by incorporating motifs from both. Although not perfect, there at least seemed to be an attempt at balance.

Compare this to a far more recent character, Mavuika (released in January 2025). The game's previous fantasy-themed visual identity seems to have been thrown out the window, as she sports a modern-looking one piece leather suit that hugs her body and lacks a more unique silhouette. She also lacks any visible ties to the cultures of her homeland (inspired by Indigenous and African cultures) unlike Noelle who fits more cohesively into her European/German home. Her silhouette is arguably more complicated than the likes of Noelle due to her hair, and little to nothing about her design implies her position as a God of War.

Noelle and Mavuika's in-game models.

There is also a general trend in designs becoming more cluttered with small details, likely to appear more special or "worth the cost" required to obtain them. Also quite noticeable is the lazy-looking pattern of female character designers appearing to give up from the waist down, although this is more prominent in Zenless Zone Zero (2024), made by the same China-based company, Hoyoverse.

Venti and Klee, two 5-star characters released in September and October of 2020 respectively.

Lohen and Sandrone, two 5-star characters released in June and July 2026 respectively.

As previously stated, this trend has extended past Genshin Impact and Hoyoverse's other IPs. It is particularly noticeable in the South Korean game Cookie Run: Kingdom (2021), which began it's global run around the same year as Genshin Impact, albeit months earlier. Newly released characters are much more cluttered and reminiscent of Genshin Impact designs in comparison to those present within the release, which can be seen in the character Dark Enchantress Cookie.

Dark Enchantress Cookie in her initial appearance (January 2021) vs. her January 2026 release.

Her initial design was much simpler, with a strong silhouette due to her horns and cape. She also appeared more feasibly to be a cookie. Her new design, however, becomes a lot more difficult to read due to the excess of smaller details and much more complex silhouette. Even on a cookie and in this more cutesy style, she is made to appear more conventionally attractive with the addition of fuller hair, makeup and a more curvy dress silhouette.

A third example is Japanese-produced Ensemble Stars!! Music (2020), or Enstars, another gacha game released shortly before Genshin Impact. Again, the trend is the same; many initial Enstars gacha events had coherent themes and costuming, whereas newer events lack this same strong visual messaging and can look nonsensical and cluttered.

Main Menu outfits from Scout! Meowsketeers (March 2020) and Scout! Honey Bee (April 2020)

Main Menu outfits from Scout! Eye-Fitting and Scout! The Bellicose Knight and the Star of Stratagem (May 2026)

It is worth noting that correlation does not necessarily equal causation, and that Genshin Impact is unlikely to be the real reason behind this. Instead, it is simply that all three instances appear to be a similar deterioration in the quality of character design within popular gacha games. This could be attributed to a variety of factors; the intense production schedule (in which banners like these are released typically within weeks to a month of each other), long service history (and thus running out of newer, fresher ideas), or simply becoming more desperate to maintain their current player count as less people pick up the game over time. However, the question is whether players will adhere to a sunk cost fallacy despite this, or perhaps whether they prefer them over the older designs. These are designs made for marketability first, after all, and the customer is always right in matters of taste.

REFERENCES

Devsisters (2021) Cookie Run: Kingdom [Video Game]. Devsisters.

Happy Elements (2020) Ensemble Stars!! Music. [Video game]. Happy Elements.

HoYoverse (2020) Genshin Impact. [Video game]. HoYoverse.

loish

some close-ups of my most recent piece!

Some pages from my Portfolio detailing a project from PearlFisher a London based design in the First Year of my University Degree.

Ill be uploading more of my Portfolio Pages throughout this week.

#graphic design #app design #ui ux design #portfolio

overflow8

Your artwork is absolutely phenomenal! I haven't seen such impeccable combination of graphic design with fanworks! So as I am curious, what and who are your main artistic influences and inspiration insofar?

Thank you!

I think these are the artists/things inspired me most in the past years:

Also I started trying this kind of style by reading one of Mike Yamada and Victoria Ying’s illustration book ‘Curiosites’, so I guess they are also a great influence to me. Without that book I might not take this path.

calciumex

SHORT FILM COMPLETE!

alleesaur

Red Herring - ever shifting to capture a room's attention, but always fish °‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·｡

girlhoodrevisited

Joydrop – Metasexual (1999)

#inspo #album design

These are the pages to the zine all in Spreads. This was a lot of fun to make and i'm glad I've finished this project.

Ill post the pictures of the physical print when I'm done.

#fandom zine #bayonetta

Bayonetta Zine I made for a class project, this is my Design Deck for it. The actual Zine will be is a phsyical product hence why there are gaps between images, to account for binding(which was ribbon bound)

#Design Deck #Bayonetta #fandom zine