NAUTILUS BY ESCHER
A DEEP SPACE SUBMARINE VR EPIC
SCOPE: CONCEPT / NAMING / BRAND IDENTITY / MOTION GRAPHICS / PACKAGE DESIGN / UI
CHALLENGE
Name and brand a conceptual game company and flagship game. This is Nautilus, a space voyage of the submarine adventure genre. Created by Escher, a VR game house called after the 3D illusionist.
PROCESS
I surveyed nautical symbols and vintage aquatic instruments, technology, weaponry, vessels. Drew astro-marine similarities: inaccessibility, unknowns, prohibitive to human survival, suspected monsters. Reviewed visual astronomical notation and astrological mythology. Explored optical illusion and dimensional paradox, especially as depicted by artist MC Escher. Examined letterforms “E” and “e” for multi-perspective possibilities.
RESULTS
A subtle joining of the vast and perilous reaches of darkness, with the might of retro technology pitted against lurking superstition.
A user-centric and play-focussed game house identity that implies level mastery and interactive community.
software
After Effects, Animate, Photoshop, Illustrator
Mid-process Sketches
Escher sketches explore dimensional perspective illusions. Nautilus sketches merge extraterrestrial and nautical imagery. Sonar imaging shows a star constellation. Harpoons form the sign of Pisces—a celestial sea monster.
TAKEAWAYS
I think maybe I could have employed richer textures of salty decay and parasitic/symbiotic grime. I also think I could have pushed the vintage tech and futuristic tech to further extremes. The creature insinuations would be more organic and visceral in motion. I would like to have animated a lot more—playing with physics to bewilder senses.
Vintage sea exploration, submarine drama, and outer space—there is so much to work with here, it is fraught with dark and mysterious imagery. The submarine genre is full of loyalty and treachery, loaded with overtones of isolation, claustrophobia, and nostalgia. Deep sea biology is eerily florescent and otherworldly…and nautical mythology is so creepy. I loved it, and it would be even more fun to work on something like this with a team.