This is my Weekly Design Inspiration, this is a space where I share some design work that has either inspired me or caught my attention for its execution or concept. The things I feature on here can include (but not limited to) branding, web design, app design, illustration, typography, video games or anything that shows creativity in a unique way.
Some might say that we are currently in the golden age of Spider-Man when it comes to the media he's being portrayed in lately. With the likes of Tom Holland playing the webhead in the colossal Marvel Cinematic Universe, the new Sony Pictures Animation and Columbia Pictures animated masterpiece Into the Spider-Verse and lastly the release of Marvel's Spider-Man on the PlayStation 4. And you know what, I might be inclined to believe it too.
Now, I've experienced a fair amount of Spidy material in my time including the 1994 animated TV show (that was sick by the way), the original Spider-Man trilogy staring Tobey 'finger guns’ Maguire, I've also played Spider-Man 1 and 2 on the first PlayStation as well as the games supporting the original three films on PlayStation 2, the second one being unbelievably good for its time, even played as Spider-Man in Tony Hawks: Pro Skater 2. And yes I'm ignoring the Andrew Garfield films as I've only seen them once each and that was enough. All of this as well as reading many comics and other media too. So I think it's fair to say that I've got a pretty good grasp on the content that has come out for our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man over the years. But would I say that with the release of these new films and games that we are in the ‘golden age’ of Spider-Man?
I think it's fair to say that the original trilogy of Spider-Man films, although I adore them, are a little dated and let's be honest, a bit crappy. But let’s be honest, that's part of their charm, they were trailblazers for what would become the enormous industry that is superhero movies. Perhaps without these films, maybe we wouldn't have an MCU. The same can be said for Spider-Man when it comes to his appearance in video games, especially the earlier ones. Of course these games were limited by the technology available at the time, like web swinging into empty space, but overall they were definitely true to the character of Spider-Man and captured key elements of his powers and personality.
This is what I think makes all these media so engaging, a mix of understanding the character and also acknowledging what the audience understands about the character. I think that's what these newer Spider-Man titles are achieving so well. Because there has been so many adaptations of the origins story of Peter Parker and how he got his powers, there’s eventually going to be a time where these stories are going to start repeating themselves or covering the same ground. That's why I think what they have done with these newer stories is a good move, we all know how Peter Parker became Spider-Man so why show us time and time again, just give us a good Spider-Man narrative, post his origins story.
An excellent example of how this has been executed is Marvel's Spider-Man for the PlayStation 4. This game takes place at least 8 years after the events of becoming Spider-Man and it wastes none of the players time re-treading the same ground that Spider-Man fans have already come to know like the back of their hand. Instead it throws the player into a world where Peter Parker has become pretty adept at being the wall crawler and has built up a reputation across New York city, including having put away many of the iconic villains over that 8 year period.
As clever a technique this was, I can't help but feel that the game could have taken a different direction in being less linear. Perhaps it could have had a handful of villains tied to different storylines, a bit like the Tombstone one currently in the game. Maybe you could chose to do these in whatever order you wish, and perhaps the order you do them in affects the stories of the others. I think it would have made the game a bit more balanced in that currently most of the Spider-Man villains come at the later stages of the game, it might have been good to pepper a few throughout the game. This is just my personal opinion, I think the game did a great job with the villains it added and did a superb job at foreshadowing, fan service and subversion. All things that reward long time fans of Spider-Man, which was greatly appreciated.
This technique of introducing Spider-Man into a new media in a different way can also be seen in the MCU. The first appearance we had of Spider-Man was in a Captain America film, not even his own stand alone movie (although this is arguably because they really needed to get Spider-Man involved and didn't have the rights up until then). But the introduction of Spider-Man during Captain America: Civil War was very interesting in that, again, it didn't give us the whole origins story, instead it hinted at it and teased at what we could expect to see in later films.
It's worth mentioning that I haven't gotten around to seeing Into The Spider-Verse yet, although I've heard nothing but good things about it from people I've spoken to who have seen it. Looking at both the premise of the film and the art direction it looks to be taking the Spider-Man franchise in a different direction, which I applaud. I'm sure once I get around to seeing it I'll have plenty to say about it and may feature it here on the blog.
Something that all these versions of Spider-Man achieve, including the older ones, is both capturing the character of Peter Parker and the personal issues he faces and then using it in interesting ways (other than The Amazing Spider-Man films that got Peter Parker's character completely wrong) . They build on his character through things like interaction with other characters (like in the MCU with Tony Stark), tragic loss in Marvel's Spider-Man (PS4) and making him one of many Spider-Men in Into The Spider-Verse. All of these are different ways of telling the same story that keep a character that has been around for decades fresh and fun to watch/engage with. I'm not sure there's been another superhero out there that has had this kind of diverse representation in media so successfully (maybe Batman), but I'm happy that it's Spider-Man who has and I'm looking forward to seeing more ways to bring new life into this outstanding character.
Honorable Mentions
I imagine someone at Sony saw how popular Spotify Wrapped was and thought they could execute a similar thing for PlayStation users. However, it's not as good as Spotify, but there are a few elements of nice animation and design in there.
Jake Morrison is an illustrator who captures a unique style that is clearly inspired by modern cartoons such as Adventure Time and also popular Japanese cartoons. His work looks as thought it is a living breathing world and I could easily see this art-style in a real cartoon one day. Check out his website where you can see a mixture of his comics, character design, backgrounds and more!
More of Less is something created by Airbnb that is beautiful and original. The mobile only experience uses traditional illustrations to take you through a rural Chinese village and explores different stories along the way. Unfortunately, I can't read the language, but I can appreciate the illustration, sound design and animation involved in this project!
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