A suggestion to Activision

Design can make things better.  Anyone that has played competing music games Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3, will notice the difference between the games nearly immediately. Design in video games can impact the users functionality, increase usability and create a more entertaining and engrossing complete package in which to use. Here is a set of photos from the in game menus in both Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3.

The type treatment in Guitar Hero (above) is not uniform, some words are tracked out, others are extremely condensed to fit within the constricting box. The variation seems more like inconsistency to me, with no help from the italic menu items and then regular style cash amount.  The use of the flourish element at the top is limited, falls short and seems more like an after thought.

In Rock Band, you’ll see a uniformity in the type treatment with the unique font style and because everything fits more harmoniously within the menu.  Good design leads to lack of directions or “do this to…” on screen displays.  Rock Band has that, you’ll see that Guitar Hero still spells it out for the user. Last, you’ll notice the flourish use has a duality with the patterns used in the background, bringing the whole design together.

The end user experience is one of the most important aspects of creating something.  In the case of creating video games, the end user experience should also be considered in terms of design (typography, menu structure, etc), as well. The lack of extra design polish in Guitar Hero 3 gives me the impression that they had a very rushed development cycle to make it in time for the 2007 holiday season.  In today’s world, there is an increasing awareness the to completion of projects and visual difference between competing products.  This should not be overlooked, even if Guitar Hero 3 sold extremely well, they will still need to upgrade their use of design or the user experience will be lacking by the time Guitar Hero 4 comes around… just as a suggestion.