THE GAMESPOT SHOW (2025)
The GameSpot Show debuted in March 2025 as part of GameSpot & Giant Bomb's new Power Block lineup of livestreamed programming. Hosted by Kurt Indovina, produced by Jake Dekker and Jean-Luc Seipke, the three of them connected with me a bit before the show's debut to create a graphics package.
In terms of inspiration, the show was going to be more late night style than a podcast and it needed to reflect GameSpot's existing look & style, considering it was The GameSpot Show. I needed to create the logo, backgrounds, lower thirds, animated elements for blocks of text & game review scores, thumbnail templates, looping videos for the TVs on set, transitions, and picture-in-picture templates.
I stuck with colours from GameSpot's style guide and noted a lot of their existing motion graphics had a reoccurring usage of grids & squares. I leaned heavily into the squares as a bit of a motif to try and give the graphic elements a feeling of cohesion but also a bit of a visual identity for the show.
Different drafts of the logo.
First is an early draft where I leaned in too heavily to the late night show inspiration. Also felt the font didn't give off the right feeling and the moon was too similar to what was being used in an existing GameSpot show.
Second is the version I submitted for review, third is the final version after feedback. The only real difference is the stretched out letters. I worked with a variable size font I liked that lent itself well to being animated. Very happy with how this turned out.
Logo animation.
Made the logo with animation in mind. The variable font was really nice to work with as well as the 15FPS animation style that was a staple of GameSpot's existing graphics. I often want to work with a punchier, lower FPS look, but avoid it as it's not typically what people are looking for. Was extremely happy to be able to commit to that here. As with all the animations I did for this, there are no fades or blurs. Things stretch, fills wipe out, and outlines become thinner.
Looping videos for studio TVs.
Combination of the different variants I created of the video that loops on the TVs in the studio. All are made up with the existing colours defined in GameSpot's style guide. The animated squares are a bit inspired by fireworks, and a bit by rain drops in puddles. The goal to make something simple but pleasing to watch looping over and over. The lighter variations seem to work better on camera, but the different versions give options to change up the look and feel whenever needed.
Thumbnail template.
Created a template for thumbnails as well. The first one allows for large hero images and a text box that can be moved wherever needed. The other two are useful in a pinch or when a border is more useful.
Other animated elements.
While most other shows I've created motion graphics for have live recordings, this one has the unique situation of needing elements that can be changed live. Because of this the lower thirds and quote graphics are made in a way where they appear/disappear behind pre-rendered animations rather than those elements being animated themselves.
