Nanovirius Symbol WIP

[m8nkey]

The Into Cerberon team are after a symbol for a Nanovirus so I though I'd have a crack. It would be used throughout maps to indicate areas affected by a nano-plague: dead zones and previously-infected sites, laboratories or secure storage areas that are studying the virus.

Things I took into consideration were the recognisable aesthetic of the biohazard symbol. People know that means "bad shit". I also steared away from the trefoil symmetry, adopting a 4 sided cross instead. The eye in the middle gives it a bit of sentience about it (at least it's supposed to).

*edit: Symbol made in illustrator. Just chucked it on a background texture for presentation so only concerned with feedback for the symbol itself.

Anyway here's some variants I came up with. Criticisms welcome.

[RUFKE]

I like the idea of usign the biohazard logo but in a whole new way!

its true that when I see this, I immediatly have an alarm bell in my head saying "bad shit ahead'

I prefer the first one, the eye reference is a lot more evident in it than in the second one

the only thing that bug me is that usually the biohazard logo is 4 circle (3 on the sides, one midle) the fact that you have 5 in yours, I think that it looks like an insect of some sort

well when I come to think of it, it might serve your purpose well!

oh well, not much negative comments on that one!

[Felix]

I wouldnt make the horizontal "arches" on the side of the logo flatter verticly, then the vertical arches horizontally... if you know what i mean, cant really explain it clearly.

What i mean is making the arches on all sides the same size.

Man. My vocabulary just dropped after a single beer : /

[static07]

good attempts but I don't feel the nano, something that indicates very small.

But aren't all viruses nano-sized? Or are we talking about nano-technologic viruses?

Anyway if that would be the case I would opt for this direction of what I quickly whooped up:

[m8nkey]

Thanks for the feedback.

Felix: I think I understand what you mean, having all the circular areas the same size. My first design did that but I prefered this one.

Static07: I think the nanovirus is supposed to be some sort of biomechanical virus that affects humans and machines alike but not entirely sure. I should clarify that.

I aggree the designs I came up with don't really suggest nano. How do those designs you made up suggest it? BTW I like the shape in the center of your design.

[static07]

Thanks for the feedback.

Felix: I think I understand what you mean, having all the circular areas the same size. My first design did that but I prefered this one.

Static07: I think the nanovirus is supposed to be some sort of biomechanical virus that affects humans and machines alike but not entirely sure. I should clarify that.

I aggree the designs I came up with don't really suggest nano. How do those designs you made up suggest it? BTW I like the shape in the center of your design.

the shape in te center represents a molecule, which are very small

like these:

[D3ads]

They look cool, like a logo for some faction from an RTS I think static's design ideas are suited more to what you want to accomplish.

[Quakis]

Made a slight alteration of the second as another idea, but I also quite like static's too.

[Sentura]

very headcrab esque, quakis

personally i'd say the more you make it look like a molecule, modified or singular, the better it'll look for something as small as a virus.

as for people knowing that it is a "bad shit" - look up gestalt psychology. spiked shapes around a round inner core is very much a possibility. the more alienated people feel from the shape, the more apprehensive the image will appear. also consider the coloring - the biohazard is normally yellow, which would means "warning", while red would signify imminent danger.

more about all of this is explained within the gestalts, those are just a few general directions. i am sure you will be able to find pages loaded with it, and honestly, gestalts are great tools when working with atmosphere, or when you want to give players visible hints (i.e. a fall piece of material would make the player look up to see where it came from).

EDIT: the wiki for gestalts is a quite good start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology

[m8nkey]

Thanks for the info Sentura, gestalt psychology is interesting stuff from a design perspective. I'd never heard of it. I'm pretty happy with the overall silhouette, I'm just refining the center of the design.

Hexetic, the IC lead, suggested gears interlocked in an asymmetrical pattern (one large, two small) in the center to make it look more mechanical.