Shenmue Dojo

Tigrr wrote: I'm actually surprised that with such a dedicated fan base, that someone with some knowledge of typography and design hasn't actually sent some mockups of a logo to Suzuki. I know if I was experienced with that sort of thing, I would send through my suggestions and would gladly offer to do it for free to help save money.

Although maybe someone already has...

This.

Can the design warriors work on this? Take the logo and just accent the individual letters, removing the cursive elements? Against the full background if possible? As professional as it can be?

Despite how I may come off, I am in the same camp as all of us in regards to the quality of the new logo. If it has to be different, I don't mind different, but something a little more Shenmue and a little bit more quality. I will be pushing to talk about it in a frank manner in September at the dinner, and at the very least get some info as to why it's that. Perhaps Suzuki-san doesn't know it's a simple font available to anyone with a PC. Anything is possible. But Yu will listen to his fans, more so than ever I would imagine considering this is a Kickstarter, so why not at least try is how I am looking at it.

I don't know who's attending the LA dinner but if someone brings it up there also, it can gain momentum as a pattern.

for what seems the logo will be the same ... the more I liked it anyway ... was something new ...

the new logo has grown on me. i'll trust in Suzuki's judgement.

Well, I'm not the best graphic designer in the world.

But here's a quick idea done in about 15 minutes. Main font was free for personal use, I'm sure there's a paid option. I modified the S a little. There are plenty of other options out there as well. And I could do better than this if I thought it mattered.

I'm guessing Yu and whoever came up with that logo just don't understand that in the U.S. those fonts have a certain generic quality. I'm sure I'd have no idea what looks generic in Japanese.



I guess my only point is that while I don't exactly think what I just posted is "amazing" or worthy of being put on a Shenmue cover...it still looks better (in my opinion) than Bradley Hand or Papyrus, and was done in short time. I'd think someone close to the project could have done better before going live with Kickstarter, or in time since.

I like it squall. Good job.

It would definitely be a good idea to have a public "logo contest" launched by YsNet/AJ in a future Kickstarter update. Sure the perfect new logo would come to life thanks to the passionate fans.
Provided that the original logo really has to evolve...

I played a little bit with the original logo.

I'm not satisfied with the result, not enough space after applying borders... but the idea would be to keep the cursive font with some separation in between the letters.

Somebody should pass Kiske and squall's logos on to Cedric/Yu, if they haven't been sent already.

Killing the Papyrus font would go a long way to squashing some of the negative feelings about Shenmue III.

Spaghetti wrote: Somebody should pass Kiske and squall's logos on to Cedric/Yu, if they haven't been sent already.

That's the idea

I do understand Yu's reasoning. However since it's probably a given that backers all know the name of the game... a good compromise in my opinion would be for the backer exclusive copies to have the actual classic logo, and the new font to be used for the retail release.

But if not... it's not the end of the world. The game is what matters.

The question is one that's really, really stuck with me since we asked it during the interview. I have thought about it from different angles and stuff. Just to throw this out there:

What is Suzuki-san misinterpreted himself. There's not a thing wrong with the translation, the fact about young people not being able to read cursive writing is what the man said.

But......

It's such a peculiar piece of information to have or think. I have never read that, and I dont believe people from general backgrounds don't have an issue reading words in cursive form. So why say it? Was he advised? Did he read it on a magazine on a flight? It's just so bizarre. He didn't do a survey so he has gotten this information from somewhere which has led to the changing of the logo, which he seems to legitimately like (even if we dont).
So, taking that into account, perhaps he isn't being precise enough? Could it maybe be that cursive writing just isn't popular these days, and that's the reason? I mean as far as I know, it's an older generation style of writing. Perhaps he is trying to be more modern in his style of font? Or dare say it, cool? Also, what games out there do have cursive font for their titles. If this was a Tomb Raider game, would we not be up in arms about it being a generic block font? Or Fifa? Or Call of Duty? Or GTA?

Thinking about this further (just spitballing here), could it be not just the amateurish style of the font, but if you think about it when compared to other games with stand alone letters.... It does seem a bit.... soft perhaps is the word? No sharpness to it? Or boldness or "in your face". Thinking about Final Fantasy, or Mario, or most top games, Shenmues logo now is similar to all of those in font terms that their letters are now standalone. So why is this so hated? The more I look at it, that's what I think i dislike about it the most. There's no sharp curvatures, or statement of intent to say "buy me". It's all soft swirls and curves, just saying "this game is mellow. I am nice". I know Shenmue 3 will be that type of game, but I also agree that there does need to be good cover design and artwork to add to the games appeal whilst sitting on a game shelf.


Meh, I've given this logo way more thought than I should have.

I've read about young people not being able to read cursive any more before somewhere. I think it's a real thing.

The thing is, even if Yu doesn't want a cursive logo, even if he want's something that's drastically different and easy to read, I feel that there are many far superior options than a slightly stylised system font.

I would be absolutely ok with a different take on the Shenmue logo, but it needs to be done properly. It needs to be unique.

Yea I agree. I just take longer to process things and I am starting to nail down now that the issue isn't that it's not the original, it's not that it's non-cursive, it's not the colour.... its just Bradley Hand ITC.

That's why I would like as many different variations as possible. I might even set up a separate topic, just to gather images and even concepts to show Suzuki-san, after basically saying to him, "yes, good move on revamping the logo, but it's widely disliked due to it being very basic"

To at least have gotten one other positive from the question, it's not a case of Sega being impertinent children by saying, "nope. Can't use that. It's our way of making a word look the way it is.", which once upon a time a lot of us feared.

The yes vote now stands at a shockingly low 91%.

If someone is incapable of reading cursive, then I DON'T want them playing a game like Shenmue.. they should stick with Call of Duty and GTA, there I said it.

Uncharted 4 has the "a thief's end" part in cursive and uncharted is one of the most mainstream franchises so if people can handle a cursive title in uncharted, then why not shenmue?