User blog:Angel Emfrbl/Fave/least boxarts

You know often I hear about how much people like a voclaoid design... But the thing I don't hear is how much they like a boxart. Boxarts serve to "sell" to the consumer, who might not have heard the voice nor know much on the product. So the more eye catching it is, the better. Sometimes... Companys go overboard... Sometimes they don't do enough.

So I'm going to go into my favourties and least favs boxarts. these are in no order.

Generally I'm not going to hark on about white background being a fault of every vocaloid, because a plain background can serve to "frame" a artwork nicely. But there are one or two boxarts it bothers me because they could have done something better. So it will be mentioned only when it needs to be.

Kagamine Append
Okay I've established LONG ago how much I DON'T like the Kagamine's voices, their just... Not my type... But when it comes to boxarts... I dammit their Append was my favourite. The colours makes a statement, the LAYOUT makes a statment, the composition looks GOOD. It feels less like a boxart and more like a artwork.

Big Al
I actually liked the original artwork... So erm... Does that seem bad?

VY1v3
A simple concept, while most go for a completely 1 colour background VY1v3 adds a little subtle sheen. The black colour also compliments and cases you to focus on the pink artwork. In contrast to SeeU and Oliver, this is a example of "balance". The failure of Oliver is everything is cramped into a tiny space. The issue with SeeU is they have a details thing in a small are also.

VY1v3 is a simple design on a simple background, which is why it works in contrast to the other two. So simplistically can be awarding despite not being too thrilling.

Its a shame VY2v3 and the updated versions put a lens flare in, because it spoils it... A lot... ¬_¬

Meaw Neo has basically the same thing going on, but I'd argue Mew's boxart doesn't work so well because her black and white appearance means that her white version looks... Uninteresting... And her black version swallows Mew's illustration up.

IA (limited edition)
So the black background version, really makes the artwork stand out. I think the thing about IA is that it stands out because it doesn't abide by the conventional layout that all other vocaloids use. Its got a simple spacey scene behind it, suggesting a outwardly nature while the large "IA" almost make the whole thing feel like this is a boxart for a TV series and not a vocaloid. And having IA in front of the text, without obscuring it, makes it stand out more.

Basically, it stands out because its unique.

Akikoloid-Chan
I have no idea why they made a boxart representation for a private vocal, but its a nice sleek design. Shame it was never used.

Oliver
White Backgrounds... Every single one of them... You can do better... But Oliver's is the worst, it just fells... Empty. The whole thing is stuff more or less in less then 40% of the box, leaving too much room that could have been used for better purposes.

Sweet Ann
I dislike her original boxart for the fact I can see what their going for, but of her and Al's, hers is definitively the worst overall. The picture ust looks so odd and the editing done to Lena's poster art could have been much better. You can see why its mocked, but you could have appreciated it more if it had turned out right.

Lapis/Merli NEO
Nothing to see here... Some pretty patterns... Thats it... I don't see why they swapped Lapis' art and while Merli has a flipped version you can change to if you prefer it... I'd argue its not much better since her avatar is basically taking up the entire boxart (reverse of Oliver's boxart). I don't like it because it feels like they did better already with Lapis' original boxart, so the designs that followed felt more of a disappointment.

SeeU
Suprise, suprise... SeeU's yet another list of mine for least favs. So... Oliver has a white background... Whats worst then that? A entirely BLACK background and a picture that takes up even less space on it!

I honestly don't have it out for SeeU, I just think a white and orange background with a simple pattern would have been better then the all black one. Thats to say, the issue is that I can think off the top of my head, how to improve it. And if SeeU's avatar had taken up more space on the boxart, say we'd had from her head to waist on 2/3 of the boxart (still leaving room for the eye catching background), it would have looked stunning. Because most agree that SeeU's avatar, as unoriginal as it was, was appealing and most find it adorable. So the issue is, they just didn't take enough advantage of the characters appealing character to make it stand out.

So I hate it... Because I could have done a more attractive design. All other vocaloids, with a lot of white either have their avatars in a suitable spot to make the white less or are fine enough you don't need to imagine a better version. This one... Just makes me imagine better.

Macne Nana English
Being an English vocal, it should mean half the world practically can buy into her vocal and use it!

So... Why did they then reduce the market of potential buyers by putting a american flag on it. Technically, America doesn't have a native language and while english is one of the most dominate, it didn't come from America, it came from England in the UK, hence the name "English". Basically, this felt uncomfortable because it had a flag on it, not just a flag but one that was put on there to clearly appeal for a target audience. I'd put this as the single most cringe worthy moment in the franchise, beating my anger at SBS treatment of SeeU and my criticism towards Yamaha's notes on how "GREAT" they made Diva by pointing out the studios were not correctly using the flawed Dev Kit they themselves made that made it ipossible to produce a good english vocal easy... Yeah... Okay.. In fact, everything else is just a facepalm moment, this IS the only cringe moment outside of demo choice. I mean everything is up to personnel taste, you either like a design/vocal or you don't. ¬_¬

Basically the issue it, "what is the idea of the flag suppose to be doing?". Saying "hey look I'm a patriotic american?". Because well... She isn't... And this is why its so awkward. As a rule of the thumb, unless your target is one country, your best not slapping a flag on anything. Some couldn't understand why also some of the fans would have an issue with it...

Well...

On top of this, America's rep abroad is not... Comfortable and it made some of us feel uncomfortable based on political reasoning or experience... My experience was back in the early 2000 when the net was dominated by Americans, I was made to be fully aware I wasn't an American and in some cases "less then American". So this was my reason for disliking it.

I mean, I'd also feel just as offended if they use my flag and in Europe, the British flag has to go out wearing a full set of armour ad be seen carrying a MK-47 since we ourselves have a bad rep in Europe. But this highlights even further why using flags should be done carefully.

It makes it even more laughable when you consider that Nana is a Japanese vocaloid, her provider is also Japanese and yet her Japanese boxart doesn't have a Japanese flag so there is no consistency and no reasoning behind it. Plus, being most of the Japanese vocaloid fans are Japanese and its target was Japanese, it makes even more sense. To be it bluntly, if there was a Japanese flag on the Japanese vocal, as cring worthy as that would have been also, it would have made the american flag usage make more sense also and kept the artworks consistent.

And just the fact I can write a short essay on why this was a bad idea, is more or less the point about it. I love Nana to the point she is the only vocaloid I'm openly bias on... But she has my least favourite artwork of any Vocaloid slapped onto her English vocal. I tend to use it as a personnel foil to stop myself being too blinded by my bias towards Nana.

honorable mentions

 * Like: Tonio, Kaito V3, Miku append, Zola Project (original), Galaco (prize), Sonika orginal
 * Dislike: Meiko V1, Meiko V3, Tianyi (too buy), Yan He (too busy again), Megpod English (pretty but not much to see), Gachapoid + V3 (LAZY), Megpoid native/talk (seriouslly put some effort into these please), Luka V2, Kagamine Act1 (Worst of KEI's art... ¬_¬), Leon/Lola (lazy recolouring...).

Everythign else... Meh its alright.