Timestamp: 2015
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Blade & Soul is a Korean-made online game. I was first announced in 200…8? 2007 or 2008. From that moment, I was hooked to it. It looked stylish. It looked flashy. It looked over-the-top… It was everything I wanted.
I joined a US fan-community around 2010, and together we fantasized about our hypothetical characters whilst patiently waiting for an announcement that this game was going to come to western shores.
Around 2012 the already scarce info went radio-silent and everyone gave up on this title.
Then, out of nowhere, in 2015 (!) an announcement was made that this game would be launching Soon™ …And sure enough, it did. There was a decent amount of community stuff being done, amongst which a faction propaganda contest.
The game hosts two factions: The Cerulean order, and the Crimson legion. (the ‘Wulin alliance’ and the ‘Huntian school’ for you veterans out there.)
It was up to us to create a propaganda poster to draw new recruits to the faction of choice.
I have always been a Huntian/Crimson guy, so it was a no-brainer to make a poster for them. The Crimson legion is a faction that holds freedom — fickle as that term is — in high regard. Unlike the Cerulean order, which is all about strict discipline, rules and hierarchy, the Crimson legion believes that a person must choose their own path; that being put in a box will only work against their natural development.
With these principles in the back of my mind I went to work. I went for a fairly simple design, because a poster like this shouldn’t be overly complex. It’s a call to action, after all. It should be clear and to the point.
When I hear the word ‘freedom’, I think of birds, like many people. Birds are often a symbol of freedom, so making use of that was a shoe-in, almost.
The gallery below shows variations of my design.
While I didn’t win, I did make it to third place!
‘Til next time.
— D.
