Console Wars: Key Art + Social Campaign

For Console Wars, a documentary about the battle between Nintendo and Sega, I was tasked with developing key art and promotional materials with one major challenge: avoiding any identifiable IP or branding from either company. My solution? A dynamic hero image of two vaguely-branded game controllers colliding in a cinematic explosion that violates the objects beyond brand recognition, providing an evocative nod to the rivalry without crossing legal lines. Alternate drafts incorporated playful stock imagery of iconic items like a hedgehog and plunger, alluding to licensed game properties. I also drafted a variety of tag lines like “Power Up,” “Button Masher” and “Super Meets Sonic,” and created a gamified social post that challenged viewers to guess Sega and Nintendo games using clever emoji combinations, once again finding a way around relying on licensed IP.