What sort of style would you like to see Nintendo take on for the N5? Who do you think they could use in terms of designers, artists etc.
Here is my take...
Hardware Design: I mentioned this in another thread, but I believe Jonathon Ives from Apple would design a nice Nintendo. His works with Apple such as the G5 and iMac G4 are the sort of designs that make people desire them. They're revolutionary. The sort of designs people write articles about. The Gamecube is a gorgeous piece of work, no doubt (especially compared to the Xbox, but let's not even go there!) but it is rather kiddy with the purple. It would have been stunning if Nintendo released more kitch colours and even perhaps patterns. I must say I thought the hot pink one they had originally at E3 was exciting. The N5 should be cool. Consoles have changed barely at all in the past 25 years, smoother edges, brighter colours and that is about it. I want a console that on the outside at least makes it's competitors look like old hat, like yesterday's news and when I see it for the first time, redefines consoles for me just like the iMac G4 did for me and computers. Demanding for sure, but I can dream can't I?
Image Design/Artwork: Gamecube also has some nice logos with it and box design. But not exceptional and nothing that when you see it will make you marvel at it and want it. I would hire some decent designers. Get someone cool, someone like Designer's Republic. They made WipEout 2097 cool. It every other game look boring and unrefined. Don't let them touch the games, but logos etc. they could do a fantastic job. Nintendo's biggest problem is image - even most ten years olds think Nintendo is lame in my experience, wanting to emulate older siblings, the desire to grow up ecetra. I suspect once children are past the age they think Disney is cool, they're past the age they think Nintendo is cool and kids who think Disney is cool most likely find today's games to complicated due to their age. That is a massive over-generalisation but I think some of it holds true. With fantastic branding, Nintendo would sell alot more consoles and as a Nintendo fan, I figure that is a good thing.
Other good designers who create cool things IMHO are Peter Saville and
this guy, who I think is great.TV Advertising: Greatest thing about the PS2 launch: getting David Lynch to direct a commercial for it. The world does not need more children running around pretending to be in FFT. Nintendo should have (they may have now) sacked their advertising agency long ago. Some of the most stupid ads ever came from Nintendo in the last few years. The FFT one being a prime example - they missed their target audience by two country miles. People like Spike Jonze, David Fincher, Jean Pierre Jeunet, Tim Burton, Ridley Scott (Apple again - 1984, legendary) are the sort of people I would like to see direct a Nintendo commercial.
So basically, if you were launching the N5 how would you sell it?