Firaxis Games
Lead UI Artist
Below are examples of the ton of icons used in Civilization V.
Also providing examples of some look and feel explorations that influenced the UI’s art direction.
The Unit, Building, Wonder and Technology Icons where the stars of this games UI. There were so many that we hired a concept artist to create the hundreds needed for the game. The examples below are the ones created to establish a look and feel direction. They were based on wartime propaganda and travel destination posters created between 1920 and 1950.
The Social Policy icons were created in 3D Studio Max.
Civilization, Citizen, Setup and Unit Action Icons
Upgrade Icons were created in 3D Studio Max.
Resource, Menu Buttons, Unit Action and Font Icons
Examples of some of the (art deco inspired) trim used to decorate the top of the pop-up menus.
Early in the project’s development, I modeled out statues and buildings from the Art Deco era to help get a feel for that movement. I was trying to get a sense of colors and shapes that could be used in the menus trim and panels.
Further exploration of the statue on the building above. This was eventually used as the top trim decoration in the main menu screens.
One of my favorite games is Grim Fandango which is set in the time-period that I was trying to capture in the UI. I modeled out a room based on this concept drawing to help get a sense of shapes and colors that I could use in the Civ V UI.
