I have worked on Halo a few times and I have been a fan since the start. It could have been another generic shooter, but it built its own identity, a big cinematic sci fi world with real presence. I have picked up Halo art books ever since Rare contributed to Halo 3, and I was involved in Halo 5 as well. Buying art and design books has become an expensive habit.
For Infinite I was asked to create environmental graphic elements that support the game worlds. The goal was believable detail that makes the spaces feel tangible and useful.
Early Multiplayer Map Artwork
This artwork was for one of the first multiplayer maps in the beta. The brief was to feel right for Halo while still reading as fresh future tech. Scale and placement mattered, so I focused on clean bold forms with tight detailing that hold up in play.
FUI, Interfaces and Physical Keypads
Here are some graphics for physical buttons and UI screens I designed with the environment team. Small touches of function and labelling help the world feel futuristic yet familiar. It is similar to my film FUI work, except players can walk right up to everything in first person when they take a break from murdering Grunts. I avoid current design trends for this kind of task and look to older films and analogue product design.
Environment Decals
A selection of world building decals. Halo lives in a sci fi fantasy universe but it still needs the visual density of a real place. These sheets each explore a theme and give environment artists a practical kit of parts. The layouts nod to model kit transfer sheets and that was intentional. I was travelling a lot at the time and found strong reference in airports. Functional typography, safety markings, maintenance labels and wayfinding all fed into the work.
Credits
Thanks to the team at 343 Industries and Microsoft. Proud to have contributed and interested to see where they take it next.
