Mort's Custom Corner - Part One

Submitted by Kirk Pedersen on Tue, 2010-01-12 10:40

 

We're continually amazed with how much time and effort is put into Need for Speed from the members of our vast racing community.

 

When we were running the Muscle Car Customization Competition, I got an e-mail from William Mort, a French designer living in Norway and in it were shots of some of the livery kits he designed for his cars in SHIFT.

 

Needless to say, everyone in the office was blown away by the meticulous attention to detail in William's designs, so I asked him if he'd be interested in writing an ongoing feature on NFS.com about creating the best vinyls, and he graciously accepted.

 

First, William wanted to explain in detail 11 ways that car customizers in NFS go wrong in their designs, which will be the focus of this article. Another story will appear shortly with a quick and easy way to counteract poor design.

 

And if we're talking about bad design, I'll bring out my Frankenstrat Mobile, which is the epitome of poor planning, terrible design and haphazard attention to detail:

 

 

"I have seen many customized cars on different forums, and there are some very common mistakes done again and again by many people," he says. "Here is a list of them, it may help you not to be the next fool with your next cars."

 

The Brand Invasion.
This mistake is the most common with players doing their very first cars.

They often tend to put 10 logos per side of the car, which ends up making the car look like a big mess.

Poor symmetry.
When you check both sides of the car, nothing is "the same" while it's meant to be so.

In the next article, there is an excellent strategy for avoiding symmetry problems.

 

Lack of cohesion/homogeneity.
For instance, using tribal flames on the hood and old school flames on the wing, which is a dangerous aesthetic mix.

 

Starting a project with a vinyl that should be a final detail.
This way of doing often ends up in a poor result.

I will explain this point further in my next article, it's hard to explain this thing in just 2 lines.

Poor connection/adjustment between the "faces" of the car.
For example, placing a flame that reaches the side of the hood, but not connecting it with the flame on other parts of the car.

Too many colors.
When you start with vinyls, your chances of properly managing several colors on the same car at the same time are very slim.

For people new to vinyls, I would suggest starting with 2 or 3 colors maximum, and eventually use nuances of these colors.

Later when they feel more comfortable, they can try with more colors.

 

Bad handling of numbers.
Spaces between several numbers which are not correct, or "skewed" numbers with different angles.

This isn't a difficult fix, but it requires time, observation and patience.

Not everything made on one side of your car can be repeated with just a flip on the other side.

All the vinyls with text (IMPORT, TEAM LOGO, NUMBERS) should not be flipped, so you should think twice before using them.

Always think both sides of the car with these typical vinyls. You can sometimes get a design on one side of the car that fits just perfect.

But once you try to adjust the same "unflipped" vinyl on the other side of the car, it may not fit.

 

Not enough time and patience.
Usually - but not always - a good project requires some time.

So if you want to manage something nice, be aware that spending 1 hour is often a minimum on a vinyl project.

And if you want to go for more complex layout, between 2 or 3 hours is a more realistic time.

After of course, it depends on people, some are very effective and get nice results very fast while some others have to try again and again before they get something they are pleased with.

But whatever your skills are, don't give up, you may not realize it, but you learn a lot from failed attempts.

Starting with inflated expectations.
This often ends up with frustration, but before you can run, you have to learn how to walk, and it's the same with vinyls, so start with small goals at first.

Not paying attention to strategies that work for experienced designers.
You learn quite a lot if you try to figure out how some people have made their nice cars with vinyls.

 

The next article - with some pretty cool vinyl directions - should be up shortly, but until then, check out some of William's designs:

 

 

 

 

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