The Criterion Collection's mission, in their words, is to gather "the greatest films from around the world and [publish] them in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements," and also, to publish "the defining moments of cinema for a wider and wider audience."
A major part of their operation is pulled off with their cover art. The Criterion crew is lauded for their DVD box art design and for very good reason. 99% of the time, their covers are stunning, minimalist design pieces that do more justice to portraying the essence of the films than just about any other publisher around. Here are some great examples:
The key is that they always seem to focus on either something really specific that only people who've seen the movie could fully comprehend, or, they create some sort of visual metaphor of the movie's theme. To me, this is what every poster/cover of a major work should be doing, but, as we well know, that can't always be the case.
Now with that in mind, a friend recently tipped me off to this web page, where someone has posted a collection of alternate designs for classic video games, inspired by the design styles seen in the Criterion Collection. It's called the GAF Collection (all the designs are made by members of Gaming Age Forums, one of the most popular videogame message boards around). I'll post a few of my favorites, alongside the original box art.
I'll stop there. I could post so, so many more.
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