Why my blog looks like a Jak and Daxter strategy guide
I have been a strong supporter of finding good reference materials for anything creative you do for a long time, but I have come to realize I didn't know how to find the best references. I knew finding things made by people who are inspired by what you want to make (especially the revival of old styles) is just going to lead to you making an even more diluted version of that concept or style, but I struggled to wade through all that chaff because I lacked knowledge of keywords and terms, or good places to begin looking.
Something clicked though, when one of the streamers I watch, Scorpy, just briefly talked about why he bought old strategy guides. I can't recall the stream he said it, nor the exact phrasing, but the mentality did stick, and it just fleshed out my own methods plus philosophy as far as designing goes. They are whole books that have to echo to graphic design set by the game's UI or marketing, so you can flip through those and get ideas and take small design elements when you make your own graphics. The border styling of of this element, the the page layout of that, ect.
So I don't have the income to throw at an endless supply of game guides I would love to own, but the Internet Archive does exist, and by the kindness or desire to preserve even the most inconsequential media, there are a lot of guides scanned and uploaded there. It meant I could find both Japanese strategy guides for the hyperfixation taking over my brain right now, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy.
Now, I did take the page styling of the "perfect" guide published by Shogakukan almost wholesale, but I don't have much energy right now for a lot of things I normally enjoy doing, graphic design included, and I just really like Jak and Daxter: TPL. I did exchange the white fade in the background to a blue, to help with eyestrain which I get from reading text on pure white background... But I know in the future, I have another good resource for inspiration, and references so I don't have to reinvent the wheel.
I also discovered that Vimm's Lair has an entire section dedicated to game manuals, which I've been saving bits here and there for future use. It's a snapshot of graphic design at the time these games were released, which happens to be what I'm enjoying looking at, and emulating - hopefully more so in the future.