Visions of Mana — Martin “Wai" Nguyen

The Overview

Define the overall art direction for the Visions of Mana campaign, establishing a cohesive creative vision that reintroduces the franchise to modern audiences while honoring its legacy. As the first new mainline action RPG in the Mana series in nearly two decades, the goal was to shape a campaign that captured the series’ signature sense of wonder, adventure, and elemental magic, while signaling a meaningful evolution forward.

The art direction needed to guide the tone, composition, and visual storytelling across all marketing touchpoints—ensuring consistency and emotional resonance across social, digital, and performance-driven formats..

The Impact

The resulting campaign delivered a cohesive and elevated art direction that successfully reintroduced Visions of Mana to a new generation while resonating with longtime fans. By balancing nostalgic elements with a more modern, structured visual approach, the campaign created a unified presence across social and digital platforms.

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Executive Creative Director : Ricardo Mireles
Creative Production Director : Caroline Wu Bonti
Sr. Creative Designer : Martin Nguyen
Sr. Motion Designer : Anthony Ricciardi
Sr. Video Editor : Daniel Ness
Sr. Production Artist : Ken Murayama
Production Artist : Cindy Huber

Courtesy of Square Enix

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Visual Identity

For Visions of Mana, I developed the visual identity for the marketing campaign, creating a cohesive system that translated the game’s vibrant, whimsical world into a scalable design language across social, digital, video, and promotional touchpoints.

Drawing from the series’ signature painterly style, organic forms, and elemental themes, I established frameworks for composition, color, and typography that balanced expressive world-building with clarity and performance. This approach allowed the identity to flex across a high volume of assets—from social graphics to banner ads—while maintaining consistency and capturing the sense of wonder and adventure that defines the Mana franchise.

EXAMPLES UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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Steel Case

The steel case packaging was a rare development that elevated the physical product into a premium, collectible experience. The approach focused on creating a bespoke visual composition tailored specifically for the format—leveraging the white plate, refined detailing, and a balanced use of negative space to ensure the design translated seamlessly onto metal.

The final design was widely recognized by fans and praised as one of the strongest steel case executions within Square Enix, setting a benchmark for future collector-focused packaging.