Fluid’s Stacey Bates-McCue on crafting a 45th anniversary guide for PAC-MAN

Stacey, great to catch up. We’re here to dig into your recent 45th anniversary guide for PAC-MAN. 45 years is a long time! How did you approach the project?
A lot of it stemmed from the Shine On guide we did for the brand last year. The creative direction from that bled in to the 45th guide. Shine On brought a younger, Gen Z audience to PAC-MAN while celebrating the brand’s core fans from 45 years ago… So pulling that through to a heritage year made sense.

The tagline was ‘imPACtful’, and Bandai-Namco wanted to keep the pure DNA there – it’s vibrant, it’s bright… We show some pixelated art, we show some 3D art and all stages in-between. We showcase the personality of PAC-MAN, the ghosts, the gameplay… When you layer up all those, you create something consumers and fans will gravitate towards.

There’s 3D art, pixelated art – and a great image where PAC-MAN is cross-sectioned in different styles. What are some of the benefits of playing with these looks?
Well, as a designer, you’ll gravitate to one of them. I’m a retro girl so – for me – it’s pixelation and the heritage art. That would be where I’d start… But the only one that has a full face on it is the illustration with arms and legs, so that one really shows the personality of PAC-MAN. To be able to bring all these different looks together and showcase 45 years in just one graphic was really fun! It’s like a cool time wheel.

As we started designing, we thought it would be nice to have a set of the fruits in pixel, flat 2D and 3D. We decided to do a set of each so they can be used on their own, they can be integrated, or you can mash them up and do a really cool pattern. And even without PAC-MAN on that graphic, you know it’s PAC-MAN. That’s the power of the brand. This sparked a new guide that we’re currently working on for PAC-MAN – so watch this space: it looks incredible!

Amazing! I imagine the creative also appeals to those who aren’t hardcore fans. Do you try to ensure the design has broader appeal?
We do – and that’s the sweet spot for the Gen Z audience. They didn’t grow up playing PAC-MAN… They probably never played it, but they recognise it. That’s a different generation – and an important one – that we wanted to pull into this 45-year heritage.

And how might you go about doing that?
We might do that by putting a really cool graphic on a t-shirt in Urban Outfitters, for example… Once they get drawn in, they then start to go all in on a brand. They might play the game or buy another PAC-MAN tee. We have to ensure all those little sweet spots are accounted for in the graphics. For the broad consumer base, it looks trendy and cool. For core fans, there’s little Easter eggs in there and nods to back to a place when they played it. That opens the floodgates for the different retailers to get on board too.

What’s the key to turning these projects into repeat work?
Don’t get complacent! It’s easily done in life and creative… The moment you relax is the moment it shows, especially through design. If I presented a new project to my team as just a set of deliverables, I would be starting them off on the wrong foot. It’s always about gathering as a team and getting excited about the brief. I want the team to get energised. If we don’t enjoy what we do, there’s no point being in the creative industry.

The other thing is that I never just pop the first round of creative in an email that says: ‘Here you go, let us know what you think.’ That’s the worst thing you can do. If I don’t talk the client through every little Easter egg, nuance and way we approached it, how can they appreciate what we delved into? It’s a collaboration and that needs to be an ongoing discussion.

Fluid has a great heritage working in video games. You’ve now worked with plenty of brands outside that space too. Does that experience enrich what you do with video game IP?
Fluid is 30 later this year, and although we’ve been very game-orientated, we class ourselves more as experts in the entertainment industry. I’d never want us to focus purely on video games because things change… Different industries have peaks and troughs. For us, entertainment isn’t just attached to a video game or a movie – it’s just something that people love. Gaming isn’t just for geeks and movies aren’t just for movie buffs. We’re all just fans.

Before we wrap up, what else is keeping Fluid busy?
So much – and some I can’t talk about! The John Wick Experience in Las Vegas is a really exciting thing for us. Being able to work on that franchise for the last eight years – and then for Lionsgate to come to us for all the key art for that experience – was amazing. It’s a real win for the team. We’re also working on the John Wick spin-off, Ballerina. It’ll be exciting to share that one when it comes out. We’re also doing lots of anime. We’ll be working with HoYoverse on some projects and that’s very exciting.

And something with Webtoon?
Yes, we’re working with Webtoon on six projects across the anime space. That takes our art in a very different direction and shows the diversity of our team’s capabilities.

We’ve also been working with PlayStation on and off for nine years… We’ve always struggled to get any style guide over the line there because of the brand rules, but there’s been a lot of change in that space. I think you’re going to be very surprised when you see what PlayStation’s putting out in the next few months – and we’re very proud to say that it’s all come from Fluid. We’re the busiest we’ve ever been Billy, it’s absolutely crazy.