What is Key Visual Design？
This is an automatically generated definition of “KV” based on a web search. As you can see, the scope of ‘KV’ extends beyond just game art, so I narrowed my search to “game key visual design.” Here are my search results:
Screenshot from Game Key Art/ 项目 :: Photos, videos, logos, illustrations and branding :: Behance
In my view, KV in the gaming world refers to a promotional image for a game or a seasonal event, with the focus on showcasing the game’s most visually appealing elements and promoting it through art. I’ve noticed that Arknights, a game I play regularly, features a wealth of outstanding promotional images, and I’ve selected a small sample to share here.
Job Research
KV is one of the few standalone roles; compared to character design, it is relatively independent from environment design and UI design. As a result, there is limited market demand for it, and the requirements for candidates are quite high—so much so that even smaller companies may not create a dedicated position for it. Here are some screenshots of job postings I’ve collected.
miHoYo Social Recruitment – miHoYo Recruitment official website
Personal Reflection
Since key visual design is part of my future career plans, I really valued the opportunity to design a poster for this project. However, due to the tight deadline, I didn’t have time to refine the design or look for references. Consequently, I am not satisfied with the final result, so I’ve reflected on the process: First, I didn’t follow the standard workflow and started drawing directly on the sketch, resulting in inconsistent shading and a lack of depth. Second, because I didn’t use layers, the spatial relationships in the composition weren’t clearly defined, making the three-dimensional space appear flat. Additionally, skipping the line art step and going straight to detailing made the final image look rough. Next time, I will address these issues and improve my work.
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