I'm talking about the Sonic logo. Why is that gradient used not only here, but everywhere at that time? I can't find other examples, but this is definitely not the first time I've seen this color combo used.
You mean the chrome brushing? Yeah that was a big thing back then. You don't see it as often but you do see it. It's a social leftover from the 80's
Yeah, that's chrome brushing. It's a default gradient in a lot of image editing software. It was really popular on the internet for no reason around 2000 too. *shrug*
Probably because, like you said, it was a default gradient. Mainly in Flash. There was a massive flood of Flash animations in 2000... I believe these colors became popular in the 80s due to heavy metal record covers. Like Judas Priest or whatever. I think the whole idea is an inspiration of sunglasses'/motor parts' reflections in the desert. A biker thing, I guess. Whatever. Pulling this shit out of my ass.
This gradient is also present as one of the WordArt presets. Heck, it even has the 3D effect, just change it to a Sonic font and you get pretty much the same result.
lol this made me cry a little. I payed attention to the title coloring only because I'm both a Sonic fan and an animator that does lots of Sonic related things. But I always felt the title design was so natural looking that it wasn't an inappropriate use of the overused chrome gradient. In a way, its good whether they invented it or if it had been used a million times a day; it just fits naturally in that graphical setting. I really like it that way. Damn you Powerpoint and Macromedia for ruining it forever.
This is what it always reminded me of. Not to far from this either. So yeah, I'm going with "leftover from the 80s" and "easy shorthand for metal/chrome lettering".
You know, I'll love the Sonic art 'til my dying day, but this: is so much better implemented that this: The Moonwalker one is kick-ass chrome and the Sonic one is like "meh". I know Moonwalker is a slightly newer game, but still. Although I always did think of it as a reflected environment, especially because of Sonic 2 Game Gear's level intro. I think it would be cool to see the "horizon gradient" title font make an HD comeback, where it was really a real-time reflection of the scrolling terrain surrounding the logo.
This. I honestly thought it was a snow-capped mountain range all these years. Hell, even with this revelation of polished chrome, it still looks like that to me.
Yeah. I've a lways liked that logo and it's always bugged me that there is no simple way to emulate it (you can get kind of close with WordArt, but that's about it)
All of my high school lab reports had a title formatted this way. All of them except one because it was the only time I didn't make it.
I distinctly remember this from the opening to the "Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade" as an example. The train in the logo is animated which, I think, was kinda clever, given that the train was the one from the movie's opening sequence running through that desert-ish place. :B