Character Design

This page is generated. Do not edit it by hand — run scripts/atlas-vocab.py.

part of Design · tier 2 · Image · 1 pieces of work carry it · 3 crafts it is confused with

The craft, and who hires it

Brands hire character design for mascots, campaign characters, and character development for games and film — the 'Character / Character Development' capability studios tag their work with (BUCK, Elastic, 23lunes).

Designing unique character visuals — the look, anatomy, costume, and personality styling of original characters — often in a specific artistic style for storytelling or branding. The design of the character, as distinct from making it move.

Tag it when…

Tag when the visible craft is the design of an original character: model sheets, turnarounds, mascot reveals, or pieces whose centerpiece is a designed character's look. The character must be a designed creation, not a filmed person.

Never tag it when…

Never tag for merely FEATURING people or pre-existing characters. Making the character move is Character Animation (that goes to Animation — M:N with this leaf is legitimate on one asset). A designed character rendered as a finished scene is Illustration; exploratory character look-dev is Concept Art.

Easily mistaken for 3 other crafts

Every other page suggests neighbours by similarity. This one navigates by difference: each line names the craft this is confused with, and the rule for telling them apart.

• character animation (canonical id group: 2d animation character animation · 3d animation character animation) — Character Design is the LOOK; Character Animation is the MOVEMENT/performance — the DN-187 worked pair; both may tag one asset when both crafts are visible. Filter by the canonical_id GROUP, never one physical row (Option-F)
• design concept art — Exploratory development frames of a character = Concept Art; resolved character sheets/reveals presented as the design = Character Design
• design illustration — A finished drawn scene that happens to contain characters is Illustration; the tag here requires the character's DESIGN to be the work

At what size it applies

Dual-grain by canon (DN-187 example): Character Design on a hero image is an ASSET tag (Design side); a designed character appearing in a beat of a commercial is a MOMENT (Animation-side parent keeps its craft).

Pieces that settle the definition

• Only the Nastiest Get the Nicest | Nike Vapor Edge Kobe 6 | Nike — Nike spot carrying designed character work (DB-verified content_disciplines link; analyzer provenance, non-primary)

Where to look next

• The whole services tree — the services index.
• Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
• How work gets credited to a craft — the entities chapter.