Sarah Clarity Studios

Chapter 1: Information Hierarchy & Legibility

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Information Hierarchy & Legibility for Mecha Concept Artists

Graphics, markings, and livery are not “decoration.” They’re a communication layer that rides on top of form language and materials to make a mech readable at speed, in fog, under muzzle flash, and across multiple camera distances. When done well, markings clarify what this machine is, who it belongs to, what it’s allowed to do, and where not to touch. When done poorly, they become visual noise that fights silhouette and lighting.

This article treats graphics as a production system, not a one-off paintover. It’s written equally for concept artists on the early concepting side (exploring factions, roles, and readability rules) and on the production side (creating repeatable, sheet-driven graphics that can be applied consistently by 3D, surfacing, VFX, and UI).

What “information hierarchy” means on a mech

Information hierarchy is the order in which a viewer’s eye understands meaning. On mecha, your viewer is often a player or audience who has less than a second to parse identity and intent. The hierarchy needs to survive distance, motion blur, occlusion, and varied lighting.

A practical way to think about hierarchy is to separate markings into tiers. The goal is that Tier 1 reads from far away, Tier 2 reads at medium distance, Tier 3 reads up close, and Tier 4 exists for believability and world texture.

Tier 1: Ownership and threat identity. This is faction color blocking, major emblem placement, and large-scale contrast shapes. It supports “friend/foe,” class recognition, and cinematic framing.

Tier 2: Unit identity and role. These are big numbers, squad glyphs, role stripes, and prominent warning bands that telegraph “this is the siege unit,” or “this is the med-evac support.”

Tier 3: Interaction and safety. These are hazard icons, “NO STEP,” lift points, cut lines, access arrows, rescue handles, and maintenance stencils that guide where hands and tools go.

Tier 4: Micro-decals and story texture. These are manufacturer plates, inspection stamps, tiny serials, and little sponsor-style decals (if your setting supports it). These should never compete with Tier 1–2.

When you design a marking, decide which tier it belongs to before you choose its scale, contrast, and placement.

The camera-distance test

Mecha reads happen at multiple distances:

At far distance, the player mostly sees silhouette, big value shapes, and big color blocking. Your markings at this level need to behave like part of the silhouette design. Large emblems and bold bands should support the shape language rather than breaking it into confetti.

At mid distance, you can read numbers, role stripes, and simplified hazard bands. This is where your “unit identity” lives.

At close distance, you read stencils, arrows, and small decals. This is where believability and functional storytelling live.

A dependable method on the concepting side is to do a quick “three zoom checks” pass. If you paint or place decals and the mech becomes noisier at far distance, you’ve likely promoted a Tier 3–4 element into Tier 1–2 by accident.

On the production side, this becomes a formal rule: marking sets must have LOD-aware scale ranges. If your game supports multiple LODs, tiny stencils should be designed so they can be baked into roughness/normal or simplified into larger shapes at distance.

Legibility is contrast, not detail

Most legibility failures come from contrast problems, not from “not enough detail.” Contrast can be built from several channels:

Value contrast is the strongest at distance. A light emblem on a dark armor plate will read even when color is muted by atmosphere.

Hue contrast is useful but can collapse in certain lighting conditions. If your faction colors are similar (two blues), value contrast becomes even more important.

Saturation contrast helps emphasize active or dangerous zones, but overuse makes the mech feel toy-like.

Material contrast (gloss vs matte, roughness shifts) can make decals read without strong color. This is common in realistic pipelines where markings are subtle and “printed under clear coat.”

The concepting-side takeaway is: if you want a marking to read, pick one primary contrast channel and keep the others supportive. The production-side takeaway is: in PBR workflows, you can “pay” for readability using roughness and edge wear, not only albedo.

Emblems and icons: make a small language

Icons succeed when they are consistent. A faction that uses clean geometry and sharp angles should also have icons that follow those constraints. A faction that uses hand-painted, analog aesthetics should have icons that look stenciled, imperfect, and field-applied.

When designing an icon set, constrain it with a few rules:

One rule can be silhouette family (circles only, triangles only, or a consistent corner radius).

Another can be stroke logic (single-weight strokes for stencils, or double-line strokes for “premium manufacturer”).

Another can be symbol grammar (one main motif plus a secondary modifier mark for role or rank).

On the concepting side, you can explore 20–40 tiny thumbnails of icon silhouettes, then select 6–10 that form a coherent family.

On the production side, you should deliver icons as vector-style shapes with clear negative space and minimum stroke widths that survive downscaling.

Numbers and alphanumerics: design for speed

Numbers are one of the most powerful readability tools, but only if they’re treated like a system.

First, decide what the numbers mean. Are they the mech’s unique ID? The squad number? A chassis type? A mission marker? If the meaning changes from one asset to the next, the player learns nothing.

Second, choose a number style that matches the world. A near-future industrial mech might use condensed block numerals. A ceremonial knight-mech might use serifed glyphs or painted calligraphy. A corporate security mech might use extremely standardized, airport-signage-style type.

Third, protect the numbers with contrast and placement. Numbers fail when they land on busy panel breaks, rivet fields, or high-frequency greeble.

A reliable placement strategy is to put large ID numbers on broad, relatively flat armor fields that face the camera often: upper chest plates, shoulder outer shells, or hip plates. If your mech rotates and takes cover frequently, consider that some surfaces will be hidden in gameplay.

Production tip: treat alphanumerics as a decal sheet with variants. Include mirrored versions, damaged versions, and “low ink” field versions for storytelling.

Decals: choose a physical model

Decals can be depicted as several physical realities, and the choice affects believability:

They can be painted and masked (hard edges, integrated wear, consistent with base coat). They can be vinyl/appliqué (slight edge lift, different sheen, may tear). They can be stenciled (overspray, imperfect edges, often monochrome). Or they can be printed under clear coat (very clean, subtle edge, wears through scratches rather than peeling).

On the concepting side, choose the decal physical model to match the faction’s culture and logistics. Field rebels stencil. Corporate manufacturers clear-coat. Elite units get masked paint.

On the production side, this becomes material work: edge height in normals, roughness differences, and wear masks aligned to the same damage logic used elsewhere.

Hazard language: warn without clutter

Hazard markings are a special case because they need to communicate danger quickly, but they can easily overwhelm the design.

Start by separating hazard information into two layers:

Hazard zones (macro): big warning bands around intakes, exhausts, rotating joints, crush zones, and high-energy emitters. These should be simple and bold.

Hazard instructions (micro): “HOT,” “HIGH VOLTAGE,” “NO STEP,” “KEEP CLEAR,” arrows, and pictograms near the hazard zone.

Macro hazard bands should be placed where the underlying form already suggests danger. If you put hazard stripes on a random plate with no mechanical reason, it looks like costume decoration instead of safety language.

Good hazard placement is also choreographic: it helps animators and VFX artists know which parts should glow, vent, rotate, or be protected during action beats.

Where markings should live on the body

Markings attach best to surfaces that support legibility.

Broad armor plates are “billboards” for Tier 1 and Tier 2 information. Curved surfaces can work if they stay readable in the most common viewing angle.

Highly articulated zones (knees, elbows, pistons, cable bundles) are poor places for important labels because they distort, occlude, and pick up grime.

Edges and corners are great for micro-stencils because those areas also collect wear. A small “NO GRAB” stencil near a pinch point feels real because it belongs to a plausible safety inspection process.

Think of the mech as having front-of-house surfaces (readable presentation planes) and back-of-house surfaces (maintenance and service planes). Your hierarchy should align with that.

Avoiding visual noise: the “quiet plate” concept

Every mech needs quiet plates—areas with low frequency detail so the eye can rest and so important information can land.

Quiet plates are not “empty.” They can still have subtle paneling and material variation. The key is to keep them low contrast and low frequency.

If your livery plan includes many decals, you should intentionally reserve 2–3 major quiet plates for the highest tier markings. This is especially important for production, where multiple teams may add details over time. Quiet plates are a design contract: “this area stays readable.”

Storytelling through placement and wear

Markings tell stories through what is present, what is missing, and what is overwritten.

A mech that has been field-repaired might have a mismatched panel with missing emblem alignment, or a number repainted by hand. A veteran unit might have layered decals, scratched-out squad IDs, or updated hazard warnings after an accident.

To keep storytelling from breaking hierarchy, treat story decals as Tier 3–4. Let them accumulate in secondary zones: inner doors, service hatches, and back plates.

In production, ensure the wear logic matches the material model of the decal. Vinyl peels. Painted markings chip. Clear-coated prints fade and scratch.

Color blocking and livery: design for role and faction

Livery begins with big shapes. Decide where the primary faction color lives, where secondary accents live, and where neutral “industrial base” lives.

A combat mech that needs stealth might have low-saturation colors and rely on value contrast through roughness shifts. A ceremonial unit might have high saturation and metallic clear coat.

Role can be encoded as a simple rule set: med/support units might always have high-visibility patches on shoulder plates; siege units might carry hazard bands near recoil systems; scout units might have minimal markings to reduce signature.

On the concepting side, explore livery via three-value thumbnails before you commit to full color.

On the production side, deliver a livery map with rules like: “Primary color: 60% of outer armor; Secondary: 15% on shoulders and chest stripe; Neutral base: remaining plates; Hazard: only around intakes/exhaust and rotating joints.”

Designing a “marking kit” that production can actually use

If you want markings to survive the pipeline, treat them like a modular kit:

You deliver a decal sheet containing emblems, numbers, arrows, warnings, and micro-stencils in a unified style.

You deliver placement rules: where the emblem goes, where the unit number goes, what surfaces remain quiet, and which areas are reserved for hazard language.

You deliver variants: clean, worn, muddy, winterized, night-ops low-contrast.

You deliver scale guidance: “Tier 1 emblem is readable at 30m; Tier 2 numbers at 15m; Tier 3 stencils at 2–5m.”

This turns graphics from a single paintover into a system that can be reused across a squad, across chassis variants, and across DLC without collapsing into inconsistency.

Cross-team collaboration: what other departments need from your graphics

Graphics are a collaboration hub.

Animation benefits when hazard zones and interaction handles are clear, because those areas tend to drive contact points and staging.

VFX benefits when exhaust warnings, high-voltage icons, and emission zones indicate where glows, sparks, and heat haze belong.

UI benefits when your icons and numbers can be echoed in the HUD or minimap markers. A shared icon language makes the world feel cohesive.

3D and surfacing benefit when they have a rule sheet and decal kit rather than “copy this paintover.” They can place decals consistently, maintain readability, and avoid fighting panel breaks.

Common failure modes (and how to fix them)

One common failure is too many tiers at once. If every plate has a big icon, nothing is big. Fix it by demoting most markings to Tier 3–4 and protecting 1–2 Tier 1 shapes.

Another failure is decals placed on busy geometry. Fix it by moving important text and numbers onto quiet plates and letting paneling stay subordinate.

Another failure is hazard stripes used as fashion. Fix it by attaching hazard language to real mechanical risk: heat, crush, rotation, voltage, radiation.

Another failure is font and icon inconsistency across assets. Fix it by creating a simple style guide and a shared decal kit.

A practical workflow you can repeat

On the concepting side, start by defining what the player must read in one second: faction and threat. Then decide what they should read in three seconds: unit role and ID. Then decide what a mechanic should read: safety and access.

Build a mini style guide: icon rules, number style, hazard band logic, and a limited palette.

Do three quick zoom tests and ensure the mech improves at distance rather than turning into noise.

On the production side, convert your style guide into a decal sheet, a placement diagram, and a variant plan. Deliver those alongside orthos and material callouts so graphics are not lost during handoff.

When graphics become a system, you get the best of both worlds: concepting can iterate quickly, and production can apply consistently across a fleet without sacrificing readability or story.