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Beat Saber
Strategic Visual Design

Client
Beat Games (Meta/Facebook Reality Labs)
Role
UX Brand Strategist & 3D Visual Designer (Contract)
Duration
Multi-phase engagement across three artist pack releases
Deliverables
3D environments, key art, in-game visuals, and promotional assets

The Challenge

Beat Saber needed to expand its music catalog through high profile artist partnerships while maintaining its signature neon charged identity. Each Music Pack release represents both a product launch and a cultural moment—merging legendary artists with a globally recognized VR gaming brand.

The Strategic Question:

How do we honor each artist's unique visual identity while preserving Beat Saber's cohesive brand language across diverse musical genres?

Strategic Approach
Brand Architecture Framework

I developed a flexible visual system that balanced three critical dimensions:

  • Artist Authenticity – Respecting each artist's established visual language and fanbase expectations
  • Beat Saber DNA – Maintaining the game's core identity (neon aesthetics, rhythm driven motion, light as interface)
  • User Experience – Creating environments that enhance gameplay readability and emotional engagement
Design Principles

Consistency Through Contrast

Rather than forcing uniformity, I created distinction within constraints using Beat Saber's signature red/blue color system as a foundation while introducing artist specific palettes, materials, and environmental storytelling.

Sensory Translation

Each environment translates musical characteristics into visual form: tempo becomes motion, bass becomes materiality, melody becomes light choreography.

Scalability

All designs needed to function across multiple contexts: in-game environments, marketing key art, social media assets, and promotional materials.

Britney Spears
Music Pack

Pop Nostalgia Meets Neon Euphoria

Britney's fanbase spans generations, with deep emotional connections to early 2000s pop culture. The visual language needed to feel simultaneously nostalgic and modern honoring her legacy while positioning her music within Beat Saber's futuristic context.

Visual Strategy

  • Hero Element: A luminous 3D heart both literal (representing emotion) and metaphorical (the "heart" of the Beat Saber experience)
  • Color Psychology: Magenta to blue gradients evoking both nightclub energy and tender emotional resonance
  • Typography Treatment: Neon signage aesthetic—energetic yet elegant, bridging 2000s club culture with contemporary design

User Experience Impact

The radiant, euphoric environment amplifies the emotional accessibility of Britney's music while maintaining gameplay clarity. Players described feeling "inside the music" rather than simply playing to it.

Monstercat
Mixtape Vol. 2

Futuristic Bass-Driven Atmosphere

Strategic Insight

Monstercat represents genre fluidity in electronic music their brand thrives on constant evolution and cross-genre experimentation. The visual identity needed to feel kinetic, cutting-edge, and perpetually in motion.

Visual Strategy

  • Hero Element: The Monstercat mascot reimagined as a high gloss metallic sculpture transforming a 2D logo into dimensional brand presence
  • Environmental Design: High energy corridor with reactive columns and volumetric laser beams creating a "sonic architecture"
  • Lighting System: Dynamic beams mirroring gameplay rhythm, creating visual echoes of bass drops and transitions
  • Material Palette: Deep violets, bright reds, and icy blues emphasizing energy shifts and genre transitions

User Experience Impact

The environment becomes a responsive performance space. The metallic surfaces and laser grid create depth perception cues that enhance spatial awareness in VR while visually representing Monstercat's brand philosophy: sound as structure, rhythm as architecture.

Metallica Music Pack

Power, Distortion, and Thunder

Strategic Insight

Metallica brings a heritage audience to VR gaming. The design challenge was translating raw, analog energy (distorted guitars, thunderous drums) into Beat Saber's clean, digital visual language without diluting either brand's identity.

Visual Strategy

  • Hero Element: Grid of metallic cubes representing rhythm blocks each charged with blue energy cores
  • Environmental Design: Industrial storm field where electricity becomes visible, tangible, and rhythmic
  • Material Development: Brushed steel shaders with emissive blue surfaces every reflection pulses with energy
  • Brand Integration: Unified Metallica's iconic lightning bolt logo with Beat Saber's red/blue mark, creating a co-branded visual language

User Experience Impact

The environment translates aggressive sonic energy into spatial experience. Lightning arcs provide directional cues; metallic surfaces create a sense of weight and impact. Players reported feeling the music's "physicality" more intensely a critical success metric for rhythm-based VR experiences.

Results & Impact

Measurable Outcomes

  • Three successful global launches with coordinated visual campaigns across platforms
  • Maintained brand consistency while serving three distinct audience demographics
  • Created reusable asset libraries and design patterns for future Music Pack releases
  • Positive community reception with social media assets generating high engagement

Strategic Value Delivered

  • For Beat Saber: A scalable visual framework that accommodates diverse artist partnerships without diluting core brand identity.
  • For Artists: Visual translation that honors their legacy and introduces their music to new audiences in an emerging medium.
  • For Players: Enhanced immersion through environments that are simultaneously beautiful, functional, and emotionally resonant.

Process & Collaboration

Research & Discovery

  • Analyzed each artist's visual history, album art, concert design, and fan community aesthetics
  • Studied Beat Saber's existing visual language and technical constraints
  • Researched VR specific design considerations (motion comfort, depth perception, gameplay readability)

Iterative Design

  • Created mood boards and concept explorations for stakeholder alignment
  • Developed 3D prototypes to test environmental flow and lighting behavior
  • Collaborated with Beat Saber's internal team to ensure technical feasibility and brand consistency

Key Learnings

  • Design Systems Enable Creative Freedom
    By establishing clear guardrails (color systems, lighting principles, compositional rules), I created space for bold artistic expression within each pack proving that constraints fuel creativity rather than limit it.
  • Brand Strategy Is Translation Work
    Successful co-branding isn't about compromise; it's about finding the visual language where two identities naturally reinforce each other. Each pack became stronger by honoring both brands equally.
  • User Experience in VR Is Multisensory Design
    Traditional UX focuses on interface and interaction. VR UX requires considering spatial awareness, emotional rhythm, physical comfort, and sensory integration—expanding the designer's responsibility from screen to environment.
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