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  • BOX=ART History

    BOX=ART was a database website dedicated to acknowledging the artists who since the early 1970’s have been designing the art that adorns video game packaging.  It was created in August 2013 and authored by Adam Gidney until its eventual shut down in January 2023.  For almost a decade, BOX=ART championed the video game cover art medium, celebrating the artist’s and their works, as well as highlighting the medium’s history. 

    BOX=ART came to be after Adam holidayed in Japan in May 2013 and fell in love with Japanese box arts.  Wanting to learn more about the artists but finding nowhere online dedicated to them and their creations, Adam setup BOX=ART to rectify this.  It can be viewed as somewhat pioneering in its attempt to chronicle the video game box art medium, and likewise seen as a precursor to what OVGA presently achieves.

    BOX=ART in its original form was more of a website designed to celebrate the art and the artist (much like how OVGA currently is).  This focus, however, changed in August 2019 when the site was redesigned to function as more a reference site.  This was achieved by splitting the site in two distinct areas, the INDEX and the DIRECTORY.  The former profiled artists and other areas of interest, whilst the latter allowed for quick referencing a favourite cover art and their creator.  Both areas were adorned with distinctive banners and a clean and creative design.

    BOX=ART was also known for interviewing artists and chronicling their time in the business.  These, along with much of what was written on BOX=ART has now been moved across to OVGA and preserved.

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    The Home Page

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    The TImeline Page

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    Example of an INDEX Page

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    The Interview Page

  • BOX=ART History Timeline
    • May 2013 - Inspiration for BOX=ART comes after the author holidays in Japan and starts collecting video games for their covers.
    • July 2013 - BOX=ART begins to be designed as an art celebration site, with special purpose of crediting the box artist and detailing the history of the artform.
    • August 2013 - BOX=ART goes live.
    • October 2013 - First interview with box artist, David John Rowe.    
    • January 2016 - First major revision to the site, providing a more polished look and faster experience.
    • March 2017 - M.I.A and Timeline pages added.
    • August 2019 - Second major revision to the site.  BOX=ART due to struggling performance issues was overhauled to now function more as a reference site, with smaller images and more concise profiles split across two sections: the Index and Directory.  Also included were the distinctive banners that headed each page.
    • October 2022 - Conversation started and agreement made with OVGA team to start preserving BOX=ART's information, with the aim of shutting down the site due to its now redundant site creation platform.  
    • February 2023 - With all of the site's information preserved, BOX=ART shut down after nearly a decade.   
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