Hillside City Photoreal

Photoreal plates are the safest choice for a server that wants to look like an established operation rather than a project. They carry depth without carrying a mood, which means the lettering and the palette do the identity work and the backdrop stays a backdrop.

They also hold up best at the extreme ratios. A photographic plate cropped to 1865x108 still reads as a place, because atmospheric haze and a horizon line survive almost any crop. A stylised composition with a focal subject does not.

Where they are weaker: at 96x96 and 300x300 a photoreal scene becomes a smear of colour, so the small square formats lean entirely on the emblem. That is true of every style, but it costs photoreal the most because detail is what it is for.

See every photoreal design.

A diagonal composition, which is rare and useful: the slope gives the eye a line to follow across the frame, so a wide crop reads as a journey rather than a band. The water in the foreground takes the live wave animation, which means this family has visible motion in the lower third at every size.

The same scene is also drawn in anime, grunge and painted.

Amber and gold sit naturally next to Los Santos concrete, dust and sodium light, which makes this the best accent family for an in-game watermark: it looks like part of the world rather than an overlay on it. It is also the most forgiving over a warm plate, because it joins the scene's scheme instead of fighting it.

See every amber design.