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THE MACHINE THAT CHANGED THE CULTURE
When I think about the original PlayStation, I don't only think about games. I think about a certain feeling of the 90s. CRT televisions, CDs, plastic jewel cases, neon lights, Japanese graphics, night drives, electronic music and a world that was becoming increasingly digital. The PlayStation arrived in Japan in 1994 and in Europe a year later. On paper, it was a new game console from Sony. In reality, it felt like something that came from a much bigger culture.
Sony also understood that a new console needed a new identity. The PlayStation logo was designed by Manabu Sakamoto. What I find interesting about the logo is that it already tells you something about what the console was supposed to be. The P stands upright while the S appears to sit behind or underneath it, creating a small optical illusion. It almost looks like you are looking at a three-dimensional object. This wasn't accidental. 3D graphics were one of the defining new characteristics of the PlayStation, and Sakamoto wanted that idea to become part of the visual identity.
The logo uses red, yellow, green and blue. Very simple colours, almost like something from a toy box, but combined with a fairly technical and abstract symbol. That combination is what I find interesting. The logo doesn't try to look hyper-futuristic. It is simple enough to work on a console, CD, poster, controller or piece of clothing. And maybe that's one of the reasons why it is still so recognizable today.
The controller became part of the same visual language. Instead of A, B, X and Y, designer Teiyu Goto chose four simple symbols: triangle, circle, cross and square. Goto even connected meanings to them. The triangle represented direction or viewpoint, the square represented a document or menu, while circle and cross were connected to decisions such as yes and no.
What I find interesting is that Sony was essentially creating its own visual language. You didn't need to read a word to understand that those four shapes belonged to PlayStation.
the first sound
Before you even reached a game, PlayStation already had its own sound.
The famous startup sequence was created by Takafumi Fujisawa, who designed the sound around the animated PlayStation logo. His inspiration was surprisingly simple: the feeling of walking into a cinema — that short moment of anticipation before something begins.
What I love is that the sound was also functional. The reverse swoosh could loop when the console had trouble reading a disc, quietly turning a technical signal into part of the PlayStation identity.
Fujisawa developed the sound in roughly two weeks, with the actual studio work taking only a couple of days. There was even an unused version where he whispered “PlayStation” over the sound, but Sony decided it made the console feel like it was literally speaking.
For me, this is a perfect example of PlayStation's attention to detail. The logo, animation and sound became one small ritual.
Music is probably the part where I feel the strongest connection.
A lot of PlayStation music from the 90s still sounds surprisingly modern today. Not because the technology was so advanced, but because many composers were influenced by music that existed outside the game industry: house, techno, jungle, drum and bass, breakbeat, rave, trance and later UK garage.
WipEout is the perfect example for me.
The game was released in 1995 and felt almost like someone had taken rave culture and placed it inside a futuristic racing game. The music wasn't simply background music. Psygnosis worked with artists from the actual electronic music scene, including Orbital, Leftfield and The Chemical Brothers. Later entries featured artists such as The Prodigy, Fluke, Underworld and Photek.