I created and designed a board game for the International Society of Typographic Designers's "Milestones" Brief. After much thinking and exploration of ideas, I used my own concepts along with peer feedback to make a narrative told through a board game. Players go through the game star by star and read each of the cards to understand my story.
Booklet Concept Sketches
Booklet Concept Sketches
Poster Sketches
Trading Card Sketches
Since the game was based upon my own milestones, the details were carefully thought out in relation to my own life. The colors were taken from old pictures and doll outfits, the typography based off old and newer catalogs. While I did have to do some revisions to my original design elements, they became a part of the identity I built. Throughout the creation of elements such as my playing cards, I worked hard to ensure I told the story through purely expressive typography.
First round of playing cards before I revised my color palettes. My first concept for the board game went in the more literal direction before I updated it to better reflect the purpose of the design.
Revised cards after not only revising my color palette, but adding a gradient to maintain more consistency. I also replaced one of my fonts to be a softer transition from childhood to adulthood. The board game got a major revamp when I created a path weaving in and out of the logo.
My game and the cards needed a housing unit, for which I repurposed an old American Girl box. I knew I wanted to continue the narrative pink line motif, but I took it a step further by creating three separate lines that all connected to each other across the panels. I did this by tracing the original box, then tracing over the box in Illustrator. The colors and typography were added as well.
During this project, I conducted user testing to ensure that my idea was successful with outside users. I explained the instructions and had the users go through the cards. This was highly successful, as they not only understood the story from the milestones, but were able to relate their own childhood experiences to mine. I had also experienced this feeling with others who were familiar with the American Girl brand. My entire purpose of this game was to help connect to others who experienced the same milestones, so this testing was a step in the right direction.
The final printed products. The last element in this set was a token in the form of a mini American Girl doll, to represent me going through the various milestones in my life. I was proud of the way I had managed to use typography and a new, previously unused medium to tell my story.