The diving board & the designer.
We all have our own pandemic story.
Mine first found me in 2021 at a part-time job during my lunch break, researching the meaning of “Parcheesi”.
Throughout 2020, I had realized that I was lying to myself. I was coming to a dead-end in my career path because I didn’t know my choices, and I thought that the right move was to keep pursuing what I thought others would want me to pursue. I ignored the fact that every molecule in my body was screaming for me to put down the careerfinder exercises and look in the mirror.
No matter how much I wanted to deny it, my skills wandered within the creative: I found joy in designing the latest a-frame signage and promotional campaigns, but instead I was trying to make myself believe that bookkeeping and collecting inventory was all the rage. Looking in the mirror wasn’t easy, but I owed it to myself to - and I jumped head first into the creative pool.
In my pursuit of repositioning my career down a more creative path, the internet told me I needed a portfolio. I had no prior experience in a graphic design school, so not only did I not know what this was, but I also didn’t know what to put in it…
I’M A DESIGN PROFESSOR a bolded headline screamed as I mindlessly scrolled through my Instagram reels, AND YOU SHOULD HAVE THIS IN YOUR PORTFOLIO. I watched this 60 second video seemingly sent from the Universe with my full attention.
“Make a board game,” this professor explained. “It shows every step of the design process from concept to creation”. A light bulb grew. I could totally do that, I thought to myself. How difficult could it be?
Which brings us to me, sitting behind the register counter of a part-time job on my lunch break, researching the meaning of “Parcheesi”.
For the remainder of my 30-minute break, I jotted down ideas of what the coolest-board-game-ever would look like and how could it be different from what has already been done. From there, I got to work.
The Concept:
We’ve known the tale of heroes versus villains for as long as humans have been strolling along this orb: one does a bad thing, the other does a good thing, and usually one of them wins for a moment until the next episode. So in my game, this principle is applied… one does a good thing, the other a bad thing, and one of them wins for a moment until the next episode.
The mechanics came by imagining what a superhero and a villain’s battle would look like. There’s an attack, a dodge, some weapons, and a twist. Shake that all into a board-game martini, and the concept came rushing in with that first sip.
Then came the fun part.
The Creation:
I had never worked so intensely in Adobe Illustrator or Procreate before. Bleeds were for cuts, margins were for note-taking, and artboards were for artists. RGB vs CMYK? Who is she???
Despite not being familiar with the technology, designing the overall look of this game came swiftly. It was a rare occasion where I knew exactly what each character was to look like and how I wanted each card laid out. Think, “Modern Comic Book”. Afterall, that’s where all the superheroes and supervillains lived, right?
With my Apple iPad and my 2016 Macbook Pro, I got to work in designing the artwork. In a time where I was still trying to find an art style, I simply allowed myself to just be creative. I really didn’t know what I was doing, but giving myself the time to take liberties and experiment opened the diving board for me to jump headfirst into the world of graphic design as a whole.
The Conclusion:
From what I realized throughout this entire project is that a majority of the skill in a designer’s work is found when the idea doesn’t make sense. In the moments I had to go back to the drawing board because a rule was too restricting or a card had too much power in beta-testing, the easiest thing to do would be to can the whole thing and watch the work shred to bits.
The ol’ “I tried” with a lackadaisical shrug and a self-pat on the shoulder.
As much as this would have been a relief in the moment, it wouldn’t have been in the long run. The true skill lies in knowing how to take a step back, collect your thoughts, and problem solve. If the card had too much power, then what needed to happen so that it didn’t? If a rule was too restricting, why?
Trial and error, yes’ and no’s: the constant roller coaster of a journey this project brought and what every project after will bring. Design is a puzzle of 10,000 pieces and to get to the bigger picture, you have to find your process.
I originally started this passion project to practice what I thought being a graphic designer meant: an artist who uses the Adobe Illustrator pen tool to make pretty shapes.
Instead, I received a slap-in-the-face clarification on what being a graphic designer actually meant: a visual communicator who uses a combination of art, strategy, and technology to solve problems and mold ideas into form.
I have only touched the surface in this journey, but this passion project gave me the step I needed to do so. I’m grateful for where my pandemic story brought me and am excited to see where my next passion project will continue to take me.
