Boardgame Redesign.
I started by breaking down the existing cards into 2 defining characteristics and used those ideas to come up with thematic ties in potential categories. To get a better idea of what theme might be more flexible and fitting to the gameplay involved I connected the action cards to building types.
After I had settled on the concept of mapping existing card characteristics to different types of buildings things really took off. I began experimenting with how the banners and titles on the cards would work with some general placement of artwork. Design A focused on a stock market card and corresponding board. Design B was focused on conveying how large the skyscraper was by having it extend off the card. Design C played with changing the border of the cards to convey how it was used differently than the others. offsetting content left and right. Design D again mapped a card to a corresponding board with a rough breakdown of how points were scored.
Early on the focus was more on clarity and consistency in how each card type would be displayed. Only the essential details were added to the original prototypes.
I knew I wanted to highlight the iconography without cropping or cutting anything off like the original designs did so I left the cards fairly sparse.
I printed out a few samples to test alongside the existing cards to see if any major elements were missing. A couple issues became apparent. 1. It was difficult to tell exactly which color the cards were, based on the narrow borders and 2. As you got more cards, you were unable to see what cards were already in your hand. Throughout the game you find yourself having to draw and hold multiple cards, so the card's main art isn't always fully visible.
The original game got around the usability issue of being unable to see full cards by placing an icon at the top right and left of the cards. Unfortunately, the iconography used in the original was abstract and hard to remember, failing to account for the design heuristic of recognition rather than recall.
To rectify these issues I recreated my new iconography as simple white outlines to increase usability and clearly map to the full color icon on the card.
I started by addressing the 2 findings I made earlier in the initial design by adding white outline icons and colorblind friendly card descriptions to the top of the cards.
After trying out several iterations I landed on a circular attention call that gave a focal point to the card. With all this newly freed up space I added some texture, mirroring the board that was redesigned to match the new theme (see board below).
Created a printed version of the game showcasing the entirety of the project as compared to the original.
For discussions about my work or any future projects feel free to reach me at coreyuxdesign@gmail.com
