The Pitch – The Game of Graphic Design

Quickly!! Only 60 hours to go!

Everybody loves a good board game don’t they. I’ve got fond memories of playing games as a kid and the fun was seemingly endless. From The Game of Life, Coppit and Cluedo, to those frustrating family sessions of Operation, the times were all good.

Unfortunately for my family, playing Operation was the closest I ever got to being a Doctor (sorry Mum). I might have been a bit more inspired to work hard at school and aim to take the Hippocratic Oath, but my medical career ended when I threw a strop for not being able to successfully remove that flipping slice of bread from the stomach in Operation! Now, I’m not in any way suggesting that the demise of NHS should be blamed on MB Games, but just imagine what life could be like if they’d made the ‘Bread Basket’ procedure a little easier. Fair play if you ever succeeded. Bask in the glory of your well deserved 1000 points.

As everyone knows, the grand daddy of all board games is Monopoly. The game that can make and break friendships in the space of an evening is much loved thanks to its simple concept and its scalability. The depth of game play expands from the board into the realms of entrepreneurship when players are forced to create shady business dealings with fellow contestants in order to get ahead and ultimately crush the opposition to reign supreme.

I’m not going to get into a debate about whether its a good thing or not, but you can’t deny that where lessons in Capitalism are concerned, Monopoly is a great teacher. That’s the beautiful thing about about board games – they have the capacity to teach as well as entertain.

So, what the flippidy chuff has all this got to do with a design blog?

Well, aside from the obvious fact that games have to be visually designed, I was recently told about an interesting project idea to create a game based around Graphic Design. The idea is to create a fun board game with the intention of educating non-designers and more specifically, clients, giving a greater understanding of the creative process and the role a designer plays. Based in New York, the boardgame is the brainchild of Fatimah Kabba. Here’s some more information…

The Pitch: The Game of Graphic Design

This concept began as a late night discussion with an advertising friend, and turned into my undergraduate thesis.

I wanted to “rebrand” the preconceptions about graphic design, I wanted friends, family, clients, and the general public to have a new found respect for the field, the legitimacy of which I think is too often minimized or entirely over looked. Here is the general breakdown of how this project came to be:

Concept:
All great design begins with one thing: a great idea. This idea is the root of every well produced, beautiful, or savvy execution. Whether it’s the representation of a brand by understanding the audience, the consideration of a books content when creating a cover design, or the basis of apolitical campaign that goes on to influence millions. As designers we have the ability to influence a world that is more aware of and impacted by design than it realizes.

Objective:
Communicate the premise of graphic design and make it accessible to everyone, especially non-creatives, and create a product that helps us form a community, collaborate, and invent, exactly what I believe design intends to do.

Solution:
Create the game of graphic design. A game that allows everyone, not just designers or creatives, but your younger brother, your grandma who can’t click a computer mouse or your best friend who’s an economics major, to better understand and engage in the creative process.

– Game photographed by: Nick Bologna

Fatimah has obviously spent a lot of time, effort and money producing a working prototype and the level of detail is nothing short of amazing, from the mock moleskin notebooks, right down to the laser etching and milled die. Following some great feedback, Fatimah has now started a Kickstarter project to raise funds to take the idea to the next stage. You find out more about the Kickstarter project here…

It’s an interesting idea. Being a Graphic Designer is a really fun job, albeit a little stressful and exhausting at times! As designers of any field will tell you, it’s hugely rewarding to work through a creative process and finally see the fruits of your labour brought into being. I do wonder however, if it’s possible to get across the nuances of the job while keeping the concept simple and the game play fun.

With just 60 hours to go, the Kickstarter project is a little short of it’s intended $10,000 target. Hopefully a few more backers will pledge before the deadline but even if the target isn’t reached, I hope Fatimah manages to secure funding from other sources or catches the eye of a game manufacturer. Perhaps MB Games would like to make amends for their mistake with Operation and come up with the bread! Just don’t make it too hard this time, ok? 😉

Game on!