The Battle of Designers
By Miranda Galas
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 1
2 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
CONTENTS About Me Abstract Problem Purpose Intro Scope & Objectives Risks & Limitations Research Process Game Structure Testing Design Choices Reflection Works Cited
4 5 6 7 8 10 12 14 18 22 42 46 52 54 LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 3
ABOUT ME Miranda Galas is graduating with a BFA in Art and Visual Technology concentrating in Graphic Design at George Mason University, Fairfax VA. She is an innovative designer with extensive experience in the entire design process, from concept to production. She focuses on conceptualizing ideas into clean and meaningful visual experiences. She has also earned an Associate degree in Marketing at Northern Virginia Community College that taught her about market strategy development and implementation. This greatly enhanced her skills in visual communication to provide customized solutions that people will love to screenshot, share, or hang on their refrigerator. Miranda has been in the freelance design business for almost six years creating work for a wide range of clients. Passion for branding, editorial design, and packaging guides her job search. She plans to expand her abilities in UX/UI design after graduation. In her free time, she enjoys doing hyper-realistic drawings that delight people’s hearts.
4 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
ABSTRACT This book explains the reason, scope, and process behind the creation of LOGOBLITZ, the first logo design board game in the market. The game is a brief representation of the design process, creative thinking, and challenges that a graphic designer goes through when working with a client. The board game was engineered, illustrated, tested, and built by Miranda Galas as her Senior Design Project at George Mason University during the Spring semester of 2022.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 5
PROBLEM The so-called “refined design eye” comes with nothing else but practice, practice, and practice. I know from experience that many designers lack the personal motivation of tasking themselves with design challenges outside of school assignments, job tasks, or freelance projects. Not anymore! Logoblitz offers 300,000 possibilities of different design challenges that will get you out of your comfort zone.
“Daily practice has helped me keep my design skills sharp and I think designers of all skill levels can benefit from it.” — Jose Hoyos
6 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
PURPOSE Logoblitz was created for many reasons: •
To aid designers escape the designer’s block and “monotone” style by trying new design techniques and challenges.
•
To help design students improve their logo design skills and provide them with real-life scenarios of working with a client.
•
To assist high school students in understanding the workflow of a graphic designer, helping them make a decision about their future careers.
•
To give professional designers a break from the daily routine and to relax by doing what most designers love the most, designing a logo.
This board game is a learning tool built into a game where the player learns about the phases of the logo design process, the urgency of due dates, the cliches, the types of logos, and some principles of graphic design, while challenging creativity and sharing ideas.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 7
INTRO LOGOBLITZ is a crafting system type of board game that allows users to exercise one’s creativity and practice articulating thoughts behind a logo design while having fun. It provides a safe space for creative expression and experimentation where designers, and possibly non-designers as well, can create logos without the inhibiting pressure of a real client and the need of their paycheck. LOGOBLITZ is built around the six phases of the design process. These include the Client Research, Industry Discovery, Sketching, Design, Presentation, and Feedback phases. The round is divided into two parts. The first part occurs in real-time and it’s marked by the timer included in the game. The players will go through the first four phases simultaneously completing specific tasks until the time runs out. The tasks will require the players to write, draw, and color on the sheets provided. The second part of the round
8 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
is composed by the Presentation and Feedback phases. During the Presentation Phase, each player shares the work they did on the first part of the round, including the final logo design. Finally, during the Feedback Phase, the players vote the best and worst logo designs in the round, count the points, and announce the winner. You might be wondering how the players know what to design. Each round will have a different combination of variables that defines the logo design. During the round set-up, a set of cards are displayed. The three Main Cards determine the client and industry, the target demographic, and the location for that round. After that, each player will receive one Logo Card which defines the type of logo he or she will be designing. The reason for having different cards determine each variable is to ensure almost endless combinations and logo possibilities, making the game replayable.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 9
SCOPE & OBJECTIVES Engineer, illustrate, test, and build a board game that allows for creative expression, skills refinement, and constructive criticism, while representing the job of graphic designers and their relationship with a client.
10 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
Self-improvement objectives:
Professional objectives:
Design
Market Research
•
Learn and apply standards of board games’ package design.
•
Learn and create vector illustrations that appeal to my target audience while cutting through the clutter of board game shelves.
•
Write and design simple and comprehensive guiding instructions for the game.
Research & development •
Research how to engineer a board game from scratch.
•
Learn to create a project that allows for social interaction.
•
Research game mechanics and player experience before designing the game.
•
Conduct market and audience research to guarantee the successful introduction of the game in the market.
•
Ensure that my audience will be receptive to the game by having them play test it and provide feedback.
Project Management and Organization •
Create an outlined plan with deadlines to guarantee completion.
•
Use the class syllabus as a guideline.
•
Plan meetings with collaborators to test the game.
•
Conduct print vendor research to guarantee quality printing at the lowest price possible.
•
Manage printing proofs.
Testing •
Create comprehensive prototypes of the game for play testing.
•
Find various niches to test the game.
•
Learn the instructions and be able to explain them to my test groups.
•
Actively listen and apply feedback. LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 11
RISKS & LIMITATIONS Engineer, illustrate, test, and build a board game that allows for creative expression, skills refinement, and constructive criticism, while representing the job of graphic designers and their relationship with a client.
Time
Printing Costs
The main concern about creating an illustrated board game is time. There are only seven weeks for the production of the senior project, starting from the topic selection to the print window.
After researching the best quality and costeffective printing businesses in the area, I realized that because I will not be mass producing the board game, it is too expensive to make. Since I’m a college student with limited financial resources, I figured that the best option was to outsource most of the printing to my country of origin, Argentina. They offered me great quality for fifteen times less than the price offered in the US. As for the packaging and some other components, I decided to handcraft them.
On an interview with Time Magazine, the creator of the board game Pandemic explains that his first game took about six years. Therefore, creating Logoblitz, my first board game, is certainly a huge risk, but one that I’m willing to take.
12 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
Copyright, Patent, And Trademark It is unlikely that I’ll be applying for a patent or trademark for LOGOBLITZ because of the cost and time they require. Although copyright in the U.S. is granted to a board game when a physical version of its components and rules are created, I might consider registering LOGOBLITZ for copyright protection. However, intellectual property is only useful if the creator is prepared to take legal action and that can get really expensive, very quickly. For a board game to be patented, meaning to protect it from the making and selling of LOGOBLITZ by someone else without my permission, is very difficult nowadays. The game should meet the USPTO requirements of being new, useful, and non-obvious. The whole application might take years to be completed and the cost starts at $900 without legal help, and $7000 with legal help.
The title, logo, and slogan of the game can be protected by trademark which shows customers that I made the board game. This gives me protection against someone claiming that they made the board game. The application process may take 6 months to 1 year to be approved. The costs range between $225-$400 to file for a trademark without legal help, and $1,500-$2,000 with a lawyer. A better, cost-effective, and less time-consuming option is to apply for a formal copyright protection that gives me the right to file a lawsuit against someone for using my work without permission. The copyright registration ranges from $35 to $85 depending on the application. Copyright for board games protects all the artwork in the game, including design, illustrations, and text in the rule book. However, copyright does not protect the idea, the mechanics, nor the title of the game.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 13
RESEARCH I found a variety of useful resources that include journals, articles, and videos that break out the process of creating a board game, provide design challenges, and board game examples. Playing board games is a great way to learn more about game mechanics and gather ideas; however, board games can be very expensive. To solve this, I have found a free online game platform that allows me to play tons of board games for free. Another great tool for brainstorming game ideas are game reviews videos.
14 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
The main two resources I used to learn the basics of board game design and dive deeper into the theory around game mechanics are the following journals:
Brathwaite, Brenda, and Ian Schreiber. Challenges for Game Designers. Course Technology Cengage Learning, 2009.
Summary: Challenges for Game Designers is an excellent introduction to game design fundamentals that provides many specific hands-on board game practices or “challenges” accessible for beginners and/or professionals in game design. Each chapter covers a different topic, starting from the basics of game design to then diving into more specific areas like puzzle design, game mechanics, chance elements, strategy, multiplayer experience, and more. At the end of each chapter there are five challenges that allow the reader to apply the material, research, and expand into the topic.
Strengths: This book offers a great introduction on game design for beginners like me. It explains common terms in game design, how the process looks, where to look for inspiration, the common constraints in game design, the different elements of chance available and how to incorporate them, as well as what to look for when testing the game. Weaknesses: The book lacks details on certain topics applicable into my type of game. Also, no crafting-type games are explained.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 15
Grow, April, et al. “Crafting in Games.” Digital Humanities Quarterly, vol. 011, no. 4, 22 Dec. 2017, www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/ vol/11/4/000339/000339.html#. Accessed 15 Mar. 2022. Summary: This paper carries a systematic analysis of crafting systems within games. It identifies seven features to be used as guides to better understand how different crafting games function as a creative and artistic medium for players. These features are “recipe definition (how well-defined are the player steps for creating a virtual object), fidelity of action (how detailed is the player-performed enactment of crafting), completion constraints (how is creation constrained by virtual ‘resources’), variable outcome (how much can the result vary when the player performs the same crafting actions), system recognition of outcome (to what degree do other game systems ‘understand’ and take account of what a player has made), player expressiveness (how big is the creative space provided to the
16 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
player), and progression (how do the possibilities of crafting change over time).” (April, 1) Strengths: After learning about the fundamentals of board game design, I noticed the need to expand my knowledge of my game mechanic. This article teaches me how to carry an in-depth analysis on this mechanic in order to classify my game, better target a visual-oriented audience, and enhance the player experience. Weaknesses: This article does not have any weaknesses, but it does highlight what other resources are missing in terms of this type of game mechanic.
PROCESS
“Game design is the process of creating the content and rules of a game. Good game design is the process of creating goals that a player feels motivated to reach and rules that a player must follow as he makes making meaningful decisions in pursuit of those goals.” — Brenda Brathwaite 18 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
There is no right or wrong order in which game design works. You can start with an idea on the theme and build the game mechanics and player experience from that, or you may want to build a game that uses a specific mechanic and then create a story around it. The idea I started with was to create a board game about logo design. Of course, this idea was extremely vague, I did not know what the game would entail, what components the game would have, or how I was going to engineer it, but it was a fair start. My classmates and professors were already drawn in by it and excited to try it. The steps that followed were challenging and stressful, but super fun to make. After reading and watching videos about game design, I learned how the process of designing a board game should be broken up. The first step is to identify a game mechanic, a game theme, and the player experience. Once all three are in place, the prototype phase starts, which includes the rough creation of game components, game rules, and victory conditions. After that, it is time to test the game as many times and with as many different people as possible. I have divided the whole process into three steps; however, due to time constraints many of these steps will be overlapping each other.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 19
STEP 1:
STEP 2:
a. Research
e. Rapid Prototype:
Learn about game design. Brainstorm ideas about the following.
Identify the components and apply game rules and victory conditions to that. At this point, focus on the functionality of the components rather than the aesthetics.
b. Game Mechanics The engine of the game. In Brathwaite’s journal, she explains that “Game mechanic is another term for [...] ‘rule.’ […] Mechanics are how something works. If you do X, then Y happens. If X is true, then you can do Y.” Mechanics identify the setup rules (how the game begins), victory conditions (how the game is won), progression of play (who goes first and how), and player actions (what players can do and what effect their actions have).
c. Game Theme The context around the mechanics that keeps the players engaged. What the game is about.
d. Player Experience The decisions that players make and the influence they have on the game state or outcome. The significance of these decisions is what makes the game fun, interesting, and compelling.
20 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
f. Testing Play session and take notes to identify strengths and weaknesses in the design. The game is tested with different groups of people, including nondesigners, design students, and professors.
g. Revision Apply feedback from testing to improve the weaknesses and reaffirm the strengths.
h. Repeat Go back to rapid prototyping, play test and revise as many times as needed.
STEP 3: i. Design The game is art. Decorate the parts with the target audience in mind. Decide on the color palette, typography, and illustration style.
week #
STEP 1
STEP 2
STEP 3
1 2 3 4
j. Final Building Print and assemble components, create the timer, build the packaging, design the process book. Finally, put the pieces together for final presentation.
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
FINAL PRESENTATION
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 21
GAME STRUCTURE In the following pages, I explain the structure and components that make up LOGOBLITZ, from its core mechanics to its tangible components. I provide details, pictures, and examples of each topic to better understand how the game works.
22 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
Game Mechanic At its core, LOGOBLITZ is a crafting game mechanic. This mechanic allows for an interactive experience in which the players have to create structures, or logos in this case, without the cost, effort, and pressure of the real world. LOGOBLITZ follows a system with undefined recipes, described by April Grow as a system that “tend[s] to specify rules by which a player can craft, with the results determined by the interaction of those rules,” she continues, “there is not a hardcoded link from input to output but, rather, a large space of possibility reachable from a given set of input components. Players can create things that are individual and perhaps even unique, if the possibility space is large enough.” This is exactly what I want my game to offer, a wide range of possible outcomes that vary from player to player
and from round to round and allows the players to expand their skills and creative mindset. With this type of system the player’s knowledge and creativity levels are completely exposed. Other mechanics that apply are dexterity (a player’s physical dexterity is tested), real time (players act within a time limit simultaneously), scenario-driven (a specific scenario is chosen before starting each game), and voting. Difficulties: This step was certainly the hardest to develop. There are close to a hundred board game mechanics out there and they are hard to understand just by reading about them. The resources I found offered tons of examples for each mechanic, but without playing or knowing the game, it is very hard to imagine.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 23
Game Theme LOGOBLITZ is a game about logo design. It is intended to simulate a graphic designer’s life, specifically freelance logo design for different clients and industries. I started by listing the process and characteristics of a logo designer:
24 |
•
Go through a creative process: Client Research, Industry Discovery, Sketching, Designing, Presenting, and Feedback.
•
Handle multiple projects at the same time.
•
Meet due dates.
•
Be versatile and adaptable.
•
Have effective communication skills and articulate ideas behind a design.
•
Actively ask, listen, and apply feedback.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
•
Have good organizational skills.
•
Have knowledge in design principles.
•
Have skills in transforming ideas and written communication into meaningful visuals.
•
Have a conceptual design mind.
My intent was to embody most of these characteristics into LOGOBLITZ, without making the game too complex so that designers-to-be could also play.
Player Experience LOGOBLITZ calls for tons of creativity, both visual and verbal, as well as craft and drawing abilities. Therefore, the game requires the players to have certain knowledge in logo design to be fun and guarantee better results. It also demands that all players are at the same skill-level, otherwise the voting phase will not be fair enough. After reading Brathwaite’s analysis on the type of decisions on a board game, LOGOBLITZ is a game that is classified much higher in terms of skill rather than luck. Player’s decisions when creating a logo highly influence the outcome of the game, in other words, how many points you get from the voting phase. The type of decisions are blind decisions since it is not clear ahead of time what outcome the design decisions will have.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 25
Game Components LOGOBLITZ has the following components:
26 |
•
100 client cards
•
13 audience cards
•
15 locations cards
•
10 logo cards
•
60 chance cards
•
4 notepads
•
1 timer
•
10 graphite pencils
•
1 set of colored pencils
•
6 sets of 3 voting tokens (1st, 2nd, Last)
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
CLIENT CARDS The Client Card belongs to the group of Main Cards that are displayed during the round setup. They determine who the client is and what is the industry to which it belongs. There are about a hundred Client Cards on LOGOBLITZ, with room for many more. Some examples of client cards are: •
Coffee Shop (food)
•
Airline (transport)
•
Theme Park (entertainment)
•
Football Team (sports)
•
Pharmacy (health)
•
Toy Store (retail)
•
Real Estate (companies)
•
Chef (professions)
•
University (education)
•
Dating app (online communications)
SPORTS BASKETBALL TEAM
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 27
AUDIENCE CARDS The Audience Card also belongs to the group of Main Cards that are displayed during the round setup. They determine who the target demographic is for that specific client. There are thirteen Audience Cards on LOGOBLITZ. All audience cards available are:
28 |
•
Couples
•
Kids (4-12)
•
Teenagers (13-20)
•
Young adults (21-35)
•
Adults (36-65)
•
Elders (66-80)
•
Wealthy people
•
Athletes and sport fans
•
Business people
•
Artists
•
Hippies
•
Female audience
•
Male audience
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
BUSINESS PEOPLE
LOCATION CARDS The Location Card is the third card that belongs to the group of Main Cards that are displayed during the round setup. They determine where the business was founded or where it will operate. There are fifteen Location Cards on LOGOBLITZ, with room for more. Some examples of client cards are: •
Miami, FL
•
New York City, NY
•
Los Angeles, CA
•
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
•
Paris, France
•
Sydney, Australia
•
Cairo, Egypt
•
Maui, Hawaii
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 29
LOGO CARDS The Logo Card are also displayed after the Main Cards during the round setup. They determine what type of logo each player will be designing. There are ten Logo Cards on LOGOBLITZ. All Logo Cards available are:
30 |
•
Logo symbol
•
Abstract Mark
•
Mascot
•
Combination Mark
•
Emblem
•
Letter Mark
•
Word Mark
•
Negative Space
•
3D
•
Symmetric
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
MASCOT Include illustrated character. Often cartoon-like and fun. Familiarize the audience.
CHANCE CARDS One Chance Card is drawn by each player when the timer beeps randomly during the game. They give the player helpful or harmful challenges that the players can chose to use or lose two points. There are about 50 Chance Cards on LOGOBLITZ, with room for many more. Some examples of Chance Cards are: •
Logo Spy: You get to peak at what the other designers are doing whenever you want!
•
Team Up: You can team up with any designer you want. Blend your designs or ideas into one amazing logo! The points count individually.
•
Colors: You must use green or lose two points.
•
Logo Style: You must use a script font or lose a point.
•
Slogan: Your client asks you about an idea for a slogan, if you come up with one, you earn two points.
•
Freeze: Your client is calling! Put your pencil down and stop working for 1 minute!
FREEZE Your client is calling! Put your pencil down and stop working for 1 minute!
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 31
NOTEPADS There are four Notepads on LOGOBLITZ, one for each of the first four phases. They include specific questions and tasks to be completed by the players. The design is simple enough to avoid distractions. During the round setup, each player must take one sheet from each of the four notepads and stack them in order. The Notepads are:
32 |
•
Phase 1 | Research Phase
•
Optional | Industry Discovery
•
Phase 2 | Sketching
•
Phase 3 | Design
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
•
Phase 1 | Research Phase This sheet is filled out by the player on the right and then go back to its original owner. It is the blueprint of the logo, it describes the back story of the client, gives a name to the business, details the audience, and so on. The sheet will have guiding questions to give the designer as much information as possible.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 33
•
Optional | Industry Discovery Phase With access to the Internet, the player researches the competition and the industry around the client to discover the standards and cliches in the logos from that industry.
34 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
•
Phase 2 | Sketching Phase During this phase, players brainstorm ideas and develop logo concepts by drawing on the paper. All sketches should be on black and white for now.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 35
•
Phase 3 | Design Phase Finally, the player choses the best logo concept from their sketches, refines it, and adds color during the Design Phase. It’s a good idea to make it big enough so everyone can appreciate it during the Presentation and Feedback Phases.
36 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
TIMER The timer has two main functions. One is to time the first part of the round, from the Research Phase to the Design Phase. The playing time can be selected to range from 20 to 60 minutes in 5-minute increments. The second function is to assign the players a chance card. Here the timer will beep randomly throughout the playing time. The timer will not beep during the first or last 25% of the allocated playing time to avoid clogging the players too much. Depending on the amount of time chosen, the timer can beep up to three times. Playtime (in minutes)
# of beeps
20 to 30
1
35 to 45
2
50 to 60
3
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 37
The timer was engineered and assembled by Matias Gipler, a mechanical engineer that graduated from George Mason University. He modeled the enclosure in CAD, engineered the electronics, and used an Arduino to program the timer functions. We decided to make the timer a cube with a screen on all four sides to increase visibility from all players sitting around a table. The timer enclosure was 3D printed and then sanded to obtain a smoother finish. To match the aesthetic of the board game, I painted the sides of the timer using LOGOBLITZ color palette.
Timer specific components:
38 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
•
Arduino Nano controlling the timer functions.
•
An integrated battery that can be charged with a micro-USB cable.
•
Three buttons to navigate the time selection.
•
Four seven-segment display screens that show the countdown.
•
A standard 5-watt speaker bolted onto the inside top of the enclosure.
•
On/off button located on the bottom of the enclosure.
•
3D-printed enclosure.
VOTING TOKENS Each player will receive a First, Second, and Last Place token to use during the Feedback Phase that takes place right after all players presented their logos and ideas. Players should carefully listen to the other players because they will be voting for their favorite and least favorite of the logos. When voting, designers should have in mind the client, audience and location of the business, the type of logo each player has, the principles of logo design, the story behind the client, as well as the standards and cliches in the industry.
1
st
2
nd
Once the player has decided on the ranking, he will place their chosen token facing down onto each logo. When all players are done voting, the tokens are revealed and the points are counted. The players can then share feedback between each other.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 39
Victory Conditions LOGOBLITZ is divided into two parts. The first part is determined by the timer. Once the timer gets to zero, pencils down! No more drawing. This type of winning condition is often called “go the furthest.” The goal of the game is to accomplish the most or doing the best before time runs out. On “go the furthest,” victory conditions are detached from the endgame condition, meaning that after the time runs out, the outcomes are compared, and the winner is chosen. That is when the second part of LOGOBLITZ begins. Without a timer, the player will go around the table briefly presenting their clients and design choices and presenting their logo to the other players. After this, the player vote. They do this by placing the previously mentioned tokens (first, second, and last place) face down on top of the respective logo. Once the votes are counted,
40 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
there are other points that also influence a player’s score. The point system works like this: Scenario
Points
1st Place Token
2
2nd Place Token
1
No tokens
0
Last Place Token
-1
Unused Chance Card
-2
TESTING This is a full or partial play session to identify the strengths and weaknesses in the design. Although my game is mostly designed for designers and student designers, non-designers could also give it a try. The experts say that every game should be tested on a wide variety of players; therefore, I’ve divided my test groups into four categories:
42 |
•
Young non-designers
•
Adult non-designers
•
Design Students in college (due to time restrictions, the third test will be done later in the semester and will be included on a separated document)
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
“The systematic testing of game play, systems, balance, and interface to find all the errors, inconsistencies, or issues and report them to the design team.” — Brenda Brathwaite
FIRST TEST The first test was done with a group of young nondesigners, that included two high school students and one college student majoring in engineering. They did their best applying creativity and enjoyed the game. The outcomes were very impressive for the most part. There were some design terms that they did not know about, like the types of logos or what to do in the concept development phase. Some of the findings from the first test: Problem
Solution
My audience did not know about types of logos
I need to define the type of logo on the cards, and provide a couple of examples on the rule book
Due to time restrictions, the concept development phase is not useful, and people tend to skip directly into the sketching phase for concept creation
Remove the concept development phase
The research phase was lacking information
Add guiding questions to the sheet.
The game was lacking player interaction
Add design challenges and player interactions through chance cards
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 43
SECOND TEST The second test was done with a group of three adult non-designers. The group was composed by a lawyer in the late 30s, a 57 year-old biochemist, and a 56 years-old pharmacist. The game was not as smooth as with the first group. The adults were confused for the majority of the game. They needed help in terms of creativity and design principles.
Main finding from the second test:
Problem
Some confusion and frustration among the players
Solution Target LOGOBLITZ to a younger audience: - Non-designers from 15 to 30 years old - Individuals with a design or artistic background from 20 to 50 years old Add a warning on the box about the creativity and knowledge requirement.
44 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 45
DESIGN CHOICES
Name The name is composed of two words: LOGO – BLITZ
My goal was to define what the game is about through the name without making it too obvious, just like a designer should do when designing a logo. By including the word “Logo” on the name, it automatically alludes to the main product of the game. Blitz is informally defined by the Oxford dictionary as “a sudden, energetic, and concentrated effort, typically on a specific task.” The task in this case, is the design of the logo. Sudden, energetic, and concentrated effort suggests the challenge of racing against the time limit. Also, the Merriam Webster dictionary defines the word “Blitz” or “Blitzkrieg” as a “fast intensive nonmilitary campaign or attack.” This suggests the idea of competition among players.
46 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
Cover To match the name, I designed a cover that also suggests competition of designers. A group of different stereotypical designers are chasing each other and using common design tools from Adobe software as their weapons.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 47
Type The fonts used in the board game are a combination of two Sans Serif typefaces that will guarantee easy readability from any distance in a short amount of time.
secondary typography
Roboto Light
primary typography
Sofia Pro Bold ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@#$%^&*()_
Bold Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@#$%^&*()_
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@#$%^&*()_
Light Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@#$%^&*()_
Medium ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@#$%^&*()_
Medium Italic ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890!@#$%^&*()_
48 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
Color Color palette is bright and vibrant - using a variety of hues and shades. Subjects will be cheerful and eye-catching, drawing in people’s attention. In a market crowded with board games the design needed to shine among others. Meanwhile, the color for the background will vary on each set of cards to better differentiate the piles.
PANTONE 0521 C #f3b2db C2 M40 Y0 K0 R243 G178 B219
PANTONE 114 C #fcdc3d C6 M13 Y90 K0 R242 G211 B53
PANTONE 158 C #ed7522 C1 M63 Y87 K0 R241 G124 B56
PANTONE 353 C #79dea8 C49 M0 Y47 K0 R121 G222 B168
PANTONE 339 C #00b189 C84 M0 Y63 K0 R0 G177 B137
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 49
Illustrations The visuals for the game cards will be vector-based illustrations. They are wavy and trippy to appeal to modern and younger audiences of designers. The flat illustrations will have enough personality to catch people’s eye but will not be too busy to take people away from the game.
50 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 51
REFLECTION I am a huge board game lover and a very talented logo designer, so I decided to combine these two for my senior project. I have never designed a board game before and I did not know anything about game design. However, I thought it was a super interesting and fun challenge to do. After researching graphic design boardgames in the market, I realized there are only a few, and none of them makes the player actually craft a logo during the game. As my first board game, it is important to analyze what went well and where there is room for improvement to better manage projects in the future. Working on a project of this magnitude taught me the value of having clear expectations and deadlines. Dividing the entire process into smaller and attainable tasks with due dates was extremely helpful to keep me up to date.
52 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
I did encounter some difficulties along the way related to time and printing costs that I was able to overcome with planning, research, and peer help. Another issue I had was finding the time to test the game with my design classmates. With such a tight deadline, it was hard to find a group of designers available to test the game. However, I plan on continuing the game after senior project deadline. I am so happy with the results and the game itself that I will certainly continue working on it and hopefully bring the game into the market. For my next steps, I am thinking on replacing the timer with a mobile app. This will make the production much cheaper and lower the selling price. The app will have all the timer functions plus the option of uploading a photo of your final logo to the Internet and have other players vote online as well. Thus, creating a LOGOBLITZ community.
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 53
WORKS CITED Brathwaite, Brenda, and Ian Schreiber. Challenges for Game Designers. Course Technology Cengage Learning, 2009. Grow, April, et al. “Crafting in Games.” Digital Humanities Quarterly, vol. 011, no. 4, 22 Dec. 2017, www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/11/4/000339/000339.html#. Accessed 15 Mar. 2022. Sargeantson, Emily. “How to Protect Board Games with Copyrights, Patents and Trademarks.” My Kind of Meeple, 14 May 2020, https://mykindofmeeple.com/protect-board-gamecopyrights-patents-\trademarks/.
54 |
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
LOGOBLITZ by Miranda Galas
| 55
This book explains the reason, scope, and process behind the creation of LOGOBLITZ, the first logo design board game in the market. The game is a brief representation of the design process, creative thinking, and challenges that a graphic designer goes through when working with a client. The board game was engineered, illustrated, tested, and built by Miranda Galas as her Senior Design Project at George Mason University during the Spring semester of 2022.
56 |