The Design Journey – The path to a great results.

That word… Design – The Design Journey

Design is many things, across many different mediums. You may hear the word ‘Design’ being used and ‘over’ used in many places. In business, I have on occasion felt that the word ‘Design’ can have negative connotations when talking to non-design based businesses.

The word ‘design’… that expensive word, can bring MD’s out in a financial rash – Design = expense. Design shouldn’t be seen solely as an expense, it should be seen as an investment in your business, whether you are

Design should be more than just taste or making something pretty, it’s many things depending on the niche and problem it is trying to solve. I am a visual designer with a history of creating websites, banners, brands, animations, and game content. My attitude to design, it should solve a problem, convey a feeling or a message or all of that was mentioned. Design should be applied in a way that can push your product, message or marketing material to the next step using visuals, imagery and media, I like to create pieces that invoke excitement, create buzz and perhaps sell a product depending on the challenge.

I have created some illustrations to capture the nuances of the creative design Journey as it works for me. This isn’t a step-by-step process, it’s more discussion on how the journey often looks, with a slightly humorous slant.

Design is a Journey

With design, it can take time to arrive at the final result. It takes time to explore the relevant paths before finalising the best route to take in order to achieve the best outcome. People see this = The result

The Design Journey - you take a lot away from a journey
Journey Hidden Behind Results

When the journey can look like this

‘Why not just use the one path?’ or ‘It looks easy’ I am glad in one respect that it ‘looks’ easy – maybe I did something right. Perhaps it’s the path I took to a slick or polished outcome, perhaps it’s practice.

Squiggle path to success - design

Not always an easy road

Quality results which applies to design is rarely ‘easy’. Occasionally very quick – but not easy. If you went with your first unresearched approach it may look something like this.

Comic Sans… = no

But it was quick!

Going with your first design isn’t necessarily good design, effective or as it should be for the task. You may strike it lucky, but why leave business down to luck? Fast isn’t strictly good, it’s just ‘quick’ and ‘quick’ isn’t always best.

Design that looks straightforward in the end, may have taken different routes to success. When starting a substantial project I like to plan, like with most journeys. When creating a design it can be similar, how much is the budget, time, does it have brand look and feel, who is it for, market research, these are all factors that should be considered when creating a design, be it a website or a product.

With design, it can be as if cutting a path through bracken

Plan your journey

Before going on a long trip, do you plan what you are going to take? What if you are going away for two weeks and fail to pack tooth past, under-wear, or a passport? You plan it. A good design service should be the same for anything of size – granted you don’t need to plan for your regular trip to a metaphorical trip to the shop, you already know that route.

I often have a destination or a planned end. But my root make look something like this. Exploring all of the best roots and discovering from time to time better ways of doing things. Ideas can be tricky to ‘Process’ and itemise but the end results will show something.

Design Forks

Design Diagram
Sketch or paths for a project

A polished design

A good design can be part of polishing something or pushing an existing concept to it’s maximum potential.

Saving the best polish

I hope you have enjoyed having an insight into my design journey. If you would like to share my approach or sign up to my newsletter that would be great. I can sherpa you to creating something that you could be proud of.

You can reach me here : Design

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Speed tips for Photoshop layers!

Speed tips and shortcuts for Photoshop layers!

If like me you need work layers in Photoshop any time saving measure is a bonus. I have a compiled a short list of shortcuts for making the best use of Photoshop’s layers for both the Mac and PC – Enjoy!

(Swap CMD for CTRL on Windows)

Photoshop Layer Icons
Photoshop Layer icons
Photoshop Layer UI
Layer Graphics

Change the layer order,
move it up and down :

  • Cmd+[ Move Down
  • Cmd+] Move Up 
  • Cmd+Shift+] = to move it to the bottom of the stack
  • Cmd+Shift+[ = Move it to the top of the stack

Direct select a layer

With move tool selected (V) hold Cmd to highlight the layers directly from the art board. This will also highlight groups.

Duplicate a layer 

Ideal for copying a layer! Cmd + J to copy a selected layer! Or you can drag the selected onto the ‘New” icon! OR right click and duplicate – A personal fave.

Colour Coordinated

In addition to organizing you layers into folder and groups, why not colour coordinate the layers so you glance at groups? Brown for dirt, green for sea etc. Right click and select a colour.

New Layer Cmd+Shift + N brings up the new layer dialogue.

Cycle Through Blend Modes

Need to see what a multiply, saturation, or overlay will look like on the fly?

Shift + (Minus or plus, top right of the keyboard)

Layer Opacity
With the layer selected you can quickly change its opacity by pressing >

Shift + (Minus or plus, top right of the keyboard)
Shift + 22, 30, 23 (a number from the top row) typing the number in quick succession will change the layers opacity percentage. Hold shift and then press “22” the layer will be 22% “30” = 30 %.

Very handy for digital painting or retouching.

Group Layers

Select your layers and press Cmd + G to group them together. If you are not grouping your numerous layers… you should start. For sanity’s sake.

The original text for this was created and added to blogger in 2016 (Jimm Odell Blog). This has since been tweaked and added to this blog – the professional blog.

Easiest way to make a Photoshop brush – short tutorial

The easiest way to make a Photoshop brush. This is a short tutorial on how to make a simple Photoshop brush in simple easy-to-follow steps. No fuss, no headaches.
I have used this exact same technique for making brushes over the years as a designer.

It is straightforward to make your custom brushes in Photoshop ( or Adobe Photoshop ) as an overview. All you will need to do in essence is draw your shape or item on a blank document and turn this selection into your new Photoshop brush.

The core steps : Start with creating your brush, defining it, and adding it to your palette! Let us draw a shape on black on a white background and see easiest way to do it.

Now to the steps on the easiest way to make a Photoshop brush.

1 ) New Document

1 ) Open PS and make a new document – 300 x 300 px and 72 DPI for good measure, make sure the background is set to white. ( You also work with other size and resolutions if you prefer )

2 ) Create Your Brush

2 ) Working in black and white (Shortcut ‘D’ for black and white) draw your brush shape (in black) onto your new document. For the sake of this tutorial, I have made mine a solid brush.

Photoshop brush splat - Easiest way to make a Photoshop brush - short tutorial
Create A Photoshop Brush

3 ) ‘Select’ The Brush

3 ) Either by using the marquee tool or Apple + ‘a’ to select all (CTRL + A for windows). And select the area or part you want to turn into your brush. For me, I wanted to use only the black splat in this example.

If you have selected the brush you want to define, you can go to the next step!  Make sure you have selected your brush artwork. With selections, you may see ‘marching ants’ around your selection.

4 ) Define Brush

4 ) Go Edit > scroll down to  ‘Define Brush Preset’ and click on or select it.
label your brush, I called this oneblob and then click ‘OK’

Name your brush | Easiest way to make a Photoshop brush
Label Your Brush

5 ) You have created a brush in Photoshop!

Well done, you should now have designed your very own custom brush and saved it to your library. If you press ‘F5′ to look at your brush palette, you will see the brush you have just made listed at the bottom of your library.

Why not open a new document and test out your newly created Photoshop Brush, I hope you enjoy making more awesome brushes.

Brush library | Palette tutorial on making a Photoshop brush.
Brushes!

If you need a Professional Designer experience in Photoshop come and say hello!

If you are a DIY designer or creator, you may find some of these topics helpful. How to edit text in inDesign for card games. Or how to draw on a computer.

3 easy ways to build a website for free

How to build a website for free or almost free image with and arrow point in the direction
3 Simple Platforms Guide

Hobbyist’s, businesses and potential clients… this post is for you!

This post covers 3 simple ways for you to build a website for free, or almost free. This article is ideal for start-ups, hobbyist’s and individuals looking to start small and work their way up with their online presence. All you need is a computer and access to the internet.

This post will cover the pros and cons of each system based on tried and tested experience.

It should be noted I am not affiliated with these companies

How to get your free website up and running | Start building your website!

1 ) Use Blogger

Not heard of Blogger? Blogger (blogspot) has been around for years and is part of Google. With Blogger, you can create your website or blog completely free – today, right now! And yes, it’s pretty easy to use.

Blogger is fine if you are looking to create a simple blog as a hobbyist or put something together quickly for a friend or relative. I have used Blogger as part of my ‘hobby and general stuff’ website which I treated as a creative / personal dumping ground. You can see my personal blog here.

Blogger isn’t solely for amateurs. I have seen great examples of Blogger being used by professional and semi-professionals, despite it being a free platform. Generally speaking, Blogger is used more by hobbyists than professionals.

Due to Blogger’s low point of entry, it is a magnet for homemade, freebie and hobbyist blog creators. Few websites buck this trend with this platform by offering tremendous value and great content.

This website is great example of what can be achieved with some dedication and will power. The website – Print & Pattern – comes with a jobsboard, products and other pieces of information centred around graphic and surface pattern design.

I doff my cap… If I had one!

It might also be worth mentioning that you can also monetise your Blogger very easy using Adsense if you are considering earning some money on the side. You will need a lot of traffic to come to your website before you see anything from Adsense.

Blogger Pros :

– FREE – Blogger is free. You can set up an account today and start writing about your hobby pretty much right away.

– It’s reasonably easy to use – Blogger is relatively straight forward to use. Buttons in the left hand navigation show what is what. All you need to do is Create a “new post” and type away – as easy as that although it is not without flaws.

– Can be polished – with a bit of thought and a lot of application you can make your Blogger look quite professional.

– No fuss – You can set up a Blogger website quickly, you don’t need a coding guru to help.

Blogger Cons :

– Typically regarded as unprofessional – if you are using a Blogger for a business website it can be regarded as being amateurish. Blogger websites tend to have a dated appearance and people can more often than not tell something looks a bit ‘Home made’. In business, making a good impression is important and you want avoid ‘Homemade’. Not all ‘Bloggers’ are created by amateurs but many do use this platform as it is free. If you must use Blogger, dress it well – very well – I would go as far as trying to disguise it otherwise your blog may say : “business run from a shed”. If you don’t expect to make money or use it for business carry on.

Awkward code – know how I said to try and ‘dress it’? Now imagine trying to dress an excited squirrel! Well It certainly won’t put it’s arms into the sleeves and neither will Blogger when it comes to making a pretty post! The code and interface can be very awkward to use if you are trying tweak the alignment, paragraph, bold lettering etc it can reduce you to tears, and crash. It also adds a lot of junk HTML to your article making it needlessly difficult to tailor in code view. Many hours have been wasted trying to make it play fair.

You don’t really own it – Although it is free to use and as a free tool it is pretty good, it’s not your intellectual property. Should your Blogger be closed for some reason you will loose all of your content with it. For ‘free’ you will relinquish control and imagine loosing 5 years worth of posts. Back up your content if you decide use Blogger.

SEO – although it’s not bad, I’m not convinced about it’s friendliness towards being seen by the search engines.

Blogger Verdict :

It’s good for hobbyists, it’s free but there are other options which I would consider over Blogger. Generally, if you want a professional presence I would use better platform.

Rating out of 5 : 1 = Poor 5 = Excellent

Cost = 5
Ease of use = 2
Creation Efficiency = 1
Set Up = 4
Quality Of Websites = 3
Value = 2

Total = 17

———————————————

USE WIX

Wix gets some unjust stick. Developers scoff at it because it is a website builder which can be used my non-coders – listen other Developers, WIX isn’t too bad! And if you are strapped for money and just starting out then maybe consider this as possible option in the beginning. WIX allows you to visually drag and drop your website together to create a design that you may not vomit over! You can even add the odd bit of code here and there to extend to track analytics.

Wix Website logo!

That’s well and good but why use it?

WIX can allow you layout items on a webpage how you want them! Imagine using something like Microsoft publisher, Photoshop or a graphics program to create a website. If your online presence or website is in it’s early stages, you may just need something very simple to chuck online or perhaps you want to get a website live for a friend or a relative. WIX can suit both! And you don’t need to be Developer.

For cheap, (not free) WIX is possible option. Here are my shared experiences of the WIX website builder.

Wix Pros :

Neat – It all comes in one tight little package with many design options.
Design with it – It’s great for non-techies or developers. *You can use the drag and drop interface to create a website the way you want it – a big although

Cheap – WIX comes with a range of pricing plans to suit many budgets, it also comes with it’s own hosting packages.

Cool features – It comes with some nice little integrated features such a mail-list manager and an easy to use image library, you can also create a basic shop with it.

Visual Designer – It’s great if you like to create websites visually, but please note – not for creating graphic design and banners. These elements will should to be created by a Designer or somebody with access to design tools.

*Although – Websites are not ‘as is’ static items anymore, you can’t treat them as you would a drawing or a piece print. It’s best to regard website as a piece or informational water when it comes to the layout. This information fluid or titles, boxes and elements which should move to fill the screen size. The launch of the smartphone essentially has pushed your static website design to near extinction.

Wix Cons :

The responsive design is sub-par – arguably worse than Blogger. As a non-dev you may be wowed initially by how easy it is to use, but what you see, isn’t what you get. Inside WIX there is a button in the navigation menu which allows you to set up a mobile version of the website… (Yes, you have to construct 2 versions of your website) the mobile version isn’t as standard so you have to create 2 static versions of your website. It isn’t very good at handling ‘fluid’ layouts when I last used it.

Build twice, takes twice as long – Further to the point, you have to build twice or suffer a website that will not work properly on a smartphone. Eg can’t read text without zooming with fingers etc. This bad user-experience will be passed onto your customers.

Clumsy fluid layout – As a designer this would be something I would pick up on. The default desktop website can have some somewhat awkward behaviour when it comes to viewing the website in different browsers. Fluid and responsive websites are not easy to build, and WIX certainly hasn’t mastered this yet.

Slow Down – If you have a large webpage with lots of elements and content this can overwhelm the WIX builder. You will find as you are dragging (pushing) elements around they start to lag and stick. This can become very frustrating if you are trying to work toward a tight deadline in a busy or demanding environment.

limited control with deeper development issues – With using a website builder such as WIX you surrender building more accessible a technically proficient website. It’s also trickier to get into the real nuts and bolts to solve somewhat basic issues.

Wix Verdict – Jack of all

Cheap and cheerful and great for non-techies. This user-friendly website builder is good if your are starting out. I have seen WIX used for straight up brochure and small scale websites with great results and if you are on shoe string it could be something to consider. WIX is nice to use, quite slick and an intuitive piece of online software! Not the cheapest, but ok.

//======================
* – just to the stress this from the previous point.
Sometimes, people think websites are static and they adopt their thinking to an archaic approach to website design. Websites are no longer static and it is best to avoid a website design in this way. If you would like to know more about this feel free to send an enquiry.
//======================

Rating out of 5 : : 1 = Poor 5 = Excellent

Cost = 3
Ease of use = 5
Creation Efficiency = 3
Set Up = 4
Quality Of Websites = 2
Value = 3

Total = 20

———————————————

WordPress is Free

WordPress has been available for years! It has grown a very large and loyal following that are building better product everyday. WordPress is completely free to use, its open source and has a large community of developers and agencies available to help. If you have your own domain and hosting, using WP is as simple as downloading and implementing it yourself. Certain hosting companies come with one Click installer which can make installing very straight forward but this isn’t the case for all hosting companies.

Wordpress logo

If you don’t have hosting or a domain you can also set up your WP hosting complete free – WordPress > don’t panic!

You can create very powerful website using WP and comes with a very large library of resources to build different types of websites; stores, blogs, brochure sites, downloads sites, ticket software etc etc – it’s vast and WordPress has gone way beyond being just a blogging tool!

WordPress is integrated with many 3rd party companies which range from over automated email systems to analytics. There is also themes which turn WP into a visual website builder. All this plus the features mentioned before.

WordPress Cons

Hackers like it – being a victim of it’s own success and a large proportion of websites being made using WordPress, it’s a hackers paradise. If you have a very large scale website perhaps other options are better to consider.

Plugin’s can break – Although there are 1000’s of plugins on the WP market place some of them can fail over time if they are not maintained.

Needs to be maintained – WordPress needs TLC occasionally. Pay attention to your dashboard or email notifications if you need to update you current version of WP or its plugins.

Set up – WordPress can be a challenge from time to time when trying to install it on your own host. This can range from obscure incompatibilities or ‘access’ not being configured properly

Tricky to change – The default version of WP can be tricky to tailor without knowing your way around CSS or downloading a plugin. This is where using a developer could come in use if you decide to use WordPress.

Used a lot – due to a lot of websites using WordPress website can start to feel the same.

WordPress Pros

Progressive & Powerful – WordPress is always pushing forward with it’s technology and it’s developer community are always improving the platform.

Community – WordPress comes with large pool of knowledgeable developers creating new functions and extending the function of the default software through plugins and themes which can either be purchased or downloaded for free.

Powerful for no or low budget (FREE) – you can create a professional and functional website with default Wordpress software.

Do what you like with it, more or less – create your website today on your own domain and hosting you and can do what you choose with it – isn’t that great!

Simple to use – It comes with a reasonably easy to use ‘dashboard’ – not too dissimilar to Blogger.

– Plugins and Themes – Just too much awesome to list. Also a lot of dross but there is essentially a candy store of added functions to select from.

Rating out of 5 : : 1 = Poor 5 = Excellent

Cost = 5 / (*1 )
Ease of use = 4
Creation Efficiency = 4
Set Up = 3
Quality Of Websites = 5
Value = 5

Total = 26 / (*22)

*Cost variable due to free VS paid. As this article is about free and low budget website solutions the score jumps from free to expensive depending on whether you need a dev to help you.

WordPress Verdict : Great Value, Great quality

WordPress is a good platform and worth considering if you want some flexibility in what functions come with your website and whether you want to change it at a later date. You may require developer to help you in the beginning but after that, your WP site is yours to do with as you choose.

That’s all! 3 Simple ways for getting a website online – in detail.

I hope this will offer some insight! If you are needing a Graphic Website Designer to help out with creating your business send me a message or if you have any queries about the listing above – also get in touch and will try my best to answer!

This article was written to give some guidance as how to go about creating a free website. This is based on my skills and experience. The opinions, based on my experience, are ‘my opinions’ and not that of others. Please bare in mind when making your business decisions on you website that you have considered what has been written and do your research thoroughly.

The scores were created for a bit of fun.

The platforms listed are tools. It’s down to you to offer great experience and value to the person reading it.

why note read :
Why use Unity for your gaming project –
32 Tips for email marketing
Website UI Design
How to Design a Kickstarter Page

How We Made A Successful Retail Ready Card Game

If you are looking to make a retail ready card game which you can sell to large retailers this article covers the stages and strategies we used (in my former role) to design and create a successful game!

How we made a successful retail ready card game … in steps

More on my game design >

Steps To Creating a Successful Game

Simplified stages to creating the game.

  • 1 ) Research ideas.
  • 2 ) Research trends, add a unique spin.
  • 3 ) Use inspiration, don’t make cheap or low quality copy.
  • 4 ) Get your game out there for businesses to see.
  • 5 ) Create something worthwhile.
  • 6 ) Keep the production cost down.
  • 7 ) Test and polish the game.
  • 8 ) My part(s) in creating the card game
retail ready game design
First edition of the game

Why did we create this game?

After doing some initial research and looking into product ideas, a colleague mentioned to me that he had seen a game where the players have to say silly tongue twisting phrases whilst wearing a dental mouth restraint – I know, it sounds strange to me now as it did then.

My colleague mentioned how he had seen a game on a television program the night before. He proceeded to open a tab in his browser and play a clip of the television program. Without paying too much attention to the idea, I dismissed it at first. Thinking it was game only people like me and him would play but he persisted with the idea.

I was half right, but little did I or the company realise how popular it would be.

After seeing James Corden trying to speak with one of these dental mouth restraints in his mouth we came to the conclusion it could be a funny if it was boxed and ‘gamifyied!’

Further to this, we couldn’t find any of these mouth restraint games in the UK. It existed in one form in the USA but this is where we spotted a gap in the market and considered creating a game for the UK audience.

We created something that was following a trend but different enough to stand out from what would become a busier crowd.

We went forward to create a successful card game! And what a blast we had creating it!

Step 1

We did some home work to see if there was an audience ready for the game. Make sure you have a target customer in mind and create your game for them!
Who will play it? How much will they spend? Why would they play it? Do you need to educate the customer on how the product works? These are just some of the questions if you are considering taking your game to a high-street retailer.


Take these things into account when you start plan your game.

We created trend game… a different one

The game we created wasn’t revolutionary, but took some lessons from other successes.

It is wise to do your home work before committing to big decisions, and creating a game is a BIG decision. After looking at competitor websites, products online and reviews we started to collect our data and based our design and content decisions around the information we had collected. This often fell in line with a process the company called NPD – (New Product Development)

NSFN this is the game draft
Concept and draft for adult edition – this edition was filled with crude phrases

We wanted to know who would buy this product and how we could be different.

Retailers don’t want to take stupid risks, especially with the state of retail as it is. Proving that your product follows a trend market can carry you in good stead but be prepared to fight in a market that will saturate quickly.

Remember, why should a retailer select your product?

Step 2

Look at existing games, see what they are doing right see what you can do better!

Do it differently – don’t make a bad copy

Assuming you have gone with an existing product that has an established community and marketing buzz, creating an out-and-out copy won’t get you very far. Setting aside legal issues, market saturation and being a grubby business practice you will want to create something good and call it your own.

You have used the trend product as inspiration – a mannequin, a skeleton, which you’ll need to dress, position and potentially change it’s structure to create a game which is appealing and different.

We brainstormed various ideas how we could have different modes of play, extra dynamics of the game but keep it low cost.

You should create something that will please. The creativity is down to you.

Step 3

Create a game that plays well, looks good and is affordable. Avoid ‘copying’ a success. Use it as a guide rail only! For this game, we created Forfeits, this added a new dynamic to the game using most of the same components just different rules and modes of play. Funnily enough, which other makers of similar games also started to use later on.

We must have been onto something…

Access To Gaming Retail Channels

If you want to create a game which is successful in the retail market, you will need to have access to companies that can sell your game on your behalf. You may already have access to shops and stores which can sell your game or you may aspire to sell the game yourself. But if you want to scale quickly, you will need to ‘wholesale’ your game.

Finding retail channels for new business can be a tricky… more so if you are trying to pitch an new and unproven game.

Step 4)

Take your game on the road and try to network with companies. Attend trade-shows, arrange meetings with your shiny retail ready prototype, talk to purchasers on linked in and be very proactive.

Customer Validation – Created By Demand

Our card game had become popular. We needed to create more content and quickly! We created additional expansion packs, card decks, different editions of the game ( I also dallied with a concept of creating an app but this never went beyond the visuals and testing prototype.)

These versions of the game offered different modes of play and more content for fans.

The game started to gain popularity and traction online from social media, to Amazon to smaller outlets. We looked at the reviews to see what we were doing well and what we weren’t.

Design by data.

End-users (customers on the street) were enjoying the game and sharing their joy and comments. This gave us a great sense of pride, we had created something that world enjoyed.

Our product was making people happy!

Mouth Trap Product review image
Happy customers!

Step 5 )

Create something people will enjoy. You want them to take away a good user-experience and feel happy with their purchase. No one wants to pay money for a game that is clearly a rip off and landfill.

Invest in creating a good thing.

Keep it affordable.

When we created the card game we wanted to create something that was good value for money in comparison to similar editions. Keeping the production cost down, we needed to offer value by making the best version of itself within the budget.

The game was between £15 – 20 for the first edition of the game. Also worth noting, with keeping the cost of the game down we wanted it to RRP and be accessible to a larger audience.

Step 6 )

Keep it affordable, does it need spot UV printing? No. will it impact the game play?
The more you add, the more price you will have either pass onto the customer or your business will have to absorb.

Use a ‘Minimum Viable Product’ – remembering not to insult the customer with your finished game
by going too ‘Minimum Viable Product’

Test Your Game!

Once the initial prototype of the card game was created. We tested the product and it’s phrases to see what worked and what needed improvement. You would be surprised by what you would discover.

I have played a couple of board games which looked fancy but were a drag to play. You shouldn’t create a game that looks good but is terrible to play – people will feel duped!

Retailers like a professional looking game, they will want a game that they can sell to their customers. They want an appealing product to place on the shelf, but to create a game or any product, that is just ‘shiny packaging’, is short-sighted.

A good example of a popular game is Chess. It has come in many guises over time ranging from drinking editions to Harry Potter but it still has the solid foundations of being a good game (open to opinion) which can be played over and over again.

If you removed all the artwork for your game, use featureless items – would your game still be fun to play?

Try to create something good from top to bottom.

Step 7 )

Test your game on your piers, colleagues and potentials for the target market. Testing the game ‘only on you’ – the creator is flawed as you know how you would like the game to be played and how it ‘should’ be played, not how strangers will play it in reality.

The Design Process –

This stage could also have been put at the first stage, especially as this is design blog but I wanted to acknowledge the ‘thought and planning‘ behind the game which I was heavily involved with before opening Photoshop or Illustrator.

This step covers some of the journey involved in creating the product. There was so much involved in the game! Creating cards, the logo, the box, the concept, the marketing material for the game… writing!

We wanted to create a game that players would want to talk about, laugh with and share with friends.

Logo and icons for mouthtrap game
Title, logo and vector created by me in a very rapid turn around

A rapid turn around for Logo and Title Design for the game. Created by me in Adobe Illustrator. The logo was created so that the it could stand out and be tailored here and there. E.G adding devil horns and fangs to it.

Box for drinking editions

Box art for game

The first box (edition 1) was created using a pizza box type Dieline. The later editions came as a top and bottom box with a lid.

(Card Art)

This was one of my favourite aspects of the game. Creating the cards. Later editions of the cards were changed so that phrases were on both sides. Visually a little less appealing but offered better value to the customer and extended the length of game play.

Piddle Pants Monk – Game Illustration

Vector of a monk that has wet himself!
Heavily changed stock graphic. only the face shape, and mouth are the original
Vectors of drinking bottles
Some of the vectors created by me and placed onto the artwork

All artwork for this game is Copyrighted – do not use!

Why not start building your successful retail ready card game!

Who said watching TV would be a waste of time?

If you would like help in designing your game be it designing, drawing or creating the marketing graphics I would be more than happy to offer my skills and experience.

You may find these posts useful :
How to create a STEM game or app
Creating Graphics with Tablet