Wimbledon Brewery UI – This project was carried out through a local agency based in Wimbledon. After some initial meetings and discussions with the agency Director, I was commissioned to come up with an early proof of concept for a new website idea for Wimbledon Brewery. It was to pitch a new idea.
I was commissioned for only the ideas and visualisation stages of the project. My part was to come up with a new UI ( user interface ).
In this post, I wanted to share both my involvement, and some of the processes to create for this project.
Gathering Research | Working With The Brief
At first, I went over the brief with my client and discussed the limitations or any important criteria that would affect the project.
After collecting together all of the information for the project, I then set about gathering some additional research and ideas. This could range anything from looking at recommended drinks companies, looking at competitor websites to seeing what we could learn. And browsing Pinterest to name a few.
What was important – was that the brand image of the company was sustained. The UI design needs to stand on its own two feet with the brand being seamlessly integrated.
Roughing Out Ideas
Once some of the initial research was collected together, I then set about putting together the low-fidelity visuals and ideas to share and discuss.
Initial Design & UI Kit Pieces
Bit by bit, I started to put together some initial designs for the various components on the page. For example boilerplates, brand accents, information cards, and the main navigation amongst other important pieces of content.
The design process and the idea generation were created modularly. Key components were examined in close detail before committing them to a polished design and compiled into pages in their entirety.
Proof Of Concept | ( POC )
After the various stages of discussion and mutual brainstorming with the client. I then started to put together some complete and polished visuals for the early proof of concept for a new website.
*This was put together for illustration purposes only
How to edit text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign! This short tutorial shows you how to make some quick and easy edits to the text in your card artwork in Indesign. This post also covers some general text frame editing.
Editing your playing cards should not be difficult if you know how, and have the right tools.
It should be noted that this article focuses purely on the card editing stages, and not the whole card creation process.
This is a general help article to edit text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign. You don’t need to be an Indesign guru or know your way around data merge to follow this.
This tutorial is ideal for those that just want to jump and edit the text quickly and hit save. It’s short and sweet, quick and dirty – no fuss. Or however else you want to describe quick text edits for game cards. The same applies to editing text too.
Common Question | Ways of editing the card text in Adobe Indesign
It is quite common for me to hear “how do I edit text on the cards” after I have created the initial prototype for a client.
With the card artwork, it is often in my client’s interest to know how to edit the text themselves or assign somebody else to edit the text. This is especially true in the late stages of production or mass production for various reasons.
One being, I’m not a copywriter profession!
How to edit text in Indesign on your card artwork – put simply
In order to edit the text easily, open the document in Indesign ( if you’ve not done so already). Select the card face you want to edit, ( use the pages panel ) and change the text. You will then need to save your work or export it if you are intending on sending the work to print.
That is the simplified and short answer to editing the game card text in Indesign.
I cannot edit text in Indesign!
If you are finding that you cannot edit text in Indesign or you cannot edit the text on the cards. A few of the reasons could be either the text frame is locked, the layer is locked, or you need to override the master page template.
You can read more on editing your text frames in Indesign at the bottom of this post.
6 Steps to editing text in your card artwork In Adobe Indesign
1 ) Open up Indesign
Assuming that you already have Adobe Indesign installed, in order to edit the text you will need to have Adobe Indesign open.
If you don’t already have Adobe Indesign, you can download it. ( make sure to download from Adobe – DO NOT BUY OR DOWNLOAD from an unknown source )
Make sure that you have permission to install the software and that your computer has the technical requirements to run Adobe Indesign.
*Friendly Disclaimer | Adobe Indesign is not run or owned by myself. Indesign is part of the Adobe Creative Suite. I cannot take any responsibility for any loss or damage incurred should you download any 3rd party software or Adobe Indesign.Please take precautions!
Please check all the requirements from their official website before downloading. ( Adobe Creative Suite ) And make sure that you download the software from a safe source. Do not use any unauthorized 3rd party platforms when downloading InDesign. ( also based on past experience )
2 ) Open up the card artwork
You can either ‘Open’ the artwork from the ‘File’ drop-down menu in Indesign ( File, Open – Select artwork ) or you can open the artwork by ‘dragging and dropping’ the artwork onto the application icon from your desktop.
Or if you have your recent items window on view when you start up Indesign, open your document this way.
Tip – Don’t overwrite your original card artwork!
As a tip, I would strongly advise that you create 2 versions of your artwork and leave the original intact. If you edit the text, change something and save over the original artwork ( ruin it by accident ) you won’t have a way of back-stepping from this mistake.
Create another version! And avoid editing the original version. A piece of advice from past experience.
3 ) Navigating the card artwork for your game
Theoretically, you now have your card document open in Adobe Indesign. It will look something like this.
If you have used a template or a file such as the one shown in this article, then you should be able to scroll up and down through the cards. As you scroll up and down, you should see the back and front of your cards.
Or, as an alternative way of finding the card you need, go to window > pages. If this tool panel is not already open.
You can either scroll up and down to go through the cards, which is okay for smaller decks, but not as efficient if you have a larger deck. Or if you have your ‘pages’ window open, you can double-click on these to jump to the card you want to edit. This is a faster and more effective method of navigating through your cards.
( Handy tip! Did you know you can see which page you are on at in the bottom of InDesign interface when you are editing the card you want to edit? The illustration above has a close-up of ’19’ to show this. )
5 ) Find the text box ( interacting with an Indesign text frame )
Assuming that you have now selected the card you wish to edit. Go to the text box ( as shown below ) click on it, and edit your text!
Tools you should only need!
If something has gone awry, here are some simple steps to follow.
) Make sure that you have the ‘selection tool’ active.
) Go to the box or area you wish to edit.
) Double-click the text box.
) Find the word or sentence you wish to edit.
If you are having trouble being able to edit the text or some of the text, this bit of troubleshooting may help. Cannot edit text in indesign – help!
6 ) After you have edited the text
Now that you know how to edit one text box and all has gone smoothly, you can edit any basic text box in these card files.
Once you are happy with your work and your edits just make sure to save your work. You can save your work by going to file ‘Save’ or ‘Save As’. Or by pressing CTRL+S ( Apple + S ).
7 Bonus Step ) Exporting your file for print
It should be noted that this process is a bit more nuanced and may require more experience and skill in saving your work correctly. It can be easy for somebody inexperienced ( or with experience! ) to run into difficulties when setting files up for print.
Remember, when doing this that you are shouldering the responsibility for all the print production for your cards. If you would like somebody to share the burden feel free to get in touch or read more here. Card game design.
‘Export’ your file as a PDF’
Remember to Select all pages if you wish to save/export all pages for print.
Double-check that the images are above 300 DPI when exporting ( otherwise you will get a low-res file )
Check that it is in CMYK
Hit ‘Export’ and select a location
This is a simplified version of how to edit text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign. The added end step also instructs how to save your work and export it for print.
Troubleshooting Game Card Editing in Indesign – cannot edit text in indesign!
When looking at how to edit text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign, sometimes it is not as straightforward. There can be issues such as locked layers, master pages being selected, or even limitations with hardware.
Here are some troubleshooting steps for editing the text on your cards.
Why can’t I select the text box? I can’t edit my text frame!
This could be down to a couple of reasons as to why you can’t edit the text box in your file. Here are some of the potentially straightforward and obscure reasons as to why you may not be able to edit your text :-
You don’t have enough ram/processing power on your computer
If your computer is struggling to run Indesign properly, an odd quirk that can show up is an inability to edit or select text boxes.
Possible solutions:
1 ) Turn off other programs such as Outlook, Your Web Browser, and other non-essential applications to see if this loosens up some grunt for Indesign. Remember to only close nonessential programs
2 ) Change the view to low-res draft mode. This can also make InDesign less taxing on your computer.
3 ) If you have tried all of the above. With a minimal amount of applications still running to allow more resources to go to indesign, close Indesign and re-open it to see if this does the trick.
The object is accidentally locked
There could be a couple of reasons as to why you can’t edit the text in your Indesign document. And, fortunately, the fix for this can be as simple as unlocking your text frame to get it working again.
Here are a couple of ways to check if you have a locked object. Unlocking text frame solutions in Indesign:
– The Object has been manually locked! This is a simple case of unlocking the object. To make sure the object isn’t locked go to > top menu > and check the drop-down for the Object – Unlock all on spread. Here is an image showing the menu option.
( Here is some more accurate information from Adobe on where to find this exactly – unlocking objects )
– Your text frame is on a locked layer. Alternatively, your text frame could be on a ‘Locked Layer’. On your ‘layers tab’ in the interface window, check to make sure the editable text layer ‘is not locked’. ( With a padlock on )
You want it ‘unlocked’ – you may also need to open the ‘layers’ window open.
– You are editing the wrong layer. If you cannot edit your text, it can be as easy as having the wrong layer selected. And, having the layer you want edit locked. Make sure you have your correct layer selected and that you are unlocking the correct layer!
You are trying to edit a master template
Another potential reason that you may not be able to edit the text is that you are trying edit from A, or the Master Page. A way to check is to:-
Select the card ( page )
Right click
And “Override Master Page Properties”
*Just remember not to override and edit the Actual Master template. This may otherwise change the text or design on ‘all of the cards’ or pages. ( remember what I said about keeping a backup? Always, keep a back up file!)
Thank you for reading and editing the text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign
That is a share of my experience on how to both easily edit the text on any card artwork or card artwork template for your board game. And, how to edit the text in Indesign – when you cannot edit text in Indesign.
Hopefully, this post has saved some time, money, and headache. Feel free to share this post if you feel it is helpful.
If you would like help in designing a card game or creating some illustrations for your game please get in touch.
Final bit of advice on how to edit text on your card artwork in Adobe Indesign
My final bit of advice on editing your text on your card artwork would be to hire a professional if you are doing this as a DIY thing for your business. Or at least find somebody that knows their way around Adobe Indesign, how to save it etc.
Although I appreciate that budgets can’t always make this a viable option it is still potentially the better option.
Getting somebody that is experienced can save headaches later on.
This is an example of a User Interface and website revamp project for a large community centre based in King’s Cross London.
My role in the project involved brainstorming ideas, drawing the new content and banners, considering the user experience and seeking ways in which to make the website design more user friendly, functional and useful for users of the Living Centre.
The brief
After a couple of conversations and a Zoom call with the team at the Living Centre, I was commissioned to design and revamp the website to ‘look less boring’, represent the institution and add some more practical functionality.
I took this a step further. Although digital design is a faucet of my skills like many designers of 2020’s. I wanted to add more than just a simple “yes man” approach to this project. With my commercial experience and creative direction skills. I didn’t want to just say ‘bam’ take their money and go. There is a website and leave. I wanted this website to work not only as part of the brand but as a website and tool for their business.
Without barraging my client saying ‘do this better, because I think so.’ I wanted to know what needed to work. What questions do customers ask – I wanted to do my homework.
These were the starting blocks, and – it should be noted that these were not all of the questions and rounds of discussions.
The home page needed a lot of TLC
After communicating and carrying out research, I had both inspiration and the key criteria in order to create a new look and feel for the website.
I started exploring the ideas with the homepage first.
The home page, as is the case with most websites, was one of the busiest pages in regards to content and information. The Living Centre’s page was loaded with information but in no particular order and without many calls to action either. I tried to turn the home page into a lobby with well-labelled doors and opportunities to funnel users into either making contact or leading to a making money lead enquiry.
I tried my best to capitalize on this page while trying to keep it to the client’s brief. Very accessible, on-brand, interesting, informative and structured. Some of these changes and updates would appear subtle to the outside reader. But many, even the smallest changes were generally very deliberate and considered.
When recreating this page, I tried to break it down into structured manageable and relevant chunks for the web user.
Design The Hire Page
This page actually was a follow-up project after I have revamped the core look of the website and rebuilt it with Divi. Their website and this page had a lot of untapped value.
Upon spotting the hire section needed some more content and juice, and I got to it.
This page covered both coming up with additional UI designs ( although the guides were now already set due to the first project ) and creating more content too.
Website Design mock ups
Some examples of this are illustrating a top-down view of a floorplan for all the rooms to hire, prices, 3D drawings / oblique drawings of the areas, bolder use of area photography amount other various things.
I tried to make this page a silent ‘Hire Space!’ salesman for the Living Centre.
The illustration I created was used on the website
Experimentation & Design
The brief from Living Centre was nothing quite like what I have worked on before. Creating websites and UI’s, I have worked on plenty of these. Creating plan drawings and landing pages. I have worked on these too. But having all these combined into one single project was an interesting challenge.
Below are some samples of the design, such as the banners and some f the early works in progress.
Website Design | Putting the website together
The website was already made using WordPress and Divi. After working on the design stage for the project I was also commissioned put it all together based on my visuals.
Being an existing licence holder of Divi it was not too much of a stretch for me to build these new pages and add the content I had illustrated and designed. I worked in a non-destructive way for the home page. Behind the scenes, I created a ‘master template’ which I switched with the existing home page when it was ready to go!
Testimonial From the Living Centre
“We worked with Jimm to redesign our website. The brief was simple to bring our website, which was static, had little character and was boring alive, fun and informative. We were not disappointed with the outcome.
From start to finish, my interaction with Jimm was professional, stress-free and I had complete trust in his ability to deliver. Jimm took the time to listen to what I wanted but also brought his own ideas, experience and creativity so that the end design was more rounded. He understood that I needed to see things in a visual context and have some flexibility to ‘play’ around with a few ideas. The challenge was we had to do all this via zoom but Jimm made it very easy; being patient when I had technical difficulties making the whole process enjoyable, stress-free and highly personal. “
Or if you would like to see what this project was about, read on!
The Project | Graphic Design Project For A Party Board Game
Graphic Design Project For A Party Board Game. From the get-go, this project was a fun commission. I really enjoyed working with the client and the project offered plenty of room for ideas and scope. It was a topic that suited me and my interests.
I’m glad for the day that message came into my inbox!
Graphic Design Project For A Party Board Game Photo supplied by client
The client had already established the core game mechanics and had already written the phrases for the cards and how the game should be played. In later stages of development, they found playtesters for the prototype to see how the game really played too!
So, I had a general idea for the tone of the game from the outset based on early emails & conversations.
I spoke to the client and asked a bit about the target market and who it was for. I carried out some research of my own and started to come up with some very rough and ready ideas and sketches for what we could do with the game.
This helped to get the old design juices flowing!
These were then presented to the client for consideration. I and the client then decided what would work best for the project.
We came to a conclusion!
Design, Illustration & Art Direction
Once we were both suitably even more excited about the project, I got to it. I started to draw some of the early ‘look and feel’ for the cover art, the cards typography and other elements of the game.
I wanted this project to do well for my client as I like my loyal clients to do well.
In terms of the design.
I tried to make it so that the project not only pleased the client but the design and illustration for the project to please the brief! And ultimately, pleases the customer…
And.
In turn.
ALSO pleases the client and fulfills a brief. Hopefully a win-win all around.
( Whoever said design was easy?)
Design & Prototype
Typically, my main part in board game design is in the visual design, concept, and in the creation of the ‘art’ for a game. A lot of this comes from my background in marketing and design and product creation for big retailers. (The old days! )
Generally, in the back of my head, I’m abiding by what the big retailers like to see and sell when they look at a box. This is based on years of feedback from sales pitches and remarks across a range of products in my former employment.
While I’m keeping this in mind. I am also trying to make an independent and unique game for my client.
Varying from brief to brief, I have, on a few projects helped to get a prototype printed for a client.
This involved formatting the artwork according to the printer or factory requirements. In other words, the dielines were either pre-existing or supplied by the factory.
I then put the artwork together according to what was asked.
This is typically an additional process for me that comes after or during designing the initial look and feel for a game – if requested.
When working on a prototype – once the core artwork is made. It can be a case where I will need to adjust the size to fit the spec of the printer/machine for the manufacturer.
It is also noting that the manufacturer or client may wish to change parts on a project such as this. This can be due to what the client requires…. and costs!
I would also suggest that concentrating money and energy into the design look, feel and messaging and getting people to want to pick up your game should be the priority.
I obsess less on where it is made or by who. My part is trying to create something that somebody remembers and thinks they would like to play.
The software was my tool for the job, like a mason has a chisel and a plumber has a wrench! Adobe Software is my toolkit, as it is with most graphic or digital designers of the modern profession.
For those that are less familiar with graphic design jargon.
Once these had been created, based on the template files downloaded/supplied, I dropped the semi-polished artwork into them in either Indesign or Adobe Illustrator. ( I didn’t create the die lines remember )
That was pretty much it for the tools. OR in other words.
Tools :-
Pencil
Paper
Video Call Software
Open Office Word
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Indesign
I think a big part of what helped this project was the collaboration and the working relationship between myself and the client.
Without that…
The rest is just stuff!
Project Challenges | board game creation
London Pub Crawl was not without challenges – many things worth making will come with a challenge. And many journeys to creating something new will be unique.
You are creating something from nothing.
The creative path is not set and is not certain, it is not a commodity either so it can be tricky to weigh and measure.
A lot of the process is an exploration in getting something that fulfils the brief – or at least that is my approach.
From my clients’ standpoint, as is often the case, I would say a quiet challenge can be the rules. Rules often increase the more they playtest the game. And as the rules expand and increase more needs to be added.
In this case, this went from being a single sheet of paper to a small booklet because that is what the rules ultimately needed to work properly.
But I would say in the grand scheme of things – this was a good thing. Selling a game with weak rules or broken mechanics is a very bad move with board game creators.
A game where the visual design or theme disguises or distracts the player from poorly written rules is a negative experience for both the player and creator.
Not saying that my client’s rules were badly written!
They were good! But as you playtest a game it often becomes apparent that the rules need to evolve.
I have played games – or attempted to play, where the rules are just unintelligible! These ruined an otherwise excellent ‘looking’ game.
Pay attention to the rules and be prepared to offer them the TLC they deserve!
** If you don’t do this, you are begging for backlash later on. **
A negative for the board game developer in the long run.
MVP | Game & The Rules!
Don’t go with the ‘just ship it’ approach or minimum viable product on the rules. You need to write rules so that players can understand how the game works. Add a FAQ to the game rules too if you can. Although, this may not come until later editions.
The more established the rules are earlier on. The easier it is to establish how much will be involved in designing the rules and putting the content together.
Write as much as you can from the get-go before commissioning artists or designers – if you can!
*My client also asked me to add that they were thankful that I helped on the budget and managed expectations – they were very welcome!
A Complete Prototype | Graphic Design Project For A Party Board Game
Going further than just offering graphic design for party board games, I want myself and my client to create a good thing. I can say with comfort that The London Pub Crawl is something I am proud to have been a part of.
And my client should be proud in believing that they have created something that others will get laughs from and will enjoy. And not just enjoy looking at ( I hope they like looking at it too )
It’s about the whole experience.
I playtested the game – we all enjoyed it! The reaction you get from others when you hand them a polished game and watch them get all excited does give you a warm buzz.
Where will they take it?
Maybe to retail, but for now ( at the time of writing ) they are hoping to create a crowdfunding campaign ( link to their FB page!) and get it out there on Kickstarter.
I should say this too!
I’m not an ambassador for my client.
What they may or may not do is down to the client but you may wish to take a look and see what may come about in the future.
I enjoyed working on this project and I enjoyed helping to design a Kickstarter story to go along with it. I wish them all the best in the campaign!
For more information on this project, you can visit their ( website ).
If you would like me to design a cover, cards or the main artwork for a board game prototype. Feel free to get in touch.
Testimonial From Mad Dawg Games LTD – Graphic Design Project For A Party Board Game
“The creative effort put in by Jimm was above and beyond what I would have expected when I was looking for a designer.
Throughout the project, Jimm was very professional in that he was open and honest about the deliverables, the project timeline, and the budget as it developed.
Without Jimm, I wouldn’t have the amazing artwork, but I wouldn’t have had his creative contributions to the project which has had a major impact in shaping the game from its original core ideas into a conceptually and visually awesome-looking board game!”
Mad Dawg Games LTD
Project Posts | Graphic Design Project For A Party Board Game
This post has been put together to offer guidance on how much it will cost to mockup/prototype / “graphic design” a board or card game.
Answering “how much does it cost to design a board game” is a very broad question that I will endeavour to break down and answer in smaller bite-sized steps.
There are many factors that can influence the ‘design’ ( graphic design look and feel ) stage of the game.
It should be noted that the combined cost of prototyping and designing a game is not a small undertaking.
“It depends on what is required to bring your board game to life! That will be what determines the budget.”
How much will it cost to have your board game ‘designed’? ( Graphic design )
It is difficult to answer without knowing the scope and size of a project.
For the services that I can offer, and it should be noted prices and tariffs are worked out on a case-by-case basis. This is a rough example of pricing.
– Projects scales can range between £5200 – £1200 spread out over the course of 4 or 5 months. This is a rough number and total budgets can influence the size and how a project is broken down.
If when you refer to ‘how much does it cost to design a board game?’ you are also referring to making and manufacture, this can push the budget well into to around the £10,000 mark. If not more.
It should be noted that I don’t manufacture games. But I do work with prototype makers.
Typically speaking if you are looking for a graphic designer to work on a large board game from scratch – depending on the designer skills, knowledge, and services you may be looking around the £5000+.
But this all depends on what is to be done. Written below are circumstances that will influence the cost of designing a board game.
Boardgame design prices
It should also be noted that these numbers are not formal quotations. They are a rough price guide on what to expect when undertaking to design a board game prototype.
The pricing mentioned above that a game ‘may’ cost £5200 to design is a simplification of what it is that affects the cost and ultimately the outcome of creating a board game prototype.
Factors that will influence the cost of the game:-
Has the look and the feel for the game already been established?
Is this a design from scratch?
Have you already created a very rough paper mock-up?
Has the content already been written?
Are there many different cards and desks?
Is there a rule book? Or is it just a sheet?
Does your board game come with a board and box or is a small card box?
Do you have a logo?
Are there characters in the board game?
Does the game require some interesting typography?
Will the game require illustrations or cover artwork?
Using some of the questions above may now give you an idea of how games can become costly to design by professional designers & artists.
Some cover illustrators alone can charge £1000’s for their services and that’s before using the graphic designer to put all the artwork together and create the visual look and feel of cards and boxes.
Developing the look and feel for your game
One of the main areas that I personally cover is the early design and concept design for the game’s look and feel. The concept and Creative Direction to be precise. This important and early stage if you have aspirations of making a retail-ready game.
This stage can require less attention if you making a game for private use. This design and development stage can occupy 70% of the project. And when you spread this across numerous components, cards, pages of a rule book it quickly becomes evident where the budget can be spent.
Vector character design for your game
A board game design project can encompass multiple disciplines into one. And character design and vector illustration are just one of those disciplines. Character design alone is a field in itself, that requires planning, research, and drawing to make the best characters possible for your board game.
My services cover both the early sketch and concept art to fully copyrighted and licensed game-ready character artwork!
Creating the visual look and feel for a card game vs creating a top and bottom box board game can have a large influence on design cost. More often than not, designing 2 or 3 decks of cards can be a smaller budget project than say designing a full board game with cards, rule books, leaflets, tokens, etc.
*It should be noted, if you have 1000’s or cards with 10 different faces, that may expand the “board game budget”. That’s a lot of cards!
Rulesheet vs Rulebook | How this can quietly affect the board game budget
I have come to find that a ‘rulesheet’ for a board game can often evolve into becoming a booklet.
And, designing a single A5 page compared to designing a small booklet for a board game requires more time, more focus, more work, and… typically – more editing and tweaking.
Why does this stage often expand to what was initially discussed?
When in the very early stages of the game project, a client may have written a rough set of rules to play from. This set of rules are often a basic first draft and is often ‘just enough to work with.
As they playtest their game, read and re-read their draft and have it proofread professionally, they find more space and time is required for the rules.
The rules are improved basically. ( Written rules often require the most editing throughout a project. )
It then becomes necessary to fit all of the text into a booklet, as a single a5 sheet of paper isn’t enough anymore to fit all of the text on.
In other words, the rules expand into something else because it has been given more time and attention.
Last minute changes – this can affect the cost to design your board game
The more content – specifically information and components is laid out from the outset, the easier it is to gauge a budget time for a project. If all of the information stays the same throughout the whole project, the more likely the budget will stay closer to the original estimate.
But, I will let you in on a little secret, information, components, and game plans rarely stay the same. More so for larger projects.
As a board project evolves and improvements move from the original seed of an idea. The more budget and resource and time is given to a project. Some board game projects aren’t small!
Example of a past project
How much do designers and artists charge for a board game?
Each artist, and designer is different. And ‘ design a board game’ eg create all the visuals for a game is a very broad area. It really does depend on some factors such as how many images or pieces of artwork there is to create.
As a very rough idea on how much do designers or artists charge to create the visuals for a board game. These can be influencing factors.
Who will retain the copyright
Experience, knowledge and skill of designer or artist
How big – in terms of time, the project is
And generally how much content is there to create
Their geography
The designers or artist studio overheads ( expenses )
Written example typical project sizes ( budgets )
More often than not, when I see a board game assignment come through, they are of a larger scale. And larger scale projects require larger budgets for time.
This is not to say that I won’t work on a smaller game. It is often the case that I am involved in the game as a whole, but I am happy to work in varying capacities on a project.
Working on a board game with clients from concept to prototype is an exciting prospect that I love to dive into. I have more information on my Creative Direction and board game services than I have mentioned previously.
*It should be noted, that if you are a start-up thinking of embarking on creating a full board game with lots of components and cards – It is not a small project undertake. Especially if this is a game you have aspirations to take to the retail market.
Below is a rough table of how a project and budget ‘might’ work but each project is treated case by case scenario. If you would like to get a more accurate estimate, please get in touch.
**I am not a manufacturer, I am not able to itemise a lot of the design and journey into a checklist. Creating a retail-worthy game is rarely that straightforward – sorry!
How much does it cost to ‘design’ a board game? Potential cases
My personal commercial experience and skills are covered in the paragraphs written below. It essentially outlines some of my own skills when working on a board game project for a client to create a board game prototype or a core look and feel for the early game.
Initial Concept
Creating the core concept look and feel for a board game or card game. This is one of my main areas of focus. This covers the early ideas and the Creative Direction. Once some of the initial concepts have been established, this will move the project to the next step!
Adding a touch of character design to your board game
Using a trusty pencil and paper and Adobe Illustrator I can draw characters for your game. This is another service that is covered ‘under board game’ design. You can read more on vector illustration services to see how I may be able to help.
For example cards, rules, tokens, 2D miniatures. These can be a subject in themselves that require a lot of time and attention. Or if there is not too much inside the game box, not much at all!
Here are some examples of casess / scenerios that may give you more of the idea of project size and scope that will influence the cost and outcome.
Example of budgets and scope. This is not an itemised list but it will hopefully I’ve an idea of some past cases for budgets for a board game and projects.
Budget case table for design project (1) ( Small card game )
As an example. A card game as such with the items listed above would be a smaller budget than say a board game with a large box.
Case 1
Project Brief
Budget / Size
Other Information
Design a few characters
4 or 6 characters
Potentially smaller budget
Covers earlier sketches and vectors
Put together box artwork +
Look and feel already put together by another
Medium budget to create a retail ready ‘prototype’ box
Some content already supplied, design a nice box for the game
Important also if you want a uniformly designed and styled game
Create an illustration
Create vector cover art
Depending on illustration complexity* – medium to large part of budget
An eye catching illustration for the box cover or cover design
Create a single leaflet for the rules
1 a5 page of text
Often smaller end f budget and time required
Might be a simple plain page with some text
A written example of potential project format
The table above should give you an idea of how some of the time may be allocated on a smaller card game project. But this can be varied. It all depends on the complexity of the game and what is really involved in bring all these individuals elements together!
Below is another case table for board game budgets. Both of these tables are hypothetical but are based on past experience.
Budget case table for design project (2) ( Medium-sized board game )
Something of the scale would be more expensive to create.
Case 2
Project Brief
Budget / Size
Other Information
Design 10 characters
10 + characters plus lots of ideas
Potentially larger budget
Covers earlier sketches and vectors
Put together box artwork +
Establish a look and feel for the box – from scratch
Medium budget to create a retail ready ‘prototype’ box
A board game vs a card game will be more expensive
Create the look and feel for the game
Create the whole look and feel for the game
Largest part of project but an important step in part of the design journey
Important also if you want a uniformly designed and styled game
Create 3 or 4 illustrations
Create multiple vector illustrations
Depending on illustration complexity* 3 or 4 = much larger time allocation
Creating illustrations can take a while to complete
Create an 8 page booklet
1x 8 page booklet
More content is needed for 8 faces for a rule book.
Nice cover graphic, diagrams, more text / editing / tweaking
A written example of potential project format
Hopefully, this second case scenario gives you an example and difference between the two levels of budget and my involvement. Typically, the more I need to create – the larger the budget and along with polishing and editing all of the design and illustration content.
Case 1 is a smaller budget because it is a smaller project that requires less. Case 2 is a bigger project that requires more.
The creative the journey | the ‘real thing’ that is billed
* It should be noted, that the items in the board game are not strictly the reason for the budget being smaller or larger. But, that being said, the more elements there are to your game. Eg cards that need artwork, box covers, etc the more likely it is that the budget will be more expensive.
It’s a longer road!
I myself cannot, and do not charge for the items themselves. For my design services, I charge for the journey and the money is the fuel to get the project where it needs to be. The items, just help to offer markers and waypoints for the project.
It depends on what is required to bring your board game to life! That will be what determines the budget.
Read more about my design services – link takes you design services page.
How much does it cost to ‘design’ a board game?
The conclusive answer of how much does it cost to design a board game, is sadly – it depends. It depends on the size of the project and what is really involved in creating the board and how much there is to design,
Many board game design projects can sit around the £4000 – £5000 mark but each budget is unique to each game brief.
Keep in mind that if you need a designer and illustrator for a game that you will also need to factor in manufacturing and potentially marketing your game.
* This s not an official estimate, for an official estimate please get in touch. Rates can also change!
How much does it cost to make a board game for Kickstarter?
Considering all of the above to design to create a photo-ready prototype you may be looking at the following figure.
( Game design budget ) + Prototype Manufacture £100 – £300 + Plus shipping ad set up (£40 ) approximately.
This should give you a photo-ready prototype for a Kickstarter campaign.
Other helpful posts around How much does it cost to ‘design’ a board game?
How much does it cost to ‘design’ a board game for personal use?
If you are thinking of creating a board game for personal use, the more of the game you can create yourself, the lower the budget you will need to design the game. This method won’t strictly make it a retail-ready game by going down the do-it-yourself route, but you never know!
Some people want to create a board game just to figure it out and get into the industry and for that, I commend you. You may find this article helpful – how to draw on a computer starter steps.
To answer how much does it cost to design a board game for personal use, or for yourself. It depends on how far you wish to take it.
If you want to get pen and paper and create a white paper box. This can be perfect for a prototype and playtest model. Or you can try to learn some digital drawing skills.
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