Man, things are busy.

I am up to my ears in work. I am glad to be done with my printing of the letter M + pattern. Now it's on to a collage. Pics are soon to come.

Respect.

Pattern Possibilities.

I call it "M in M". Martha wasn't too crazy about it. We are looking for something more abstract. Let's see what we can figure out. Respect.

Line of Fire (final pics courtesty of Amber).

Thank you Amber for creating a great project in "52+"!
Respect.

Relief Printing: Painful

I believe I understand a fair bit about relief printing. At my high school (Asheville High) we had, in my graphic communications class, something called a flexographic printing press. It used relief surface plates (created by exposing emulsion to harden the non-image area for washing out) wrapped around cylinders to print on primarily label stock (stickers).

I have gone from that to carved linoleum which seems to be rather uneven and as far as ink distribution is concerned, forgedaboutit! Even when I take my time with the roller it is nearly impossible to cover the thing uniformly. Not to mention, it uses a ton of ink and at 3 bucks a tube, this stuff ain't cheap.

Lord help me when it comes time for me to carve a pattern into one of the linoleum blocks... just doing straight lines for the letters is difficult enough.

Respect.

Carving...

After completing a rather complex game in Line of Fire, I feel as if we are regressing to the ways of old with this new project.

What are we doing? Carving letters out of linoleum blocks (I fortunately got the letter M which has no curves).

The typeface is Rockwell which I recognize as Bold, Balanced and Legible. Let's see what happens..

Respect.

Final Critique and Reflections

Today in studio, we played each other's games and shared thoughts. Line of Fire, which was initially perceived as very difficult was still a bit confusing to some, however, it seemed as if the revised instructions and cards contributed to a better sense of the game amongst the class. While playing the other games, I would look over to ours and notice smiling and game play that didn't seem to constantly pause as it did before.

The reactions to our game and presentation of it were mixed but generally positive. Most people thought the graphic design elements of the laser cutting and the page/card layout were well done. The largest complaint was the heaviness of the game board itself. I admit, it is a heavy thing, however, for how large it is, it folds up pretty well and I believe it is easily stored.

In all, I feel as if Betsy and I revised and polished a rough concept into something anyone can understand after playing a time or two. We feel as if our game offers enough interaction and variation in game play that it can remain enjoyable time after time being played. The graphic/package design, we feel, couldn't have turned out too much better as everything worked out as we expected. We did not settle; we had a design in mind and did not have to compromise anything due to lack of time/resources.

Personally, I am very proud of the work we've done. I feel as if we spent hours and hours making every detail we could image function within the concept of the game. As I had mentioned in the critique, the construction of this game was a bit pricey to say the least. Each game set cost us roughly 50 dollars. This is probably the most expensive project I have ever had to personally pay for. Having said that, it was money well spent as I feel as if Betsy and I both have a nice piece now to beef up our portfolios.

From a learning perspective, there were many things we took from this project. The most important thing I came away with was a much better understanding as to how to work with a partner successfully. In years past it would have been one person doing all the work and if the work did happen to be split, it would not flow together at all as if it was simply two people doing two separate projects. Over the course of this project, Betsy and I gained a good sense of each others' ideas and tendencies. It was a bit difficult for me to adjust to at first but at this point I feel as if she and I could design anything as a team if told to. And why wouldn't we get a good sense of how each other operates? We were together so often over the last couple weeks that Betsy joked that we were "married" because like a married couple, we couldn't separate from one another even if we wanted to and throughout the project, there was the occasional element of cordial bickering. It was a great partnership. I couldn't have asked for someone better. Betsy's attention to detail forced me to pay similar attention (that I sometimes sway from). Knowing the amount of work she had been doing, I would feel guilty if I was not contributing equally. This would move me to produce work that is possibly better than what I would have been able to do on my own.

As far as graphic design is concerned, I already had a fairly decent background in InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator but I certainly learned a few new tricks. Because of my familiarity with the software, I was able to work at a relatively efficient pace without compromising quality. Betsy, who had limited experience with the software prior to this assignment, I feel has come quite a way from where she was in the beginning. Having a partner with such a minimal learning curve has been fantastic to say the least.

Ultimately, this has been the most meaningful project I have done since being at NC State. I feel as if I have finally designed something worth keeping and adding to my portfolio; something I would be proud to display to my friends and family. Not to mention, games are meant to be fun; apparently designing them can be the same.

Betsy was the best partner I could have asked for and I hope we will have another opportunity to work together in the future as I believe we both bring out the best in the other. I will miss this when we start Martha's tortu.. err.. I mean project Friday.

Respect. It's not over.

Behold! Our amazing instruction book in all of its radiant glory!