Creative Pressure

Creative Pressure is a board game where every player is a designer with a duty to fulfill a client’s design request. Within the journey to completion, you will be going through designer’s block obstacles, technical difficulties, and bursts of inspiration.

“It must be nice that your job is something you love doing!”

As a designer and artist, there are many times where I struggle due to designer's block and obstacles. It can be the product of happenings in life—a buildup of unfortunate events, terrible mental health, and more. It makes it hard for me to finish design projects or even find the motivation. After episodes of panic, worry, anxiety, and fallen tears, I begin to believe that I am not talented enough to call myself a designer. Where is my creativity? Why is it not coming to me? To some, I may come across as lazy or not hardworking. However, I believe this phenomenon is natural, and every designer goes through some creative blockage once in a while. A designer’s creativity can swing between two extremes: some days you’ll feel productive and inspired and other days will be so frustrating they’ll have you questioning whether you were ever meant to be a designer at all. This game is a simulation of how it feels to be working under pressure, uninspired, and losing hope in oneself and your own capabilities. In an industry where your job is contingent upon your creativity, feeling stagnant and ineffective are two of the worst things a designer can experience.

my role + tools

Graphic design (Figma) Laser cutting (Adobe Illustrator) Book-making Printing (Adobe InDesign)

The team

Year

2021

Using Adobe Illustrator, I designed the game board, 100 cards, 4 game pieces, and the rulebook. I used a laser cutter for the game board and the pieces and glued the pieces together. I was influenced by Vietnamese chess, where the board itself holds the pieces like a box. I used a frosted clear acrylic for the board, so that the engravings on the board would stand out against the pieces inside the board.

Solution

Next project