st_ry

the problem presented:
I realized that throughout my time as a budding designer in college, I grew to love the interactive closeness that occurs in games, particularly board games. I pursued two independent studies to explore this interactive relationship between design, physical gaming, and learning that didn’t feel too forced or scholarly. This knowledge was then combined with the perception of the fast-paced growth of storytelling media and its wide range of quality. It made me question how I could bring the building blocks of storytelling into a fun learning space. Thus, my senior exhibition project st_ry was born.

my solutions:
For my senior exhibition, I designed the entirety of the competitive storytelling game, st_ry. The process of its creation is a bit different from the usual design process, for I had to strictly focus on functionality before I could bring in any sense of design. With 3 months to build a fully functioning game, I spent the first month using paper and written prompts to playtest with multiple focus groups. They provided constructive feedback to hone the game mechanics with how these cards filled a table space, just like piecing a puzzle together. With their feedback, I was able to finalize a playable and fun experience for my exhibition. I applied this idea of a playable space to the exhibition room itself, wanting to let viewers come in, relax, and play as if they were in their living room.

Inspired by old storybooks, the box and rulebook are designed to create the impression of opening the front cover to reveal its contents. The cards continue this ideology through the serif Mrs Eaves, textural elements, and linework illustration. These elements together mean to have players feel that another page is being written in their story as they place a card down. Each illustration is reminiscent of lithograph etchings within old textbooks to reinforce the archaic feeling of vocal storytelling. The logo evokes the idea of filling in the blanks when each story is crafted.