Collaborative Design Practice - Task 2 : Proposal Development
26/10/2025 - 7/11/2025 ( Week 5 - Week 10 )
Ho Winnie / 0364866
Collaborative Design Practice / Bachelor's of Design Honors In Creative Media
Task 2 : Proposal Development
1. Task 2 : Proposal Development
 |
| Fig 1.1 Game Board |
The tokens had no visual link to science or economy. They were generic pieces that didn’t enhance player immersion or help communicate the identity of glucose within the game.
 |
| Fig 1.2 Tokens |
The power cards lacked a strong visual identity. The actions were unclear and not tied to scientific concepts, making it hard for players to recognise their effects or connect them to the glucose system.
 |
| Fig 1.3 Power Cards |
The stock cards used generic financial imagery unrelated to glucose, metabolism, or food. This caused players to miss the scientific connection behind the “glucose stock market” mechanic.
 |
| Fig 1.4 Stock Cards |
ATP cash had no cohesive visual direction and didn’t match the overall aesthetic of the game. It didn’t communicate energy, nor did it strengthen the theme of metabolism.
 |
| Fig 1.6 ATP Cash |
The handwritten manual lacked structure, spacing, and readability. New players struggled to understand the rules, slowing down learning and interrupting gameplay flow.
 |
| Fig 1.7 Manual Guide |
Ideation - Building Gluconomy With A Purpose -
After identifying the core issues of the original game, our next step was to rethink Gluconomy from the ground up. We wanted every visual, mechanic, and asset to serve a purpose — to teach players about glucose, metabolism, and energy flow using engaging board game logic. This meant blending bioscience with economy-inspired elements in a way that felt natural, intuitive, and fun.
We questioned how to reduce overcrowding while strengthening the biological metaphor. This led to a key idea:
the main board becomes the bloodstream, and each player gets a personal mitochondria board.
This separation symbolises how glucose flows in the body while ATP conversion happens individually.
Instead of generic markers, we wanted tokens that symbolised energy.
We explored glucose-shaped tokens, laser-cut for texture and painted in pastel colours to give each player a distinct identity.
We planned to bring the glucose characters to life through expressive poses.
Each action—steal, swap, boost, move—would be represented by a glucose mascot performing the ability, making the cards instantly recognisable and more memorable.
To replace the generic financial imagery, we explored using real foods with varying glucose levels.
High-glucose foods rise like a bullish market, while low-glucose foods drop like a bearish one.
This ties gameplay directly to science in a visual, intuitive way.
We wanted ATP cash that felt playful yet meaningful.
Our ideation sketches placed the mascot at the front as the “face of energy,” backed by the Gluconomy brand symbol for a cohesive identity.
6. Rebuilding the Manual Guide
We planned to digitise the entire manual with clean spacing, icons, diagrams, and consistent layouts.
The goal: a guide that feels like a professional game booklet rather than handwritten notes.
Our moodboard sets the overall creative direction for Gluconomy by blending economy, bioscience, and playful character-driven design. Each element was deliberately chosen to support our vision of teaching glucose management through an engaging board game experience.
-
Paytone One (Headline):
Bold, friendly, and easy to read — perfect for creating a strong game identity that still feels approachable and fun. -
Poppins (Body Text):
Clean and modern, helping instructional text feel clear and professional, especially important for rulebooks and UI elements.
We selected soft pastel colors to create a warm and non-intimidating visual atmosphere.
They communicate:
-
Glucose and metabolism in a friendly way
-
A balance between scientific clarity and playful aesthetics
-
Consistency across cards, boards, and cash
The palette also ensures the game feels cohesive and visually soothing.
Our reference cards highlight the power of character-led visuals.
From these, we drew inspiration to:
-
Use our glucose mascots as the main storytelling elements
-
Make power cards immediately understandable through character poses
-
Keep the tone energetic and expressive
This approach makes the scientific concepts more relatable and memorable.
These references influenced our decision to create:
-
A main board inspired by blood vessels, where glucose flows
-
Individual mitochondria-shaped personal boards, where ATP conversion happens
We referenced games with clear zones, layered systems, and modular layouts to ensure: -
Better organisation
-
Cleaner player experience
-
A strong link between mechanics and real biological processes
Together, these elements help us achieve a design language that is:
-
Scientifically inspired
-
Economically themed
-
Playful, modern, and character-focused
This moodboard became the visual foundation that guided every asset we designed.
 |
| Fig 1.8 Moodboard |
Sketching Phase - Turning Ideas Into Visual Explorations
With our moodboard and design direction established, we moved into the sketching phase — the stage where our ideas began to take shape. This was a highly collaborative process, divided strategically across team strengths to ensure every asset received focused attention.
Handled by: Me, Yanny, and Hui Yi
Our team focused on bringing the glucose characters and food-based visuals to life.
Before finalising the look of our power and stock cards, we experimented with multiple layout structures to understand what would best support clarity, hierarchy, and gameplay flow. These early grayscale wireframes allowed us to focus purely on function and readability without being distracted by colours or illustrations.
 |
| Fig 1.9 Initial Card Layout Exploration |
-
We experimented with glucose mascots in dynamic poses to represent each action (steal, swap, boost, shield, etc.).
-
The goal was to make each card instantly readable, playful, and mechanically intuitive.
-
Early sketches helped us determine proportions, facial expressions, and how to convey motion.
 |
| Fig 2.0 Power Card Glucose Sketch |
-
We explored foods with varying glucose levels, drawing them rising or falling like stocks on a chart.
-
High-glucose foods were sketched on rockets and upward arrows, while low-glucose foods slid down declining market lines.
-
These sketches helped us visualise the metaphor of a “glucose stock market” in a simple, educational way.
This card-focused sketching gave us the foundation for both mechanics and storytelling.
 |
| Fig 2.1 Stock Market Sketch |
2. Brand Mascot + Logo Exploration
As part of building a stronger identity for Gluconomy, we explored a wide range of mascot and logo styles. Our goal was to merge bioscience, economics, and playful character design into one unified brand system that feels both educational and fun.
We began by sketching dozens of mascot variations. These explorations focused on:
-
Different body shapes inspired by glucose molecules
-
Expressions and personalities that felt friendly, energetic, and approachable
-
Visual cues from both economy (e.g., ties, briefcases, money bags) and bioscience (e.g., cell shapes, chemical bonds)
-
Characters that could adapt across assets — tokens, power cards, instructions, and cash
This sketching phase helped us understand how the mascot could communicate both energy and currency, becoming the face of the entire game world.
 |
| Fig 2.2 Main Mascot Sketches |
We explored multiple logo variations to test:
-
Different glucose mascot colors
-
How the mascot interacts with the typography
-
Placement of the stock chart arrow, symbolising economic fluctuation
-
A mitochondria-inspired outer silhouette
-
The “O” replaced with a coin, linking to game currency
Each logo variation tested how well the brand could visually express the idea of:
“Glucose meets economy.”
The arrow rising above the wordmark created an immediate association with stock markets, while the mascot “stealing” the money from the O added charm and personality.
 |
| Fig 2.3 Logo Sketches |
Handled by: Kar Yee, Melvin, and Guo Ying
Their focus was on translating bioscience into meaningful board layouts.
-
The team explored using blood vessels as the core structure, symbolising glucose flow.
-
Early sketches included placement of zones such as Bank (RBC), Jail (Fat), Base Camp, Investment, and Market.
-
Simplifying the crowded original board was a key priority.
-
Personal boards were conceptualised as mitochondria, highlighting ATP conversion.
-
The sketches explored how players could track glucose, actions, and growth individually without overwhelming the main board.
-
This separated system allowed clearer gameplay flow and stronger scientific grounding.
These sketches formed the first visual blueprint of how the Gluconomy world would look and function.
 |
| Fig 2.4 Board Sketches |
4. ATP Cash
Handled by: Kar Yee
We explored early sketches of ATP cash that placed our mascot directly in the centre. This approach allowed the mascot to become the “face of energy,” symbolising ATP as the core resource players manage throughout the game. By sketching different poses and compositions, we tested how the mascot could communicate value, personality, and energy flow while still keeping the cash visually simple and readable.
These rough sketches helped us refine the balance between playfulness, clarity, and brand consistency before moving into the final coloured design.
 |
| Fig 2.5 ATP Cash Sketch |
Final Task 2 Submission -
2. Feedback
3. Reflection
During the initial stages of analysing the original Gluconomy game, I observed several gaps that affected both clarity and gameplay immersion. Many components—such as the board, tokens, cards, and manual—lacked a unified visual identity and had weak connections to the core concepts of glucose and metabolism. The crowded board layout made it difficult to follow the game's flow, while the visuals on stock and power cards did not communicate their scientific meaning. These observations highlighted the need for a redesign that blended educational accuracy with engaging visuals.
Moving into research and sketching, I had the opportunity to explore and experiment creatively, particularly with the card systems and mascot development. Collaborating with teammates allowed each of us to focus deeply on different components—mine being the stock and power cards—which helped refine ideas faster. Sketching multiple layouts, character poses, and visual metaphors gave me hands-on experience in translating abstract concepts like “glucose spikes” or “low energy days” into playful illustrations. This phase was both exploratory and iterative, pushing me to test, adjust, and improve designs based on clarity and player understanding.
Through the lofi sketching process, I discovered that visual storytelling is essential for bridging science and gameplay. Simple layout decisions drastically affected readability, while character-driven illustrations made scientific concepts more accessible. I also found that tying each asset back to a biological meaning—blood vessels for the main board, mitochondria for personal boards, glucose mascots for tokens—created a stronger and more cohesive game world. These findings reinforced the importance of grounding aesthetics in purpose, ensuring every design choice not only looks appealing but also enhances comprehension and gameplay flow.
Comments
Post a Comment