Spotlight Graphic Design Devlog

The graphic design for #Spotlight was a pleasure to do for many reasons. I’ll try to remember them all.

1st: Adam already had a solid base for the art when I joined the project. The symbols on the playing cards were there, but they were sort of reversed. Their color palette was similar to the Area cards, and I knew that differentiating them would help the table presence and the gameplay experience.

2nd: Speaking of the symbols, they coupled really well with the card colors to assist with accessibility for color deficient gamers. When the cards are laid out in the columns of areas, each card’s symbol is visible. That was an extremely important aspect for us.

3rd: I really enjoy each suit's symbol/color combo. They all feel so appropriate. The grey suit and its sharp lines remind of sleek metal. The blue suit with pentagons feels peaceful, tranquil, and balanced. The purple suit with its parallelograms feels uniform, classy, and regal. And the orange suit gives me a visceral feeling of joy and playfulness, while making me think of Kel’s love for orange soda… and now I’m thirsty.

4th: The patterns on the Spotlight cards and Player cards were challenging at first. This was because we were designing for 4 players, and needed to create 4 patterns that were highly distinguishable, but still consistent. Adding in the letters to correspond with players definitely helped.

5th: The rules cards were a ton of fun to design! This was my first time working with the constraints of such a small space, and I really like the challenge it presented. It made me think about various ways to present information, and guide a player through learning a game.

6th: The tuckboxes were also fun to create. They were a bit like puzzles themselves. Actually, we hid a special little surprise in some of them. Here’s a clue: “The drive-thru is an extra fun area.” I think I came up with one of Adam’s favorite design pieces while making the tuckboxes. The stats for player count, recommended age, and play time use the suit icons in a cool, minimalist fashion.

So overall, I was given the chance to take a foundation that was well done, and add some purposeful pizazz to it. There are icons on the Area cards that distinguish when their effects apply, a light pattern in the background of most cards to make them a little more dynamic, and a few other special elements that make the game visually appealing. Spotlight packs a lot of stellar design in a small package. I’m happy that I got to put so much into it, and I hope you enjoy having it on your tabletop.