Project Objective
To design a game for families and friends that creates opportunities for connection while celebrating tea. Learn to play with the accompanying digital rulebook!
Target Audience
Tea drinkers and families or groups of friends who enjoy playing games together.
Design Process
The Playing Cards
After brainstorming design approaches based on research sourced from other tea-themed card games and a series of mindmaps for ideation around colour, style, and tone, I used hand-drawn assets imported into Inkscape to develop characters representing tea ingredients. I then combined the vector files into playing card designs with matching backs.
After a test print on regular paper and a couple play-throughs with classmates, I added icons to the playing-card corners that matched the associated recipe cards as a visual aid for players.
I reprinted all 60 playing cards on cardstock and used a Cricut 3 to have them all cut the same size with rounded corners for a soft feel and look. I then reprinted the recipe cards on cardstock and cut them with a paper cutter and corner-cutter tool
The Carry-Bag
I cut up an old cotton bag with a draw-string and hand-sewed the open sides to create a tea-bag shaped carry-bag for all the playing cards. I also designed a tag for the drawstring, modeled after a tea-bag tag, with the “Time for Tea” title on one side and a QR code to the digital rulebook on the other.
The Digital Rulebook
In addition to the recipe cards, I also printed the rules in brief on some cardstock so that each player would have a printed reference while playing to remind them of the rules. I expanded the quick-reference sheet into a comprehensive digital rulebook using Figma’s prototyping tools to develop a mobile app. Check out the digital rulebook!
Design Challenges
Designing a rule set that’s simple enough for children while still being enjoyable for other age groups is a complex challenge. The most difficult part was determining the right number of ingredient cards based on the number of each ingredient needed for all the recipe cards, to ensure proper gameplay balance.
After several play-throughs with classmates, family, and friends, I determined that there were too many cards for two of the ingredients, as the recipe cards didn’t call for those as often, and I ended up trimming a few of each of the two from the deck.
Tools & Platforms
- Inkscape
- Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop)
- Mockup Templates
- Cricut 3
