CHALLENGE

A game designer needs to bring their vision to life.

SOLUTION

Create a cohesive brand for a sprawling deck-builder card game.

ROLE

Art Director | Designer | Illustrator | Obscure Bug Googler

PIN is a fun multi-player deck-builder card game based on bug collecting. I studied a lot of different bug designs and entomology textbooks and artwork in order to create a unique and eye-catching brand for their game. I quickly was immersed in and fascinated by the wide variety of bugs and how many of them are little works of art—still, many of them are ugly and horrifying.

The game had different suit colors, and bugs were grouped together and assigned different abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Rather than homogenizing the designs, the dominant color is mixed with others to maintain the vibrancy and personality of each individual bug.

Across suits, different “families” of bugs—beetles or bees or mosquitos—needed to bear a resemblance, but still give their own unique flavor and style. All in all, I illustrated over 70 different bugs.

The cards needed to quickly and easily telegraph important in-play information, such as the bug and its abilities.

And after all that, bugs still freak me out.