For my senior capstone project and exhibition, I began with one goal: getting young adults to read more books by getting them excited about reading. I did an enormous amount of research on topics like reward systems, gamification, tools for organization and dozens of other subjects that contribute to or have an influence on the success of positive behavioral interventions. After throwing some ideas out the window completely while adapting content from others, I created Book Club. The project involved designing and presenting an entire tabletop card game concept, from typography to the layout and installation design, to branding, and the physical form of the game and it's packaging.
Book Club is a collaborative tabletop game for young adults that aims to make reading books a more enjoyable and social experience. It operates as a tool to facilitate more engaging discussions between players and gives their conversations a place to start. It’s also pretty fun. Players choose from different prompts that help them decide what to read and encourage them to approach the discussion in thoughtful, unique, and entertaining ways.
The different types of cards keep the game varied and engaging in different ways. Choose cards ask players to make decisions between a number of different options based on a prompt, while Think cards ask readers to try to understand what they’re reading, stimulating conversation and driving discussion. Draw cards give players a chance to be draw (or fail at drawing) fun things to answer or create questions, and Talk cards encourage players to have a discussion. It’s okay if it turns into an argument, too! List cards will have players write things down and make decisions or have conversations based on what’s written. And then there are Play cards, that demand that Book Club members not take themselves too seriously and help them remember to have fun!
Sometimes people need a framework in which to be creative or express themselves. Being asked to draw, write, think, or do something silly all work together to help everyone involved do that while developing a much deeper understanding and appreciation for each book.
This project was under construction from Fall of 2018 to Spring of 2019. There will hopefully in the future be expansion packs to specific book genres, a website where the game can be purchased, and game-related merchandise like pins and stickers are currently being produced as well.