Chess Redesign

The Jock’s pieces to the chess board
The full chess board with all of the pieces
The chess game in motion
Each piece for the Jock side.

Project Statement

We created the concept that was jocks vs. nerds vs. skaters because of the classic trio of school groups against each other on a board that reminded us of a disco-like school dance. When all sides come together it represents the groups having to be dispersed in school or at the school dance. We wanted to make it so that each king was something the other two groups desired, the jock’s side being the trophy. My goal was to make pieces that considered what the opponents desired, the way the pieces moved, and how their narrative role aligned with traditional chess, and attack methods/strategies. I also prioritized 3D viewing so pieces were clear not just from one view. I believe the outcome was successful through designing each piece with these narrative considerations that clearly feature the forms that were intended.

Process

View detailed project process at Checkmate: Process

Reflection

I learned how to make forms using slices to make a simple yet complex looking chess piece, how to think about pieces as a silhouette point of view and create shapes on the different plane to bring them to life and make them look more realistic, how to use the cricut in this project, and even how to play chess all together. I had to overcome difficulties with files not working and having to resort to a different way of cutting out with problems still occurring with the file that no matter what we did we could not solve. My group and I had to overcome the difficulties of the three-way board in that it was harder to come up with a concept with three contrasting ideas as well as having to deal with the smaller squares and the changing in sizes that we needed to tackle and make our pieces fit. We also had to overcome the restriction to material that we could use because we only had access to cut using the cricut. We discovered how busy the board was going to look and added subtle hints of color to our pieces to be able to tell them apart faster and add some detail.