Statement of Intent
For our redesign of Chess, my partner, Emerson, and I explore the everlasting conflict between the capitalist nature of our society and the necessity of respect for nature and the reality of human impacts on the environment. Elements of shape and form take the forefront in the overall design, in combination with contrast and texture to communicate each of our chosen forms and their relationships to one another. We collaborated closely with each other throughout the design process, brainstorming and combining our ideas for pieces on either side of the board. Each piece is a representation of either side of various societal issues affecting the planet, following the hierarchy followed by traditional chess pieces. One side is a display of the roots of these issues within consumerist ideals, the other being nature’s consequences of such practices and its opposing efforts. The individual forms are chosen from our various ideas based on how their shape and movement relates to and hints to the characteristics of pieces in the traditional game of Chess. Collaborating in this way allowed us to each build pieces for either side of the board from our own interpretations, while maintaining a sense of harmony throughout the completed set. Our primary material was wood, which makes up the primary forms of each piece. We especially featured the wood on the sustainability-focused side of the board, which became an interesting way to weave our concept into materiality. We furthered this idea with a simple coat of black paint on certain pieces within the consumerist-inspired side of the game, giving them a more modern appearance, almost suggesting an ignorance to the true issues shown on the opposing side. I also applied recycled newsprint to the bursts coming from each of the queens, the megaphone and gavel, to emphasize this key piece in the game while providing an abstraction to the different uses and interpretations of information from opposing sides of environmental issues. In these overlaps between concept and materiality, the set all together creates a bold back-and-forth narrative from the use of intentional detailing that emphasizes aspects key to its design.
Ideation
My partner and I began harnessing ideas by creating a shared document, which I’ve found over this year to be the best way to get ideas flowing, especially in a group. Because I had minimal knowledge of Chess going into this project, I did some of my own research on the concepts and rules of the game, and even downloaded an app version to get a better understanding of how each piece works. I also did some research into the history and context of the pieces, and how their concepts relate to their role in the game.
My partner and I were able to apply this information to our brainstorming as well when deciding what each piece would be.
Once we were at a good place with potential ideas and understanding of the game of chess, we began focusing more on one of the main objectives of this project; to build all of our pieces in slice forms. We did some initial practice with different forms from templates provided in class, and did some individual research to figure out how to create some of the forms we were planning to use.
We were able to decide on our final concept after this research and sketching out the ideas we were both interested in. After comparing notes and sketches on our concepts, we decided to move forward with Sustainability vs. Consumerism for our final chess set.
[Final sketches comparing two possibilities]
Iteration/ Production
After deciding on our final concept, we went through our ideas of pieces and chose what forms we wanted each piece to be represented by. We explored how to translate our chosen pieces into slice forms, sketching out what these pieces might look like and come together. We compared the models and sketches we each came up with during class meetings, and were able to make the decisions about who would create which pieces based on what we each felt most confident with. We were both interested in the pieces and concepts across both sides of the game, so we ended up each creating pieces for both sides.
[Slice form sketches]
This, along with the models created in ideation, allowed us to identify areas of strength and potential improvement in our forms, and start creating illustrator files for further testing on the Cricut machines.
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The Cricut process, although not the most precise in terms of cleanly cutting smaller-scale shapes, did help us further any adjustments needed to our slice forms and begin production of our final pieces. Certain forms turned out successfully, but others were too slender, such as the graph pictured above, for example.
When discussing materials, our focus was on applying materiality that would blend clearly with our concept. Repurposed and or/natural materials were the best direction to go in order to achieve this, and we experimented with applying details and texture using a variety of previously discarded materials, including plastic bags, recycled paper, foam, among others. This also brought in the idea of color, due to the natural color variations that might come with recycled materials. We also thought that color could be an interesting way to distinguish the two sides of the board. Ideas about some of these details can also be seen in the slice from sketches depicted earlier in Iteration.
After considering these possibilities, we decided due to the small scale of the chess pieces that it would be more beneficial to the overall composition to go with a slightly cleaner, more minimalistic look. Having too much variety on such a small scale could easily overwhelm the viewer or player, and potentially make the pieces harder to distinguish. We decided to use wood as our final material, as it offered a simple, yet natural look. With this decision, I took both my partner and I’s files to be laser cut.
When purchasing wood, I chose a type that was relatively thin that would be able to be hand cut in case it was needed, due to limited laser cutter access. While this did end up being a fortunate decision, as I had to hand-cut certain pieces that I was unable to my partner’s and some of mine, it did point out the importance of communication on both of our ends, as my partner had planned her files for thicker wood than I had been planning mine for. However, due to the possibility of the need for hand cutting and adhesive applications, we were able to work around this and it ended up working out. Looking back, I would have used the same thickness of wood used for our bases and cloud piece, which needed a thicker form to balance on. Although the wood we used was a safer option in the circumstance of this project in that it could be hand-cut, it was much more fragile than we were expecting. However, we managed to make our pieces work and come together as well as possible, as we were unable to obtain or cut from different wood. I did have to sacrifice a few of the detail forms on my gavel, however, but the form and overall shape still remained present.
To distinguish the contrast between our two sides, we decided on the addition of black paint to certain pieces representing consumeristic concepts. The gave them a sleek, less natural look, especially with the idea of covering the natural wood grain. This was also a way to draw attention to and bring about contrast in certain pieces.
The bishop also ended up being a key component in this play with contrast, especially with its character as a sneakier piece. We painted the dead tree within its full form black, which contrasted with the rest of the piece’s light wood and was further emphasized by the brittle effect created by the laser cutter on the dead tree branches.
This addition further tied in the concepts behind the pieces themselves, as the intention behind them is to represent government regulations in opposition to the spread of information and truth. After these final detailing steps, I secured my pieces to their bases with hot glue for added stability.
Following these steps, my pieces were ready to be paired with my partner’s for a game of chess!
Reflection
With this project, I definitely took away some valuable lessons, especially when it comes to navigating potential challenges that can come with working collaboratively. Overall, this was likely the project that I struggled most with throughout the past two semesters. My partner and I were able to generate strong concepts together, but ran into some roadblocks when it came to communication and collaboration throughout the production process, and what our goals for the final product were. The added requirement of creating our pieces in slice forms, while interesting and exciting, unfortunately made reaching a satisfying set more challenging an additional way. This experience definitely tested me as a designer, and, despite this, I still feel sene of success in having been able to produce a cohesive outcome. Our complete set of pieces come together on the board in harmony, brought together by a simple range of materials and use of simple, recognizable forms. The contrast between the light wood and black paint also creates a striking effect between the pieces, and is an element I’m glad we were able to reach a consensus on. It’s often challenging projects like these that make me even more determined to continue to strive to be a better designer, and increase my confidence in my ability to take on any future challenges that come about in more informed and experienced ways.
Portfolio Project
The page showcasing my final Checkmate project can be found through the link below!