1. Research
Before this project, I never played chess before. So, I did some basic research on rules and played a couple games to better understand each role.
I also did some research on structure and slice form in order to get understanding of working principles.
2. Iteration
Me and my partner was kind of struggling at reaching a unified theme. We brainstormed couples of ideas such as: pirate, culture difference, totem pole vs. Roman column, etc. However, we both agree on death vs life at the end. I chose skeleton as basic form for my chess pieces.
Before making chess, I thought through about what makes a chess set successful. There are few key points I came up with. All pieces should not only harmonize as a whole, but also has variety between them. Scale could help illustrate the hierarchy. Each should communicate their role well. Instead of spending a lot of time explain each piece, I think they should be ready to play. Player should not be confused.
Having these ideas in mind, I decided to create a basic original form and other pieces will gradually evolve from it. So, they will both have same traits, but also communicate their role well.
I gathered references from internet.
Test could always help building forms. I made a couple prototypes.
After making prototypes, I made modifications including size, compositional change and connecting ways.
And then, the rest of part was much easier since they have similar body type. To make each piece distinguishable, I added different visual elements and modifies sizes to communicate their characteristics.
3. Concept Statement
The Checkmate is a group project that remakes chess pieces under a common theme. The mechanism and rule stay the same, while each piece has different form than traditional chess set. Our overall theme is life creatures versus immortal army. They represent two opposite sides: life and death. From the beginning to the end of life, life and death are always happening. Life and death are contradictory existences that composed of resistance. Until death, we are silently doing resistance, and the essence of all resistance, which is life itself. I think there is only one way to treat death and life: without compromise. Always keep the spirit of resistance, this is perhaps the only way to make life less banal and less tend to be meaningless. I chose skeleton as simple original form for my side. Rest of pieces are variations from the origins by applying contrast and scale. Different scale depicts the relative importance of the figure in the whole set. Each piece has their own characteristics so that they could visually communicate their role and function. The chess set shows unity as a whole and variety as individual at the same time.
4. Production
Laser cut is most frustrating part; when I cut a file, there is always some parts are not cut through. So, I have to make multiples changes and cut them.
Final Design
