Teaching Accessible Design Through Critical Making and Board Games

Adam Strantz, Miami University

Lens: Visual

Splendor

jewel game pieces from Splendor
Figure 1: jewel pieces from Splendor.

Splendor is a game of gem collecting using cards and chips. As the gem chips are vital to play, the student examined how the gems could be more visually accessible.

Exploding Kittens

three lines of cards showing how Exploding Kittens cards look originally, filtered through red color blindness, and blue color blindness
Figure 2: Exploding Kittens cards filtered through Coblis

Exploding Kittens is a fast-paced card game and the student noted that the cards are visually complex and dense with wordplay and visual jokes. Due to the fast-paced nature of the game, this student tackled the amount of visual information/complexity on the cards.

Airplane Chess

the board and pieces of Airplane Chess. Colorful round tiles with airplanes on them sit on a board
Figure 3: The board and pieces of Airplane Chess

Although many students covered popular, well-known games, the project also allowed students a chance to share less known games with the class. This student, for example, studied Airplane Chess a game popular in China. The student ran the components through the Coblis color-blindness simulator and determined that unique shapes for each player would help players keep track of which pieces were theirs.

Dragonball Z Card Game

cards from the Dragonball Z card game arranged on a table
Figure 4: Cards from the Dragonball Z card game arranged and ready to play.

The Dragonball Z card game is a stylish and visually exciting game. However, this student noted numerous problems with the design of the cards due to the amount of visual information present including the character image, stats, numbers, and text that must be read and refered to quickly in order to play.

Lens: Visual

View Student Examples
The visual lens includes all elements of visual design including sizing and spacing issues, color/contrast issues, and colorblindness.

Lens: Cognitive

View Student Examples
The cognitive lens includes elements of game design relating to complexity, memorization, understanding of rules, and overall density of text on game materials.

Lens: Physical

View Student Examples
The physical lens covers issues relating to interacting with the game through touch, bodily movement, and fine-motor skills. The ability to move, interact with game pieces, and physically do what is required by the game is analyzed.

Lens: Emotional

View Student Examples
The emotional lens looks at the game from the perspective of how players feel while playing the game. This may involve feelings of frustration, joy and sadness in winning and losing, or "feel bad" moments in gaming where one player is excluded from play.