Biota : Process
I began with a digital illustration of a chicken, and thought it would be great as a character in a video or card game. I toyed with placing it in various card layouts, and began to create a card system.
To define the illustrative style, I ran multiple iterations and conducted public testing to see which directions resonated. The final style combined elements from several top performing concepts.
The game system is educational and exciting, pairing creatures and their scientific names with a bold vibrant color palette and engaging digital illustrations.
The variety of creatures means most viewers are able to find something in Biota they gravitate towards.
After many iterations placing creatures against colorful backgrounds, achieving consistent balance proved difficult. Removing the backgrounds improved balance and contrast and let the illustrations shine.
With a goal of one creature illustration per day, I quickly hit a limitation with the original color palette. Introducing blue added the depth and dimension the set needed, as the collection grew, variety and diversity were needed.
For the Biota wordmark, I mapped the brand's core attributes: strategic, variable, unique, friendly, geometric, and playful. This is a custom typeface I created called Nexus-26. Its geometric shapes and diagonal lines mirrored shapes I already had on Biota’s creature cards.
the back of card designs are patterned, and using elements I already have. The thinner geometric lines mirror the thin and delicate lines that I have in my digital illustrations.
The card tuck box was created using a template online, and printed with makeplayingcards.com
The food/energy cards and tokens were created using illustrations I created, and matched with an appropriate hue for easy color association when playing.
Energy cards are designed with the same color-association as the counters. For elements that need to be layered over other cards, flipped over, or randomized, cards are needed instead of counters.
Location cards are designed similarly to the creature cards, but horizontal instead of vertical.
All of these elements needed a larger box to sit inside. I found a similar sized box to one I needed, and created a template, which I printed on sticker paper, and wrapped around the box.
