Synopsis DESIGN THE playing field (the game board), the game pieces, and the container for a parody of the game Master Mind. Your redesign will have the exact same rules as that popular code-breaking game but, instead of being abstract, your version will have some surprising subject matter and an appropriate title.
Problem Guidelines and Constraints This is an exercise in parody, by which we are doing a “take off” on some existing well-known form, in this case the game called Master Mind. As a result, the very first thing you need to do is to study that game, its rules and all its components. If you own a copy, you could of course study the actual game. If you don’t, a quick and convenient alternative is to go its Wikipedia article, and study the text and pictures there. Your solution to the problem must include: (a) the decoding board, (b) six kinds of code pegs, (c) two kinds of key pegs, and (d) (this part is optional) a view of the container in which the game will be packaged. Please understand that you will be not actually building the game. Instead, you are producing a one-page 11 x 17 inch layout which (one way or another) visually communicates the appearance of your game design, its components and (maybe) the package. Designing A Suite or Ensemble One of our main objectives in this problem is to design a suite or ensemble—like a dinnerware set—in which a variety of components, however distinct in their functions, are styllistically consistent, and “go together” as a coherent visual set.* Subject Matter Whatever subject matter you select as the “theme” for your version of the game, it must have something to do with the history of design since 1850 (graphic, architectural, interior, industrial, fashion and so on) in the broadest sense. For example, you might focus on a style (e.g., Constructivism), or a time period (e.g., Depression-era), or a medium (e.g., advertising photography), or a range of subject (e.g., typography), or a particular designer (e.g., Dard Hunter); or a group of designers (e.g., Push Pin Studio), or a school of design (e.g., Bauhaus), and so on. You should make an effort to be inventive—to choose a subject / theme that no one else is likely to think of.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parodyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastermind_%28board_game%29shapeimage_4_link_0shapeimage_4_link_1
Software Throughout the course, we will sometimes use different software for different problems, or combinations of software. For this problem, it would be wise to use Adobe Photoshop.http://tv.adobe.com/product/photoshop/shapeimage_5_link_0
 
 
11 in
17 in
The tabloid (11 x 17 in) page can be either vertical (portrait) or horizontal (landscape). The live area measures 9 x 15, with a one-inch white border on all sides.
© April Czarnetski
© Elliot Tensen
© Leah Wirtz
© Emily Bruggeman
© Morgan Johnson
© Charles Sanders
© Jessica Stewart
Master Mind game board as is
Important Work at 300 dpi at tabloid size. While designing, use RGB color mode, then, prior to preparing to print, save a copy using Save As, flatten the layers, change to CMYK color mode, and convert to high quality PDF (portable document format). Design History Sources At this point, you may not know very much about the history of design, which could make it somewhat difficult to decide what designer, design artifact, design style or so on, to use as your gameboard theme. Let me provide you with some helpful online links that will give you an overview of the possibilities, as well as some sources of images too: 1) My own chronology of design history. 2) A modern design timeline from the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts. 3) History of graphic design. 4) Industrial design history. 5) History of logo design. 6) History of visual communication. 7) History of architecture. 8) Games with historical subject themes.HistTimeline1.htmlhttp://www.artsmia.org/modernism/http://www.designhistory.org/http://www.industrialdesignhistory.com/linkshttp://www.logoorange.com/logodesign-A.phphttp://www.citrinitas.com/history_of_viscom/http://www.greatbuildings.com/http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/games/games.cfmhttp://www.greatbuildings.com/shapeimage_8_link_0shapeimage_8_link_1shapeimage_8_link_2shapeimage_8_link_3shapeimage_8_link_4shapeimage_8_link_5shapeimage_8_link_6shapeimage_8_link_7
The Master Mind parodies on this page were made by students in Graphic Design I in the Fall Semester 2009. Unlike the problem you’re being given, they were told to select pictorial themes that had something to do with college life.
*Why do things look like they belong together? We know from psychological research that things tend to appear to belong together (1) when they appear to be similar (similarity grouping), (2) when they are near one another (proximity grouping), and (3) when one or more of their edges line up in space (continuity).
 
Any perceivable attribute is a potential basis for rhyme, including such charateristics as  shape, size (thickness, length), light/dark value, hue (color), intensity (saturation), texture, direction, speed, reflectiveness, density and slant.
 
600:025 Sections 1 & 2 graphic design one | problem 4 Click here for more examples of student game designs
 
This problem will be critiqued in class on Wednesday, November 9. Revisions are due one week later.