“The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”
-David Ogilvy
- My boyfriend, Thomas, and I on date night -
Drunk Fish
Drunk Fish was a personal project I created as a birthday present for my boyfriend. On dates, I tend to make up goofy games. He always plays with curiosity and uncertainty. When I made up the alphabet game (randomly saying letters of the alphabet while the other person says the first word that comes to mind), I got the funniest answers. The game sparked an idea.
Thomas’s favorite card game as a kid was Go Fish. I realized that the alphabet is the perfect amount of letters to create a full deck of cards. In 2020, he was turning 21. Personalized Go Fish has been done before. Instead, I turned it into a drinking game, based on his answers to the alphabet game. Drunk Fish follows the basic rules of Go Fish with a twist. Every time someone gets a pair, they choose someone to take a drink. If someone gets a pair of logo cards, they either choose two people to drink or one person to drink twice. Whoever has the most pairs wins!
At first, I wanted to use illustrations to depict the words. However, I realized this gift was the perfect opportunity to practice my typography skills. The final design is part of the gameplay. The different opacities and changes in letter size mimic the feeling of being drunk. If the player can not read the cards, they forfeit the game. Though an unusual project, it highlights my ability to manipulate type in a captivating way.
- User Testing Group -
College Kid Approved
The game has been user tested by college students over 21. The players used the words on the cards to make the game more interesting. For instance, one player wanted to ask if someone had a pair of “goofs”. Instead they asked, “Kenna, are you goof?” The words made the gameplay more fun. As the drinking continued, the game thrived on giggling and stupid jokes. Unlike most drinking games, everyone could play the entire time without getting sick. The game is safe, because of its short time span. All the players asked to play again. A simple conversation may seem pointless, but later lead to a successful design concept. Taking time to create personal projects allows for further development of skills and creativity.