creative clash - turning design thinking into a game that sparks creativity and collaboration.

TIMELINE

Fall 2023

(2 Weeks)

ROLE

End-to-end Designer

TEAM

Myself

2 Classmates

SKILLS

UX Research

Prototyping

Game Design

Visual Design


let's make design thinking fun and playful!

When we started researching existing “design thinking games,” we realized most of them weren’t really games at all—they were more like flashcards or prompt decks. They lacked the sense of play, structure, and competition that makes a game engaging.

Our challenge was to create something that could help people in corporate spaces practice design thinking in a way that was active, collaborative, and fun.

RESEARCH

starting with research (and a lot of gameplay)

This project started with a challenge from our instructor:

THE CHALLENGE

how can we use speculative design to imagine how people might practice design thinking in the future?

To ground our ideas, we played through several existing “design games.” What we found was surprising:

  • Most of them weren’t really games — they were more like flashcards with prompts.

  • The rules were often confusing and didn’t create a satisfying play experience.

  • Instead of sparking creativity, they made us feel like we were just going through the motions.

This exercise helped us identify a key opportunity: if future design games are going to be valuable, they need to feel like games—with structure, roles, competition, and fun—while still teaching the principles of design thinking.

PROTOTYPING

prototyping with paper

Once we knew we wanted Creative Clash to be a real game, not just a deck of prompts, we started with the simplest materials we had: paper and markers.

  • Fast iteration: Paper let us sketch ideas quickly, write challenges by hand, and swap cards in and out as rules evolved.

  • Playability tests: We sat down and actually played the game, even in its rough form, to see what worked and what felt confusing.

  • Immediate feedback: Because everything was low-stakes and hand-drawn, we could change mechanics on the spot without worrying about polish.

These early rounds were messy, but they revealed what was fun (the competitive energy and surprise challenges) and what wasn’t (overly complicated rules and unclear prompts). That learning shaped the next iterations of the game. We really had to determine how much time each round should take to prevent players from feeling rushed (too little time) or feeling bored (too much time).

EARLY ITERATIONS DONE ON PAPER

USER FEEDBACK

what did users think of the design?

When we tested Creative Clash with classmates, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Players mentioned that unlike other design thinking tools, this actually felt like a game—something they could get invested in.

  • Engagement: People were laughing, sketching, and competing in ways that felt natural and fun.

  • Replayability: Several testers said they’d be happy to play it again, even outside of a classroom or workshop setting.

  • Accessibility: Because the rules were simple and the prompts playful, even those without design backgrounds felt comfortable joining in.

VISUAL DESIGN

a visual identity that's fun, but still means business.

We wanted Creative Clash to feel approachable enough to invite play, but polished enough to sit comfortably in a corporate setting. The visual identity became the bridge between those two goals.

  • Color palette: Bold, high-contrast colors gave each card type its own identity while keeping the overall system easy to scan during fast-paced rounds.

  • Typography: Chunky, friendly typefaces added energy and personality without compromising legibility.

  • System thinking: From the cards to the box, every element was designed to feel cohesive—so the game came across as a complete, polished product rather than a workshop tool.

OUTCOMES

does Creative Clash make design thinking fun?

One of the most exciting outcomes of our playtests was the variety of ideas Creative Clash produced. Because the game mixes unexpected characters, locations, and challenges, the solutions ranged from wildly imaginative to surprisingly practical:

  • Silly & unexpected: Players came up with a dog café that doubles as a networking hub or a haunted laundromat where ghost stories spark community bonding.

  • Grounded & practical: Others designed app-based platforms for students to swap books and clothes or co-working spaces built into laundromats to turn waiting time into connection time.

This range showed us that the game sparks both laughter and serious discussion. The sillier ideas broke the ice, while the practical ones reminded us of the game’s real potential in inspiring innovation

REFLECTIONS

what did i learn from this project?

This project reminded me that design is about experience, not just tools. We didn’t need to reinvent design thinking; we needed to reframe it. By turning it into a game, we made it something people looked forward to, not something they had to endure.

If I were to take Creative Clash further, I’d explore:

  • Expanding to remote-friendly or digital play

  • Building different “expansion packs” for different industries

  • Refining the rules to make setup even faster