What is it?

In the game Medium, players act as psychic mediums, harnessing their powerful extra-sensory abilities to access other players’ thoughts. Together in pairs, they mentally determine the Medium: the word that connects the words on their two cards, and then attempt to say the same word at the same time!

Two cards. Two thoughts. One mind.

The Task at Hand

This was my first “do-all” project with Greater than Games, LLC. Being assigned as the Graphic Designer to this project, I was inspired by the theme and direction of this game and decided to ask to be considered as Lead Illustrator. After proving my illustration skills with a few concept ideas, the Creative Director decided to make Medium my “baby” so to speak. It was my responsibility to provide all art, graphic design and layout for this new party game idea.

Initial Concepts and Brainstorming

The art and design process is never one and done. Often you start with several ideas and narrow them down, tweaking and perfecting as you go. There’s always different perspectives to listen to, and with that you adapt your art and design in a way that speaks everything it is meant to, while also being the best it can be. I felt very passionate about the art I had created with the lady holding her hands around a swirling , starry globe. However, it was important that I illustrated other ideas and directions so that visually, the team could see what communicated the game the strongest. Eventually, I was able to convince my peers and the game designers of my gut feeling, and why the art I created would be successful. With some additional changes to color and composition, we finally reached that perfect place. The art that would reach so many gamer’s hearts as well as Target’s shelves — which was a pretty big deal at the time. This was Greater Than Game’s first party game, as well as their first-ever game in Target. It’s unusual for board game companies to have more than one niche and be equally successful at them, so this was big and exciting news.

Let’s Lay it Out

Once the art direction was finalized, layout for all elements could go into motion. I was responsible for all graphic design that involved the box, cards, tokens, dividers, and in addition, the expansion game that included a new set of word cards and new box art. I also communicated with the print factories, doing prepress production and packing my files in accordance to their directions. This was also the first time I worked with the print factory on neon spot color and created white plates.

Finished Product! Gen Con Debut!

In 2019, Medium debuted at Gen Con and sold out within the first 3 hours. Of course, fans anticipated it coming with previous demoing in earlier conventions such as Pax Unplugged 2018. Later, it was picked up by Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and *drumroll* Target…a big deal for party games in the board game industry, among many other retailers across the globe.