We brainstormed ideas for a word game and eventually landed on a game of building words using parts. Because we both have a background in digital development, we originally started with the idea to create a mobile game and built out a simple prototype. Through testing the prototype, however, we discovered that it just wasn't very fun.
For our second iteration, we decided to move to a paper prototype. We printed out all the word parts in our database and tried to come up with a fun way to combine them into words using some existing card games as a jumping off point. We quickly determined that we had way too many word parts to make a playable card game. So we started whittling down our list into parts that could be used in multiple words and combined multiple ways, ultimately coming up with a way to make the game competitive and fun.
Having the basic idea in hand, we wanted to test with real users. I focused on visual design while my brother handled recruiting users.
I came up with a few options for logos and card layouts based on our first idea for the game's name. After a few passes, I settled on a design that was based on drafting and architecture – the idea of building words – so I used a graph paper background and sketchy feel. I chose an easily readable font for our cards, and a layout that incorporated the information we wanted (the word part, variations, and definition) in a way that was still readable and easy to use. The final design led to a change in the name of the product: Wordwright, word builder.
We printed prototypes and tested them with users recruited mainly off of social media who comprised both personas we had identified – educators and board game players. We also playtested it ourselves with friends and family members.
