I am an unlikely candidate to be reviewing Daniel Solis’ book. To say that graphic design is not my passion would be an understatement. I struggle to draw stick figures let alone solve the complex problems of layout and design necessary for an attractive and playable board game. However, I do have an enthusiasm for board games and like all nerds I have strong opinions on them and how they look. I am also broadly intrigued by CRC Press’ new series of books edited by Geoff Engelstein. I really enjoyed the other two books in the series, and for completeness’s sake I figured I should read this one as well, even if it was further afield from my own areas of interest and knowledge.
The series as a whole has a somewhat fluid identity. Sarah Shipp’s book on game themes was a mixture of analysis and advice for designers, while Amabel Holland’s book was much closer to a treatise on the potential of games as art and argument. Daniel Solis’ book is closer to Shipp’s and goes even further in that it is essentially a guide for practitioners who are thinking about entering the field of board game graphic design. That is not to say it is not an interesting read for the artistically challenged like myself, but to acknowledge that I am not the target audience and so my review comes with some inherent limitations.
The core of the book is eight chapters, each of which deals with a specific aspect of board game graphics, from cards to punchboards to the boxes themselves and everything in between. The chapters are generously populated with examples drawing from a wide range of games, much of the which were done by Solis himself. This helps keep the book focused on the specific rather than wandering into the general or abstract. This is not a work of aesthetic philosophy but rather a guide with practical, actionable information for anyone looking to learn this trade. I am not one of those people, though, so while I can admire its contents, and I believe they will be very useful, I can’t declare that from personal experience.
However, as someone who dabbles in game design the book contains plenty of information that I think designers and other people involved in making board games could benefit from knowing. Considerations of graphic design and layout are crucial to a game’s playability and Solis frequently comments that the in most cases the earlier the graphic designer can be involved in the game’s creation the better. Similarly, the sooner a game designer is thinking about these issues the better the final design may be able to integrate the art, layout, and rules together into the ideal package. There can be a tendency to treat a game’s designer as a pure intellectual who is above the gritty details about how the final product is made, but of course this is not true and a greater knowledge of how games are made (which Graphic Design for Board Games includes in detail) benefits everyone involved in the process.
I’m not going to claim that Graphic Design for Board Games was a particularly thrilling read. It is well written and never gets bogged down in overly technical language, but it’s not exactly a rip-roaring tale of adventure. I enjoyed reading it and I feel like I learned a lot from it, but at the same time I am aware that its value to me is limited and arguably I could have gotten most of the information that was relevant to me from just reading a few key chapters or sections. For what it is worth, I would recommend it to both anyone interested in applying their design skills to board games and anyone interested in self-publishing or just the details of how games are made. At a minimum, it is a valuable account of how to craft a game’s look from an expert in the field.
(Hey, if you like what I do here, maybe consider making a donation on Ko-Fi or supporting me on Patreon so I can keep doing it.)