Visual Identity | Mascot Design | Collateral Design
Lallapalooza is an annual board game event hosted by Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) board game society: NTU FastForward, that aims to bring families and friends together through board gaming.
It is hosted in collaboration with Toa Payoh East Youth Executive Committee and the board game societies of National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management University (SMU) and Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP).
My Role:
As the publicity head of Lallapalooza for 2018 and 2019, I was responsible for the design and creation of publicity material and event collaterals, and managing the event's social media page.
Lallapalooza Board Game Carnival
Our Goal
To spread the joy of board gaming to the wider community (over existing board game circles), and also to expose this wider community to the expansive range of board games other than well-known, mass-marketed games such as Monopoly and Risk.
The secondary goal was to provide an avenue for existing board gamers to find more people to play with, and to allow local board game designers and publishers to promote and playtest their games.
Our Target Audience:
Families looking for a fun activity to do over the weekend. Especially around the Toa Payoh community.
Youths to Adults looking to get into board gaming, but have yet to either due to budget constraints (board games can be expensive) or other reasons
Board gamers looking for more people to play with.
Board gamers belonging to existing board gaming circles or communities in Singapore.
Because knowledge and information about the events would typically reach the members of group (4) through word-of-mouth as we approach those in the community for sponsorship and support, publicity materials were mainly designed to target groups (1) to (3).
The Problem
Before my committee took over organisation of the event in 2018, Lallapalooza was not attracting much participants outside of those already within existing board game circles in Singapore. We attributed this to the lack of a strong visual identity for the event — publicity materials did not draw attention, felt generic and easily overlooked by those that were not already aware of the event.
My Approach:
Create a consistent visual identity that reflects the “Carnival” theme of the event.
My objective was to really sell the “Carnival” aspect of Lallapalooza to evoke a sense of casualness associated with walking through a carnival and trying out the various games and booths within.
I wanted to remove as much of a psychological barrier for those outside existing board game communities to participate and try out the games by creating an inviting and friendly atmosphere.
Mascots
Thinking long-term, I wanted to ensure that the visual designs could be easily replicated by future committees and leave behind elements that could be used to instantly identify Lallapalooza, while at the same time, leaving room for each year’s Lallapalooza to have its own flair and identity.
To these ends, I planned to design a series of 3 mascots, introducing one per year, each having its own colour theme that could then be cycled by the future committees.
Unfortunately due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lallapalooza 2020 had to be postponed, and only 2 mascots were designed.
Teasers, Posters and Banners
Event Collaterals
Gamer cards to collect stamps that be exchanged for prizes, shirts to identify event staff, photo backdrops, game menu, badges, plush toys, banners.
