Tomorrow’s Triumph

For this 5-week project, my objective was to create a well-designed chess set that satisfies several important goals. First and foremost, I wanted to ensure the set was easy to use and fully geared toward providing players with a solid, comfortable playing experience, minimizing any issues with gripping and handling the pieces. Secondly, I aimed to capture not only the essence of my selected style, but also establish a strong family of form across multiple pieces, creating a cohesive and unified design.

Initial Ideation

Since I was given so much flexibility in how I was able to make the set look, I started out by exploring multiple different styles and family of forms with brief sketches.

Continued Exploration

After deciding I liked more of the Art-Deco inspired aesthetic for my chess set ideas, I dialed in on exploring what some styles from the era could potentially look like when translated into the pieces.

Choosing A Direction

Choosing A Direction

Now fully committed to a 50s retro-futurism design direction, capturing a family of form was my next step during my sketching phase of the process. The tapered curve from a wide base to a thin top is a key retro-futurist profile, making it essential to the pieces.

Fusion & 3-D Printed Models

While I achieved an elegant retro-futurist look with a cohesive form, I grew concerned about usability since the pieces were round with sharp points. To improve grip, I kept elliptical bases but flattened the top shaft with layered acrylic, balancing function and depth.

Common Piece & Mold Casting

I chose to go with white resin for the material of my cast, which is the base of each piece. Due to each of my pieces having the same base and mid-section, I was able to keep my base the same size for each them without it looking out-of-place.