Many of my favorite adventures to run are black and white with minimal art to be honest. Where layout is focused on usability at the table. Less page flipping. Less eye straining. I can read things at a glance. High contrast between text and background. Another bonus is they are printer friendly in the case of a PDF. You could also argue there are environmental benefits to being printed with less ink. I like a few graphics to be scattered around but they should be small IMO. If I have to turn the page to read something because a section spills onto the next page since art covers half the page, that is less useful at the table (or screen) for me. I love it when the artistic creativity is focused on things that players might see like player maps, handouts, etc. or at least visuals that are useful to the GM (again, maps, but GM-only ones). Just my two cents as a busy GM.
The several examples of layout can really bring up the underlying themes of a game. MORK BORG like you said is definitely part of that bunch. I believe a colleague of mine A.A Voigt did a great essay on mork borg's antagonistic design and really shows that principle of deisgn leading to enhanced story telling. Unrelated what is the difference between graphic design and illustrators? I assumed they were in similar fields then again I am not in that industry so I don't know much admittedly.
Great question! Graphic design is more focused on shape, form, fonts, elements place together wheras illustration is about creating images wholecloth like a digital drawing.
I know there are different opinions about AI than my own, but I don’t think using AI art as a baseline is “resorting to using AI”. As a solo creator with essentially 0 budget, AI art is the only way for me to achieve the vision I am going for. I think it is lazy and arguably exploitive to just slap unedited AI images on a white page. But, when using it cohesively with otherwise good design, and editing the art to better fit your vision and remove the artifacts, I think it can be a very useful tool for independent creators, and can democratize art more than ever.
Many of my favorite adventures to run are black and white with minimal art to be honest. Where layout is focused on usability at the table. Less page flipping. Less eye straining. I can read things at a glance. High contrast between text and background. Another bonus is they are printer friendly in the case of a PDF. You could also argue there are environmental benefits to being printed with less ink. I like a few graphics to be scattered around but they should be small IMO. If I have to turn the page to read something because a section spills onto the next page since art covers half the page, that is less useful at the table (or screen) for me. I love it when the artistic creativity is focused on things that players might see like player maps, handouts, etc. or at least visuals that are useful to the GM (again, maps, but GM-only ones). Just my two cents as a busy GM.
I think we’re in a really great era for graphic design and typesetting in ttrpgs. The zine scene has really pushed things along too.
couldn't agree more!
The several examples of layout can really bring up the underlying themes of a game. MORK BORG like you said is definitely part of that bunch. I believe a colleague of mine A.A Voigt did a great essay on mork borg's antagonistic design and really shows that principle of deisgn leading to enhanced story telling.
Unrelated what is the difference between graphic design and illustrators? I assumed they were in similar fields then again I am not in that industry so I don't know much admittedly.
Great question! Graphic design is more focused on shape, form, fonts, elements place together wheras illustration is about creating images wholecloth like a digital drawing.
First!!!
I know there are different opinions about AI than my own, but I don’t think using AI art as a baseline is “resorting to using AI”. As a solo creator with essentially 0 budget, AI art is the only way for me to achieve the vision I am going for.
I think it is lazy and arguably exploitive to just slap unedited AI images on a white page. But, when using it cohesively with otherwise good design, and editing the art to better fit your vision and remove the artifacts, I think it can be a very useful tool for independent creators, and can democratize art more than ever.