Visual Design

• Pre-reveal logo (if doing that)
  • Need web site specs: background page, splash logo, small logo for faq & reg pages, post-game banner for “past BAPHLs”
• Game Day Logos: overall logo, zone logos if applicable. Let the designer know as soon as you’ve committed to a theme.
• Layout
  • determine size of header and footer for portrait & landscape pages, and make sure puzzle designers leave room for it. if actually designing all the pages, set earlier deadline to get final puzzles to designer. (otherwise, design files for folks to drop into MS word or such, and agree on a font, header & footer to use across the board.)
  • each page should probably have baphl.org on it, just in case it blows away.
  • fonts: puzzle flavor & body text should be no smaller than 12 pt. choose to have more pages rather than smaller fonts. You’re designing for up to 6 pairs of eyes at once on each puzzle. If it comes down to one puzzle that doesn’t fit, decide whether it’s ok to condense the text, as long as you provide 2 copies per team. Plan to have multiple copies of the meta, or whenever whole teams are given a single puzzle.
  • puzzles with a lot of extra graphics should be vetted by the designer in time to have a test design before the main playtest. (This only came up with number weavers for us, but… it was a big deal when I was designing DASH).
• Time requirements will vary based on the designer. there’s a lot of Mad Men-style ruminating before inspiration strikes. I (Julia Tenney, For Immoral Use Only) came up with the X marks the question mark while doodling at a puzzle construction meeting. The pre-logo was designed to mislead folks into thinking olympics (to match the varsity/intramural thing). The game-day overall logo (map with question marks) was designed to match the meta-1 ticket-to-ride theme. The zone logos might not be necessary, depending on your theme.
• definitely add time for proofreading.
  • Both for overall look&feel and for making sure puzzle-relevant details are accurate, when applicable.