Mason Board Game Club
Created a reusable, eye-catching poster and an easy to use website (using Wix) for the George Mason Board Game Club
2019
Goal
As a new club, it was important to get new membership to ensure the sustainability of the club. It was also important to stand out against a wall full of other poster advertisements, while keeping printing costs to a minimum since the club didn’t have any joint funds.
As for the website, the need for one grew when the club’s meeting place started changing on a weekly basis. The website also allowed members outside the club to utilize the extensive spreadsheet another member put together that cataloged the games the club had available. After all, people are less inclined to attend a meeting if they’re under the impression that they have to provide their own games.
Highlights
Poster
There’s a few designated places to put posters on a college campus. Because of that, a poster needs to work extra hard to stand out. One way to do this is by size. However, a larger print costs more. Changing the shape is an underutilized and cost effective method. Having the shape be a diamond instead of a square makes it easy to anyone to prepare. The poster also has information that doesn’t date it, and especially with the newest version redirecting to the website, the poster can be reused easily.
Website
The club officers are students. They already have a lot on their plate, so making the website easy to manage was vital. The calendar syncs with Google calendar and the event simply needs to be named with the location. The list of games syncs with an existing Excel sheet. All of these, as well as the email, are accessible with one login.
The website also works on mobile, since many students will be accessing the website that way, especially if they find it through the poster. Because of that, a simplified games list is the default viewing option since it will load in quicker.
Challenges
Photo
The president of the club and I had agreed that the social aspect of the club was vital. I wanted to take photos of people playing the games to use for the posters, but there wasn’t enough time to overcome all the issues to do so.
First, organizing that many college students for the photo shoot would be difficult given their busy schedule. I also wanted to show diversity, especially gender diversity in a hobby mostly stereotyped to be for males, to show that all were welcomed. But I also wanted the photo to be accurate and being one of three regular female members at the time, it would make organizing people for the photo even more difficult.
I could take photos during the club, since everyone would be gathered already, but that brings me to the other huge roadblock. The lighting in that building was HORRENDOUS at night. I’ve tried before. But with how animated people can get during a game, which would have made for a wonderful photo, the camera couldn’t compensate for the poor lighting and the quick shutter speed needed.