Ardross art student takes on board game designing role

Ardross art student, Lewis Mardon has been busy during his summer holidays designing artwork for two eco-themed board games. 

Pupils from Lochardil Primary School in Inverness were approached by the Council’s TEC Service’s Education & Enforcement Officer James Sanderson to see if they could come up with a board game to promote recycling and draw attention to what we do with our waste. The school’s Eco Committee took on the challenge with great enthusiasm and came up with not one but two boards games – “Park Panic” and “Bin It To Win It”.

Lewis, who has completed his first year at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen, heard about the project and volunteered to interpret the pupil’s ideas to produce the artwork for the eco-themed games.  Using vibrant colours and eye-catching illustrations to bring the original concept into a reality, Lewis’s hard work got a big thumbs up from the pupils when completed versions of both games were presented to them.

Lewis, who has chosen to specialise in visual communication when he starts his second year said:  “I jumped at the chance to get involved and it has been fun as well as hard work.  I had to put in a lot of thought on the actual layout and how the games would work for players before even starting the artwork.  It is not easy interpreting the ideas of other people so I am really pleased that the school children reaction has been so positive.” 

The school now hopes to attract funding from a backer to get the games produced so that they can be enjoyed by primary schools across Scotland.

Education and Enforcement Officer James Sanderson who worked closely with the pupils on the project to raise awareness waste and recycling said: “We are optimistic that we’ll be able to find the support and funding to produce at least one of the games so other pupils working on similar projects can learn about their environment and at the same time have a fun and entertaining time rolling the dice and playing.”