By Neo Kolane
The students of Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) fashion and apparel design who are in their second year of study of fashion illustration course have designed nine board games so as to explore and experiment with projects that give them confidence and shape their opinions.
Speaking with theReporter; fashion lecturer, Thabo Tsepa, said that the board game was a concept he always thought about some three years ago.
Tsepa said that he saw students sometimes struggling to learn in the conventional classroom setting, but are willing to have fun and play and saw that as an art of mixing business with pleasure.
He also wanted to create a personal freedom for students. So in a nutshell it was inspired by passion and love for fashion.
Tsepa recalled that it took the students about two months to learn about the game boards under strict supervision.
“Some things that they had to do were research on board games, use of mind maps to extract and brainstorm ideas, find inspiration, the name of the game that is relevant to fashion as well as colour coordination. The activities also included making rough sketches, choosing the best design, use computer aid design (CAD) to illustrate the final layout and board design and illustration of clues on the board. Then they scan to computer or use Photoshop or Illustrator. They designed about 20 playing cards, timers, moving tokens and the manual,” he explained.
“What was used to make the fashion board games were mounting board, computer for some design sketching and layouts and glue,” he continued.
Other teams further used materials such as wood in their designs.
He said that LUCT has established worldwide recognition through its innovative brand of creative education where “it opens students’ minds to connect the dots, see the big picture and see a new sense of life. “
For him the games trigger fun while students learn.
“If this ideology works for the rest of the world, why can’t it be used in learning environment? My vision is these board games will not only help fashion students understand fashion by introducing a different approach to learning, but to also talk fashion in the most relevant way.
“My wish is that local stores will somehow recognise this beautiful talent brewed by fresh minds that have ability to create and innovate,” he hoped.
“We have worked tirelessly on this concept, we fell in love with it and it is here and happening, we made the impossible possible as the president of the university Professor Emeritus Tan Dato Sri Dr Limkokwing would say.
“The university enables the students to apply skills and knowledge to a rapidly changing industry and promote academic excellence. Therefore, it has acknowledged this work so much that they have asked for these works to be posted in all schools’ social media platforms. They will also do a cover-up story for the university’s website. A radio interview is to be conducted where the projects will be exposed to the listeners as part of promoting the programme,” he said succinctly.
“Students have benefited immensely. Not only have they found a game that provides fashion industry’s relevant education, but they have actually made the game itself. For me this could be a life time achievement,” Tsepa connoted.
The names of the fashion board games are Fashion Feud, Liaparo, The Fashion Board Game, Psychedelic Vogue, Cosa de Moda, So you think you know Fashion?, Fashion World wide, Seasonal Glober, Silent Ingenuity and Fashion Rush.
