Strawberry Shortcake x USAOPOLY
WildBrain partnered with Monopoly for an exciting collaboration with our property Strawberry Shortcake. I was the primary designer working on this project with guidance from our VP of Design and our contract illustrator. This project focused on complete art direction, new designs, overall look and feel and frequent check-ins with the USAopoly team to ensure guidelines were adhered to at all times. In short amount of time we were able to create a sweet colourful board with highlighted the world of Strawberry Shortcake, introduce the land and new characters.
Process
To begin researching I had to dive into the vintage world of Strawberry Shortcake and look at the assets made in the traditional watercolour art which were primarily made for greetings cards. These designs often featured delicate patterns, intricate tossed strawberries and flowers and washes of colour. I started experimenting with this idea to create a board which would feel almost like a piece of art.
Early concepts of the board featured much more pattern mixing, doily trims and customizable fonts.
I took inspiration from products made with the watercolour art such as blankets, clothing and wallpaper.
Using this collage pattern mixing as a springboard, I was able to add a few details to the “Community Chest” & “Chance” cards which we were able to rename to fit into Strawberry’s world. I redesigned the railroads to feature a quilt effect which built up the image of a train for locations such as Sundae Mountain & Soda Creek.
Working with the Franchise team, we decided what characters would feature in what locations. I started collecting possible poses, and assets that we had in the library to start comping up scenes and playful framing devices for each location.
This then translated to the cards where I changed the money to
be berries.
Looking at some of the artwork really gave a vision of how the world could come together - from the cobbly roads, the picket fences, rolling green hills, pink soda streams and abundance of strawberry plants! We really wanted the main board to have a larger piece of artwork. Working with an illustrator we pitched the idea of having an idea similar to the besties on the bridge and expanding that land further to fill the boards shape. It also gave an opportunity to feature additional characters and pets in the scene.
Everything was created with a bespoke design, I updated the money to include strawberry vines and character call outs and we worked with the USAopoly team to craft ideas for the counter pieces which featured each of the Berry Besties. We also updated the box to feature some of out artwork from art guides with additional
new illustrations. Currently available in the USA but we are hoping to expand to other territories after the
popular demand!
