Design challenges: Method of Action

These games from Method of Action got us testing our skills in the studio.

Kern Type checks your skills on letter spacing. Might look simple but you may be surprised where some letters actually sit in line with each other. They leave the hardest letters to kern until the end – the last word even caught us out, and we do typesetting almost every day.

Shape Type provides you with a number of letters whose curves have been set incorrectly, and it’s your role to move the curves into their right position. Easy if you know the fonts the letters come from – a bit of a guessing game if you don’t.

Color is the only timed challenge, and it can get stressful when you’re looking for the colour match, you know you’re close but you’re watching the clock too much! It’s good training for your eyes, but it’s a bit quick if you’re trying to learn what really makes up a tetrad other than just four colours (it was so quick I can’t even tell you what the last colour combination in the test was, and I consider myself a colour nut).

And these aren’t just being developed as games to pass the time – they’re actually being implemented into a training course for programmers to learn and understand design. Try them for yourself (designer or not!) and see how you score!