So how did you first get involved in making board games?

My link from graphic creations to board games came much later than my work in design, when I became acquainted with Oriol Comas, a creator and promoter of tabletop games in my country. I started work with him in 2006 to carry out the graphic parts of several projects after we had met thanks to our common liking for board games, and we kept traveling together for years to the Essen Fair. In 2007 we worked together on a game funded by the University of Barcelona, alled Pompeu Fabra i el seu temps, a card game that was the first box format game I worked on the graphics of. Through Oriol I contacted Vexillum, who wanted to publish their first board game Patim Patam Patum and two years after that became the first collaboration with Devir, a brand with which I have already carried out many more projects on an ongoing basis. The first was Verbalia in 2010 and the most recent is Barcelona - The Rose of Fire published this past year.

When you are working on the art of a board game can you give us a quick overview of your creative or thought process and has this changed at all since you first started?

Depending on the type of game, the work plan may be slightly different between some projects and others. For example, it would not be the same when making a game based on a historical moment, than it would be when working on an abstract games theme or environment. Having said that, I can identify these steps in the creative process of the graphic part of a game:

The first step is to test the prototype of the game that the authors have, as many times as necessary. In this first step I begin to take notes and imagine where visual and graphical improvements could be implemented with which to enhance the player's experience.

The second step is a documentation and research phase. Keeping in mind what components and mechanisms the game includes, I start a data collection phase. In this part of the process I research for data through the network, but also in museums and libraries, or in places where I can trace information. A good example would be when I worked on Barcelona - The Rose of Fire, where I spent a lot of time collecting old objects and publications, mainly in flea markets and from antique stores.

The next step is to elaborate on the overall graphic proposal of the project, describing the approach of the different components to present to the authors and editors. This proposal will be studied in terms of gameplay, simplifying and improving the visual language of the different elements, rethinking formats, ergonomics and accessibility of these game components.

Once the proposals have been approved, we establish the graphic work plan with the rest of the team and the illustrator makes the first sketches and illustrations that will be gradually incorporated into the final art of the project, before eventually sending them to the press.

All this creative process, depending on the project, can take 8 to 18 months.