Board Game Box Design - Fun, Eye-Catching, and Beautiful

Terry

This is a design for the front box cover for a board game, to initially be a print-on-demand / low volume product.

Front box cover for a game called "Strange Conversations". The game involves players sitting around, having very strange conversations with one another based on JOB and QUIRK cards that they are given. i.e. you have to guess what each players "job" and "character quirk" is based on what they say and how they act.

So, the cover should clearly have the words "Strange Conversations" as the centerpiece in an interesting manner, along with perhaps something related to chatting / chat bubbles / people talking. Something that conveys the humorous / fun / strange nature of the game and the conversations that ensue would be great.

As for colors, artwork, pictures, etc, open to ideas. Don't want it to be bland and color-less, but also not necessarily saturated with 20 different colors. Somewhere in the middle ground.

The game components are decks of cards (red/blue for the most part). But, the box cover can use different colors. Looking for something eye-catching and beautiful.

*** A template is attached which the publisher will use for centering. Please do all work in this photoshop template. ***

Also, note that the template does 2 sides of the box and the top, leaving the 2 other remaining sides black (the color of the box itself). So, please keep this in mind when designing. Perhaps a dark background would look best? Or perhaps not... I'm open to ideas!

Other elements to include:

"Who are these people, and why are they acting so strange?"

"A hilarious social guessing game for 3 to 7 players, ages 10+"

"Designed by Terry Ford".

Edit to add based on a question received:

The game consists of decks of cards, a red deck and a blue deck. Scores are kept on paper There is no board. Fonts used on cards are "Lithos Pro" for headings, and Arial for most other text. Card decks are simple designs, mostly solid colors. My gut feel is that a dark color like dark blue, dark purple, dark green, etc would probably look best as a base color for the box, with light color elements and graphics/picture art to complement it and bring it to life.

Attached is the photoshop template that the publisher is using for the box top. The big center part is the top of the box. The dotted lined areas above and below it are 2 of the 4 sides. The other 2 sides will be black, the color of the box.

I've also attached a sample from a completely different game, to see an example of what this template produces. I really like sample design below, as it adds a cool visual interest / image point with some clean and gorgeous design. I also like how the top of the box is "framed" in the image.

Attached also is a sample of one of the "player cheat sheets" that comes with the game, for an example of what's in the box