"Stained Glass" CatanProject:
Redesign a more functional playset for the game Catan
Personal project, 2025
Key Skills:
Product development, mechanism development, prototyping, graphic design, user testing
Tools:
Illustrator, Fusion 360, laser-cutter, printer
For a full process doc, please see below
I don’t take issue with Catan’s rules;
I take issue with its board.
The parts slide around everywhere when you try to move them. You can’t trust your cities to stay where you built them.
I saw a chance to design a better board. After research and play-testing, I designed a three-layered acrylic board held together by magnets. Form followed acrylic’s transparent function: modern, minimalist representations for all the pieces. It’s a product to make the user experience of Catan less frustrating, and a version I genuinely prefer to play.
Function
A multi-layered, translucent board pins tiles into a middle layer and slots player pieces into stable, predefined places — and keeps each layer visible.
Form
Laser-cut acrylic lends itself to bright colors, modern materials, & minimal imagery, so the set’s graphics follow suit.
Play
The model makes for a low-frustration reskin of a modern classic game, playable with up to four people.
Put Away
Stacked cardboard makes for a tidy custom box, ready to store away the game between plays.
For a full process doc, please see below
If you want to make this version of Catan for yourself, you can a zip (7z) file of design assets here.
A full report for the Catan project is embedded below. PDF embedding displays weirdly on some devices; if the report does not display correctly in your browser, you can also download it.