The Creativity Hub, creators of Rory’s Story Cubes, in line with their ethos – helping people to build imagination, self-esteem and empathy through creativity – recognised a need to bring design thinking tools to the classroom. It led them to develop ‘The Extraordinaires’ –fifteen larger than life characters with extraordinary needs e.g. a giant, a Teenage Vampire, a Tribeschild, an Evil Genius. By selecting a character and an object the player is challenged with an extraordinary problem to solve, and a product to create, e.g. a Superhero needs a drink carrier, a Wizards needs something to sit on. The player then uses the game idea pad to name, draw and annotate their problem solving product and, if playing in a group, present it. ‘Think’ cards help the player to do more; Research – find out about the Extraordinaire from the illustrated cards and their visual hints, Design – consider what environment the Extraordinaire operates in, or Improve – iterate their design and revise.

We created an identity system that pulls together multiple illustration styles under one coherent brand and sets the game world in the visual style of a modern product design environment; worksheets, CAD wireframe drawings, digital screen layouts providing a convincing workstation for a child to own.

The travel sets, designed for working on the move, are an expansion that focuses on particular aspects of design; buildings, inventions, gadgets, clothing.

The result is a game product that communicates the developmental aspects in a fun and engaging way, allowing children to build confidence in their own creative ideas.