explorersdesign.bsky.social
Pronunciation: "Klay-tun Note-Styne" Designer. Writer. 2025 ENNIES Judge. Tabletop games. Explorers Design. Pro-union and cooperatives. He/Him.
583 posts
2,843 followers
827 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
Anyway, that was an impromptu little thread and retrospective on the thumbnails I've made for Explorers Design. You find them and the actual writing at: www.explorersdesign.com
(I love the website's thumbnail the most.)
comment in response to
post
But the important thing with blogging, designing, and just making stuff in general is to not be precious. The more you make the better you get at it.
These are some of the thumbnails that didn't end up how I wanted but got published anyway.
comment in response to
post
One last post of my favorite thumbnails. These are less conceptual and a lot more pictorial — which poses its own challenges, because I'm not an illustrator.
comment in response to
post
I still think my design concepts articles have the best thumbnails just for being super abstract but conceptually sound. They also happen to have the Explorers Design color scheme consistently applied. In recent posts, I've been breaking out of that palette.
comment in response to
post
Thank you, I'm glad you noticed. Someone else said the same thing the other day and my heart grew three sizes.
comment in response to
post
Even when I'm examining a game, I sometime can't resist replicating that images color and style for the Explorers Design trade dress.
The layout exhibits all have a themed "L" in the corner.
comment in response to
post
I put more thought into my thumbnails than I should. The goal is usually to depict some kind of conceptual idea — unless it's one of my burner posts about a particular game.
Here are some of my favorites:
comment in response to
post
I'm a fan of your blog! Your last post analyzing Hole in the Oak was a great example disproving that entertaining and functional are somehow mutually exclusive.
comment in response to
post
How did you get access to my WIPs?
comment in response to
post
Greater minds said I should summarize the discourse with a meme, so I made this. A perfect example of the arbitrary division. (DCC is a novel by the way.)
comment in response to
post
A lot of them do, that's true. It makes them slightly easier to make.
comment in response to
post
That's true! Especially if the pamphlet is just one fold. Brochures with two folds can still do this, but then you're letting go of one of the cool things about having it only partially unfolded.
comment in response to
post
It’s filled with panels like this:
comment in response to
post
Shouting Crow is leaving out the part where I said I was confused on our Discord and then everyone pointed and laughed. Hinokodo shoved me into a locker. True story.
comment in response to
post
The pink bird is always outside my window shouting "Paramore!"
comment in response to
post
You’re right the answer is boring. Very good. Very British!
comment in response to
post
Is it because it's divisible by 5? Or because it makes a side 2.5 miles?
comment in response to
post
(A random thought with the help of a calculator, Wikipedia, and the hands of a math-fearing writer.)
comment in response to
post
This article is a soft sell of everything Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson.
comment in response to
post
Also a huge shout out to all the Carouse folks including our awesome teammate, John Bilodeau, the artists and illustrator for every issue.
His portfolio: servsci.carrd.co?ref=carouse....
comment in response to
post
The gimmick of this post is that I was writing it while I was designing (which made my process take 5 times longer than usual).
That's why this post is also a staggering 16-minute read.
Check out the actual newsletter the design was for (and peep that new logo 👀)
www.carouse.blog
comment in response to
post
I know that feeling well. I’m always second guessing my stuff, it’s become part of my morning routine.
comment in response to
post
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker soundtrack is great if you’re running the game for a younger crowd.
comment in response to
post
Still trying to find the high-waisted chinos.
comment in response to
post
It looks much worse in person! The nice thing about doing this illustration once a year is that I get to say, "Oh, the shape of my hair is fine actually. It's everything else that's wrong."