2026
Tools Used: Adobe Illustrator | Adobe Photoshop
Project Type: School
Tools Used: Adobe Illustrator | Adobe Photoshop
Project Type: School
Stack-Off is an event poster for a global Tetris anniversary tournament set in Russia, where Tetris was invented. Inspired by retro gaming visuals, the design uses geometric text and blocky forms to reflect the game’s mechanics.
PROCESS
For initial sketching, I first started creating layouts that aimed to balance Tetris's playful block aesthetic with competition-like imagery, such as having blocks being hit together like a battle or breaking. I narrowed my sketches down to two directions: (1) jumbo-sized blocks being smashed together and (2) two hands playing the game simultaneously. When switching to Illustrator, I leaned into Tetris's color scheme of bold primary colors and used Futura as an initial font for its clean, somewhat geometric look and its clarity before experimenting with an 8-bit font to reinforce the gaming theme. I refined the composition by playing around with the hierarchy and letter spacing, and incorporating the imagery of St. Basil's Cathedral in the background to emphasize the location of the event. After feedback that the 8-bit font was too hard to read for certain sections of text, I simplified my design by changing the font in certain areas and rescaling the blocks for better balance.
SKETCHES
ROUGH DRAFTS
ITERATION 1
ITERATION 2
ITERATION 3
VISUAL IDENTITY
FINAL DESIGN
