The seven games
1. Shape Type
Adjust the curve of a single letter until it matches the original from a real typeface. Trains your sense of what makes a glyph correct, which is the skill behind a clean wordmark.
2. Color
Hue, saturation, complementary, analogous, triadic, tetradic, each against a timer. Ten rounds and the colour wheel stops being a diagram.
3. KernType
Space the letters of a word and get scored against a typographer's setting. If you only play one, play this one.
4. Pixactly
Draw a rectangle to an exact pixel size by eye. Sharpens the size estimation you use every time you set a tap target or an icon.
5. The Bézier Game
Trace shapes with the pen tool in as few points as possible. Pen-tool fluency is what separates clean vectors from lumpy ones.
6. Can't Unsee
Pick the better of two almost identical UI screens. The answers explain alignment, spacing and hierarchy in a way that sticks.
7. It's Centred That
Is the dot centred in the shape? Yes or no, fast. Sounds trivial, exposes how often your eye is wrong, and fixes it.
Making practice stick
- Play the game that matches the work you are about to do: KernType before a logo, Can't Unsee before a UI review.
- Note your score weekly; improvement flattens after a few weeks, which means the skill has transferred.
- Do not play all seven in a row. One skill, ten minutes, back to work.
Common questions
- Are these games useful for non-designers?
- Yes for anyone who reviews design work, such as founders and marketers. Can't Unsee in particular teaches you to name what looks off, which makes feedback to designers far more useful.
- Do they work on a phone?
- Most do, but kerning and Bézier games are better with a mouse or trackpad for precision.
- How long before I see improvement?
- Most people improve noticeably within two weeks of short daily sessions, then plateau. The plateau is the point: the skill has moved into your everyday judgement.
