Top Sh*t - add to the sh*tness!
A one-day workshop with ICBQ, 2019
Brief
In small groups, curate a small collection of your unused and discarded work. We want you to find a way to reveal this work in an engaging and memorable way for an audience of graphic designers and other creatives that encourages them to reconsider their own unused work and start a conversation about the kinds of things we throw away.
Outcome
Top Sh*t! is an outcome following a one day workshop with @icbqonline exploring how we can use disregarded photographs in a new context and format.
Top Sh*t! aims to celebrate the worst by using photographs which are unmistakable awful, and otherwise would have been put in the bin, in a fun, comedic way. Alluding the qualities of collectible Top Trumps, Match Attax and Pokémon cards, individuals are invited to select a mystery pack of playing cards to which they are greeted with a selection of five images, each being ranked from 1-10 on a range of attributes; such as exposure, focus and composition. The idea being that the worst photograph is actually the most valuable – the higher the number; the more likely you are to win. With the addition of a ‘shiny card’, that card in a set of collectibles that everyone wants which beats all, players are faced with a challenge – the image presented being a completely black, underexposed photograph. The collectible, playable, laughable cards have been curated to hold a comedic value with their names and descriptions, allowing for an enjoyable game; even if the photographs are not that pleasurable to look at. The hashtag invites players, after gameplay, to upload their unused photographs to their specific town’s hashtag, allowing for further celebration outside of the cards.
Collaborative project in partnership with Hattie Evans, Freyja Chase and Holly Shemilt.
Above shows an example of how the cards would be packaged, in their individual coloured sleeves, emulating the brand identity colour scheme. The packets are the placed into a clear wallet, mimicking the metallic case and collective nature of Match Attax and Pokemon cards.
Presenting the 'shiny card' - the card which beats all. Card design printed onto Canford Metallic Gold paper, with black ink, standing out amongst the rest.
Gameplay
How to play
Just like any other game of Top Trumps, however filled with great fun and mounds of laughter...
1. To start the game, shuffle and deal all the cards face down.
2. Each player holds their cards so that they can see the top card only.
3. Any player starts by reading out a category from the top card (e.g. Focus, value 8)
4. The other player then reads out the same category from their cards.
5. The one with the best or highest value wins, and that player collects the other players top card, including their own, and moves them to the bottom of their pile.
6. It is then their turn again to choose a category from the next card.
7. The person with all the cards at the end is the winner.
Get playing!
The Cards
Below is a video which shows the entire collection, followed by individual images of each card providing further detail.
