Design failure: chess board

A strikingly poor example of chess set design. Where do you start? My eye first went to the pawns, which do not have a uniform shape. Although the heavy pieces’ heights are varied according to their value, the designer’s obsession with an interesting ‘roofline’ makes the status of each piece ambiguous at first glance in a game which prizes presence of mind and abhors distraction.

The board’s black and white squares are of insufficient contrast, and the map details, which include lettering and coloured lines, distract not only visually but conceptually from the game.

Finally, the chosen colours, though at least in contrast with one another, are ugly and their impact is interrupted by the use of black on the front and rear sides of the pieces.