escapist puzzles

When the pandemic hit last year, people took up a variety of activities to take their minds off our current reality. Some baked, some did crafts, some took to the outdoors. But others started doing jigsaw puzzles. In fact, so many people started doing them that the surge was comparable to the puzzle surge during the Great Depression. With so much demand, new puzzle images are necessary to sustain the activity.

Final Puzzle Image

While collage puzzles do exist, they aren't so much designed as they are just a mash of things; so they are a collage in the simplest definition. With these combined opportunities, I set out to make a well-designed collage puzzle.

And so Escapist Puzzles was born.

Logotype

Escapist means to provide relief or distraction from unpleasant realities, especially in the form of fantasy or entertainment. Travel is often what people do in order to escape their life. Taking a trip provides temporary relief from reality as well as mental refreshment and rejuvenation.

The Slides

Because traveling is not the easiest right now, puzzles can provide a similar type of escape by offering the user a new place to explore without leaving their home.

Packaging

Escapist Puzzles is here to provide that mental relief through collage-driven puzzle designs, using familiar vacation snapshot imagery. The basis for these designs comes from vintage vacation slides that were found in my grandmother's basement (although they were not taken by anyone in my family, instead bought at yard sales by my grandfather).

The Patterns

Along with these slides, various maps, fabrics, and patterns were used to provide visual interest and connect back to travel and the history of puzzles, which were first used to teach children geography.