Designing Concept Art to Communicate Feminist Ideas A Case Study on the Creative Process of the Game The Rules

Abstract

In contemporary society, structural violence and oppression against women continue to manifest in multiple forms whether physical, psychological, or through roles constrained by patriarchy. Digital media, especially games, have become powerful tools to question and critique these power structures. This research employs concept art and game mechanics as alternative languages to reflect feminist ideas and to create a space where the voices of women, often marginalized in society, can be recognized and acknowledged. The objectives of this article are: (1) to design and develop The Rules, a concept art–driven game that reflects and communicates feminist ideas; and (2) to evaluate the effectiveness and satisfaction of experts and general users with the developed prototype. This research study adopted the Feminist Design Methodology and assessed the prototype’s effectiveness through the perspectives of both experts and general users. It was grounded in Creative Practice-Based Research within the 3P Production Process, which included four stages: (1) pre-production—analyzing social issues and developing narrative, mechanics, and symbolic visuals; (2) production—creating the prototype, including concept art, animation, and UX/UI mock-ups; (3) post-production—refining the design for communicative clarity; and (4) evaluation—assessing effectiveness and satisfaction with data collected from three experts and 207 general users through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. This research findings: The design process proved to be a space for reflecting women’s identities, emotions, and silenced voices within society; The prototype received the highest evaluation from three experts (𝑥̄ = 4.76, S.D. = 0.36) and very high satisfaction ratings from 207 general users (𝑥̄ = 4.48, S.D. = 0.59), particularly regarding conceptual communication and emotional engagement. The findings affirm that games and concept art can function as powerful critical communication tools, using aesthetics as an alternative language to convey issues of power, gender, and inequality with depth and contemporary social meaning. This research confirms that “concept art and games” can serve as powerful artistic instruments of critique (Critical Communication Tools). By employing aesthetics as an alternative language, they can communicate issues of power, gender, and inequality, and provide a meaningful space for reflection and questioning of societal structures in profound and contemporary ways.