9 to 5 Survive the Grind
Semi-cooperative Board game where players as Intern, Employee, HR, and Boss navigate corporate stress together
Team lead/ designer
Group:
Dorelle Li,
Ankia Gupta,
Jeremey kim
ROLE
UX, physical prototyping, Design Language
TIMELINE
6 Weeks
TOOLS
Figma, 3D printer
SKILLS
Wireframe
How do we make our game logic easy and intuitive for users to understand?
Using the same logos and icons that are represented on the physical board as well as the app
Having clear and concise instructions, let the images and visuals teach the player
How do we make the interface interactive and playful, just like our game?
Colorful elements match the colorful real-life board game elements
Jumping features
Font and Colors
Colors: Corporate environment colors mixed with a sense of play
Font: Source Code Pro - friendly and playful
Board designed with architecture layout to mimic workplace floor plan
Colored tiles with icons for users to easily identify what player card they land on
Icons:
Physical Making
First Prototype: Redesigning the Game of Life
9 to 5:
Collaborative game about surviving and sustaining care within corporate life
Reimagines the workplace as a living ecosystem, where everyone’s stress rises and falls together
Game of Life :
A career-oriented game that focuses on making money to succeed
focus of individual play
Final Board, spinner, meeples
Players emobody 4 roles: Boss, HR, Employee, and Intern
Each player gets a set of cards representing real-world office events, decisions, and miscommunications
Every action impacts the player’s stress level, mirroring the delicate balance of shared tension that defines modern work culture
The goal is not to climb the ladder or crush competition, but to end the game with a low collective stress
Success depends on empathy, humor, and timing. Designed for students, coworkers, and anyone who’s lived/ thought through the rhythms of corporate life, "9 - 5" turns burnout, bureaucracy, and small acts of care into a system you can finally laugh at. It’s a game about how we hold each other together inside systems that often wear us down and how shared stress can transform into shared understanding.
