EGADS!
Everyone's Good At Doing Something! That's the premise of this original tabletop RPG system I designed that blends character-focused narrative with intuitive and flexible mechanics.
Hi, I'm Hugh Hain
A Brisbane-based designer of games, graphics, and other good things!
I'm passionate about design as a tool for everyday good, narrative experiences, and solarpunk futures. Check out some of my work here, or contact me on LinkedIn if you'd like to hire me.
Radio Revenant
In the first official adventure module for EGADS!, you and a group of friends are on a road trip when your van breaks down on a rickety bridge late at night. On this dusty desert road, the ghost of a nighttime radio host who was swept away in a flash flood on this very spot. You must navigate their ghostly trials and recover the missing vinyls or your souls will be trapped forever in the AM airwaves.
Illustration
I offer digital art in a range of styles, with a focus on infusing narrative and meaning into the imagery. Have a look at some of my work here!
Graphic design
I offer graphic design services for logos, branding, typography, and promotional materials. Check out some examples here!
My work and I
I’m super passionate about design and the potential it has to improve our lives, provide fulfilment, and address real-world problems that face our communities. My design process isn’t just how I work through a project - it’s inextricably linked to the ways I try to understand and explore the world. Design is a powerful tool that everyone engages in, consciously and unconsciously on a daily basis, so I try to focus it through three I’s.
Community-based
I always want to make sure that my designs begin and end with the people for whom they’re made. I want to empower communities and help them attain the tools they need to become healthy, self-sufficient, and thrive in the long term. Collaboration and empathy are key to this process - great design happens at the nexus of many different perspectives.
Informed
My background in research and education has given me strong skills in interpreting the various social and environmental contexts that I work in. I always seek to grow my understanding of people and their lived experiences so that I can better serve their needs. It also enables me to tackle wicked problems by looking at the small-scale and big-picture views of how a design will impact the world around it.
Sustainable
I aim to maintain a cradle-to-cradle approach in my work to make sure the designs can contribute to the ongoing wellbeing of people and environments. I’m a big believer in the solarpunk movement - pursuing sustainability through both environmental and social lenses, making sure that when one solution inevitably comes to the end of its cycle it can nourish and support the next.
Iterative
The first idea is never the best one - there’s always room to explore and improve upon what exists. Through my experience in workshops for the purposes of training, education, development, and more, I deeply value working with the users/target audience to incorporate their values and needs into the solutions. Everyone has something you can learn and grow from, and the best way to find out is to engage with them directly.
Playful
I’m always trying to find enriching and exciting ways to address issues and engage audiences. My experience in making games has taught me the value that they offer as tools for mutual understanding, as we create and share stories to interpret the world around us.
Inspired
Ever since I first wrapped my hand around a pencil as a kid, I’ve had a powerful drive to create and imagine. I aim to create impactful designs through rich visual language and enriching interactive experiences. I find inspiration from as many sources as I can, from ecology and nature, to scientific discoveries, to art and media.
What I've done so far
For the better part of the last decade, I’ve provided my services and expertise as a freelance designer and educator. I’ve worked with clients ranging from local small businesses to national companies, and more students than I could count at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). For my teaching efforts and the consistently strong outcomes I was able to foster in my students, I was nominated for a QUT CIESJ Faculty Learning and Teaching Award in 2022. Here’s an abridged overview of what that has involved:
Experience
Freelance designer
Various clients: 2016 - present
9 years experience in end-to-end design processes with various clients, involving discovery, research, testing, iterating prototypes, & product refinement. Demonstrated skills in client engagement, project management, planning and maintaining schedules, adapting scope, and establishing expectations. Projects include branding and visual identity, illustration and lettering, and designing packaging.
Sessional academic
QUT School of Design: 2019 - present
6 years experience in demonstrating and teaching practical design skills and theory frameworks. Demonstrated skills in communication, presentation, collaboration, and critical appraisal. Subjects ranged from foundational graphic design skills to visual narrative, game narrative, data visualisation, and tangible/digital interactions.
Adobe XD for Business Workshop
QUT School of Business: 2022
Training workshop for a Masters of Business teaching team in the use of Adobe XD. Designed and structured the training plan, ran the workshop while providing support to trainees, and providing supplemental materials. From this, the teaching team went from no experience with the program to teaching their students, who were able to produce working prototypes for their research projects.
Research assistant
QUT School of Design + School of Business + IFE: 2018-2020
3 years experience assisting and conducting research for design projects. Demonstrated skills in facilitating workshops, producing and testing prototypes, and interpreting and organising data.
Skills
Game design
Making, testing, and refining game mechanics through a variety of processes and user feedback. I have also designed visual and tangible peripherals for other people's games.
Project management
Requirements gathering, engaging and understanding clients, end-to-end working through project phases, developing project plans and schedules, setting and managing expectations, promoting and marketing campaigns.
Visual design
Illustration, logo design and branding, typography and layout design, promotional materials.
Interaction design
Designing physical and digital interactions for spatial, artefact-based, or screen engagement.
Research
Facilitating and conducting research, engaging and supporting participants, collecting and analysing data, evaluating context and bias, collaborative research processes, and presenting findings.
Events and training
Managing and hosting events, designing and delivering instructional material with accompanying resources, presenting to audiences.