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product/interactive designer

Project 06Industrial Design

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XIANGQI - The Living Battlefield

A chess board shaped by the game it holds.

Xiangqi is usually presented on a flat field of lines. This concept asks what happens when its most recognisable spatial ideas - the opposing sides, the river and the palaces - become the physical form of the board: a pale wood frame holding two contrasting territories, a blue river between them, and raised sections giving each side its own landscape.

The ambition is a board worth looking at between games that stays clear enough to play one. What exists today is a 3D concept render and a playable digital prototype - not yet a tested or manufactured product.

Role
Product designer
Year
2025
Scope
Concept development · Industrial design · Board architecture · Form exploration · CMF direction · 3D visualization · Playable 3D prototype
Product
Tabletop Xiangqi set
Status
Independent concept project
A sculptural Xiangqi board in a pale wood frame: a brown territory with a raised terracotta palace and a green territory with a raised light-green palace and small dragon motif, divided by a recessed blue river, circular position markers across the stepped surface

01The idea

What if the battlefield was more than a printed grid?

Xiangqi already contains a spatial story. Two sides face one another, a river cuts through the middle, and each general sits in a palace. The board tells that story with lines and symbols - while staying physically flat.

I wanted to see whether the board itself could carry more of it. Not by adding a miniature landscape around a conventional game, but by letting the game's own structure become the architecture of the playing surface.

The question

Can the river, territories and palaces become the architecture of the playing surface?

That set the brief: the product had to work at two scales - as a composed object seen from across a room, and as a precise game surface seen from a player's seat.

02Design principle

Give the game a landscape without changing its rules

The form is built entirely from three parts Xiangqi already has. The different levels and matte colours make the board feel like a small terrain model, while the repeated circular positions tie every part back to the game.

Game structure, as product architecture

  1. 01

    Game structure: Opposing sides

    Product expression: Two tonal territories with different visual weight

  2. 02

    Game structure: River

    Product expression: A blue recessed band through the centre

  3. 03

    Game structure: Palaces

    Product expression: Raised focal areas within each territory

But Xiangqi is played on the intersections of nine vertical and ten horizontal lines, with a palace on each side and a river between them. A sculptural interpretation has to preserve that network - colour and height can't quietly redefine legal positions. That constraint is what the concept gets prototyped against.

Core principle

Make the game's structure tangible, while keeping its interaction familiar.

The XIANGQI board from directly above in its starting position: a brown territory with a terracotta palace and a green territory with a light-green palace, split by the blue river, black pieces on white bases and on light-green bases standing on the circular markers of the nine-by-ten grid, a small dragon at each end of the wood frame
Fig. 01Game anatomy - from above, the territories, river and palaces resolve into one familiar plan.

03Form

From diagram to terrain

The board starts from a familiar rectangular footprint. Inside it, the surface breaks into long bands, steps and larger palace volumes, and a low, rounded frame gives the expressive interior a calm boundary.

The blue river is the clearest visual pause. It separates the sides, and gives the eye a place to reset within the dense field of circular positions. Small sculptural motifs near the palaces add character - but they stay secondary, never standing in for pieces or covering the grid.

Two palettes, instead of one red-versus-black split

  • One side

    • Dark olive
    • Light green
    • Light-green palace

  • The other side

    • Warm brown
    • Charcoal
    • Terracotta palace

  • Between them

    • Recessed blue river

Design decision

Let the board's silhouette carry the concept; let the repeated positions carry the game.

The XIANGQI board at a three-quarter angle with pieces set out: stepped brown and green bands rise away from the recessed blue river, the palaces stand as raised blocks, and black pieces on white and light-green bases sit on the markers at every level
Fig. 02The height system - bands step up from the river towards each palace, with the pieces set out across every level.

04The river

A rule boundary becomes a visual boundary

The river isn't filler between two halves. It's one of Xiangqi's defining features, so it gets a material and colour language distinct from the territories around it.

From a distance, the recess is the first thing that tells a viewer this is a divided field. From a player's seat, it helps orient the two sides at a glance. The open question is whether that strength stays useful in play: the banks still have to make the playable intersections and the files running across the river easy to read.

Design principle

A strong metaphor earns its place when it also improves orientation.

The XIANGQI board seen almost level with its surface against a dark background: the brown side with its terracotta palace on the left and the green side on the right, rows of pieces on white and light-green bases facing each other across the narrow blue river in the centre
Fig. 03Across the river - at eye level, the recess is what splits the field into two facing sides.

05Palaces & sides

Identity for each territory, without losing symmetry

The two sides differ on purpose, in colour and elevation. The terracotta and light-green palaces become focal points in their territories, which is what makes the set feel like a designed object rather than a neutral board with graphics applied.

But a game board also needs fairness of perception. Both players should find their own palace, read the same grid and reach the same kinds of positions as comfortably. A taller or more detailed zone can't make one side harder to play - so the next iteration has to be checked from both seats, not only from the three-quarter hero angle.

Design principle

Asymmetry can shape the object; playability must remain equivalent.

Close-up of the brown territory: the raised terracotta palace with its circular markers, the general and advisors on white bases standing at its far edge, and more pieces on the stepped brown bands in front, softly out of focus
Fig. 04The terracotta palace - a raised focal block within the brown territory.
Close-up of the green territory: dark olive bands stepping up towards the raised light-green palace, pieces on light-green bases on the circular markers, and the blue river and brown side just visible at the lower left
Fig. 05The other side - olive bands step up towards the light-green palace, with its own visual weight.

06Legibility

Sculpture can't replace the basic interaction

The concept's biggest risk is also its main attraction: elevation. Raised blocks create depth, but they can interrupt the reading of a straight line or hide a piece sitting lower down.

Xiangqi pieces occupy intersections, not squares, so the circular markers have to work as an unambiguous map of the playable nodes - with clear connections between them across changes in height and at the river edge. The render doesn't yet prove that, or settle final piece markings. A physical board would be tested against four questions:

  1. 01

    Every node reads

    An experienced player can read all 90 intersections from either seat.

  2. 02

    The anatomy reads

    Palaces, river and piece positions are clear without the hero render's camera angle.

  3. 03

    Height doesn't get in the way

    Raised sections don't block sightlines or make moving and capturing awkward.

  4. 04

    Not colour alone

    The two sides and every piece type can be told apart without relying on colour.

The black XIANGQI pieces on white bases lined up on a plain light surface, each type with its own sculptural silhouette - the chariot, horse, elephant, advisor, general, cannon and soldiers
Fig. 06The pieces - each type reads by silhouette, not by colour or marking alone.

Design principle

Novelty belongs in the physical expression - not in the rules a player must relearn.

The XIANGQI board in its starting position seen from a low, seated angle, black pieces on white and light-green bases standing across the raised palaces and stepped bands, with two large faceted sculptures of an elephant and a horse out of focus in the background
Fig. 07Starting position - from a player's eye level, the pieces stand across every level of the terrain.

07CMF

Warm frame, earthy territories, cool river

The render proposes a restrained material story. The position markers matter most: they're the interface between the expressive terrain and the precise grid, so their tactile and visual consistency carries the whole board.

  • Outer frame

    • Light wood grain
    • Rounded edges that hold the composition

  • Playing terrain

    • Matte, muted earth colours
    • Less glare across raised surfaces

  • River

    • Cooler blue surface
    • Contrast, but never the only cue

  • Position markers

    • Small repeated circular forms
    • Consistent to touch and to see

These are rendered intentions, not confirmed production materials. A prototype would show whether wood, moulded parts, coated surfaces or a combination can deliver the same look with enough durability and tolerance.

XIANGQI CMF board: the board render with six numbered materials - light wood frame, matte warm-brown terrain, raised terracotta palace, recessed blue river, dark olive bands with a light-green palace, and matte black pieces on white and green bases - an indexed list of their finishes, a palette strip with hex values, and close-ups of the terrain, palace and pieces
Fig. 08CMF board - six materials, one palette, matte throughout.

08From render to product

The next design problem is construction

A physical product needs more than a compelling top view. The stepped surface suggests several parts or layers seated in one frame, which opens the practical questions for the next phase.

  • How are raised sections located and secured so the grid never drifts?
  • How much height variation can players tolerate before moves become awkward?
  • Where do captured pieces - and the full set - go between games?
Prototype order

  1. Playable digital prototype

    Built - the rendered model with the full rules, played from both seats

  2. Full-scale interaction prototype

    A complete grid and temporary labelled pieces - reach, visibility, stability and rule legibility

  3. Refine joinery and construction

    Once the geometry is proven

  4. CMF samples

    Finishes on the proven form

Design principle

Prove the playing surface before polishing the collectible object.

Playable 3D prototype of the XIANGQI board, built from the same model as the renders: two players take turns on one screen, legal moves are marked on the circular positions, captured pieces line up beside the frame, and the view turns to face whoever moves next.
Play the board ↗

Two players · one screen · loads ~2 MB

Fig. 09A playable digital prototype - the same model, with the full rules. Every one of the 90 positions is live, and the view turns to face whoever moves next, so the board gets read from both seats.

09Outcome

Familiar elements, turned into architecture

The concept makes Xiangqi's own elements the visual structure of a tabletop product. It's a design direction, not a claim of validated ergonomics or manufacturing readiness - the full-scale prototype is the next decision gate.

  • The river becomes a physical divide

    It anchors the composition and helps orient the two territories.

  • The palaces become focal volumes

    They give the board a recognisable hierarchy and sculptural character.

  • The frame gives the terrain a home

    Its warm, simple outline lets the interior be expressive without feeling uncontrolled.

  • The positions remain the interface

    Their final spacing, connections and markings decide whether the concept succeeds as a game.

The complete XIANGQI set seen from the front on its pale wood frame, pieces in their starting positions on both territories, the terracotta palace behind and a small green dragon at the near edge, with a tall dark sculpture out of focus in the background
Fig. 10The finished object - a board that holds its own on the table between games.

10Reflection

A game object has to be judged while it's being used

The interesting part wasn't making Xiangqi look more dramatic. It was letting the board's cultural and spatial logic generate a form that still serves play. The render shows the visual opportunity - and exposes what has to be resolved next: grid continuity, reach, piece identity, construction and storage.

That tension is the work. If the raised landscape makes the game less clear, it gets reduced. If it helps players understand the field and makes the set worth keeping in view, it has earned its form.

A strong physical concept should be memorable at rest and reliable in use.

Takeaway

Territories become form. The river becomes space. The palaces become focal points. The intersections remain the interface.

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