Case Study: Ricoboards.com
Web development and design; E-Commerce Architecture
Advanced GenAI Animation, Branding, Identity, Narrative.

Project Overview & Narrative Strategy

    • The Mission: Develop a comprehensive visual and digital presence for an artisan-quality, handmade gameboard startup focused on community building.
    • The Conceptual Framework: Translated complex narrative themes into a fluid digital experience, contrasting a digital-obsessed dystopian reality (“NOISIA”) with a community-driven utopian alternative (“ONE VISION”).
    • Role & Collaboration: Partnered with the founder to edit conceptual copy, translate artistic direction, and execute all design, animation, music/soundtrack scoring, and web development.

 E-Commerce Development & Vector Asset Engineering

    • Platform & Store Architecture: Engineered a responsive e-commerce web platform using Squarespace, managing inventory pipelines, checkout configurations, and payment gateways to launch live retail operations.
    • Vector Icon System Optimization: Re-engineered and unified a highly fragmented, low-resolution symbol asset set (representing classic games like Chess, Penté, and wargames) culled from disparate web sources. Rebuilt a scalable, cohesive, high-resolution vector icon set that mathematically scales and aligns with the brand’s core visual identity.
    • Branding & Typography: Designed the central corporate logo, custom brand style guides, user layouts, and graphical elements under the brand identity system.

Advanced GenAI Multimedia Pipeline & Asset Creation

    • Hybrid Animation Pipelines: Developed a sophisticated multimedia production workflow blending traditional live-action video, high-resolution photography, and generative AI assets to convey complex thematic metaphors (e.g., the narrative thread of digital isolation vs. community liberation).
    • Multimodal Prompt Engineering: Orchestrated an iterative prompting and generation pipeline across multiple cutting-edge AI models, leveraging Gemini 2.5, Gemini 3.1, Midjourney, and Adobe Firefly to maintain structural and stylistic consistency across dozens of complex animations.
    • Post-Production & Audio Scoring: Executed full technical post-production editing, visual compositing, and custom original music/soundtrack composition using digital audio and video editing suites.

Tool Stack

  • E-Commerce & Frontend Development: Squarespace E-Commerce Engine, Custom Layout Design, Forms.
  • Generative AI Engineering: Gemini 2.5, Gemini 3.1, Midjourney, Adobe Firefly (Advanced Prompt Engineering, Style Consistency).
  • Design & Asset Optimization: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator (Vector Re-creation, Brand Systems).
  • Video, Sound & Post-Production: Final Cut Pro, Custom Music Composition & Audio Production.
RICO GAMEBOARDS logo by Bob Paltrow Design
Ricoboards.com website design by Bob Paltrow Creative

Original Description of project:

I designed a logo/branding and a website for a gaming company, Ricoboards.com: “Serious Monkey Business.”

I did several multimedia animations incorporating AI-generated imagery with apps including MidJourney, Adobe Firefly and Gemini. A mishmash of real video and AI animations I developed for my friend Dave’s brand-new startup, RICOBOARDS. He’s creating beautiful artisan-quality custom handmade games and gameboards that foster community: bringing people and families together.

There are several complex concepts and themes underlying the gaming universe Ricoboards is presenting. I helped edit David’s copy, and developed a fun, conceptual website, with photos, video and AI generated images and animations that more obviously and fluidly convey the narrative of the dystopican NOISIA,” at odds and oposition with the utopian “ONE VISION.”

The website developement was done in Squarespace, including the setup of the online store to start receiving orders.

Some of these clips editorialize the modern-day malaise Dave terms NOISIA—our present-day hypnotic obsession with our digital devices—the antidote campaign ONE VISION: a return to traditional gameboards that foster real engagement and community: VISIONING people coming together as ONE.

I alao created and re-created many of the game key icon set that appears on his site. There was a mishmash of images and symbols representing various classic games (symbols for penté and cheess and wargames…etc) that were culled from the internet, of varying styles, quality and resoluton. Which required rebuilding an icon set that that rhymes with the logo and brandng system I developed for Ricoboards.com.

The apes are a recurring narrative thread whereby apes (a metaphor for US) gather in groups, mindlessly engrossed together in isolation on our phones——then liberated, coming to consciousness and finding community. Simply (but elegantly) by playing board games together.

David was a friend of mine in college, in Tucson AZ, and I had not been in touch with him for decades. He contacted me earlier this year to build his website, develop his branding, and help with content/editing. As well as creating graphics, illustrations, and animations for his site. It’s been wonderful to reconnect with a dear person after so many years.

The animations combine real video, photography, and animations developed using a combination of tools: Midjourney, Gemini 2.5, Gemini 3.1, Firefly, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Final Cut Pro.

Art Direction, Concept, Writing/Content: David Rico.

Design, Animation, Music/soundtrack, Web Development:: Bob Paltrow Creative.

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