Hi, I'm Dai. I make books.

I also design posters and advertisements, make digital games accessible to the visually impaired, manage crowdfunding projects, create brand identities and marketing plans, and very occassionally write things.

Twitter
Instagram
Email

Services

Layout / Design
Art Direction
Project Management
Crowdfunding
Brand Identity
PDF Remediation
Marketing / Social Media
+ consultation for all above
  
Selected Works

Date

2019
2019
2020
2020
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2023
2023
2023
2023
2024
2024
2024
Project

The Demon Collective, Vol. 1
Magical Industrial Revolution
Libreté + Fleur Du Mall
Lorn Song of the Bachelor
ALIEN The Roleplaying Game
ARCventure Series
BX: A Cipher Universe
Gangs of Titan City
The Monster Overhaul
Old School Essentials
Eat the Reich
Moonlight on Roseville Beach
Social Media Management
Throne of Avarice
Cairn 2E Boxed Set
INEVITABLE
MOTHERSHIP 1E Deluxe Set

Client

GMDK
Skerples
GMDK
Exalted Funeral
Free League Publishing
Exalted Funeral
Dreamyard NYC
SoulMuppet Publishing
Skerples
Necrotic Gnome
Rowan, Rook, & Deckard
R. Rook Studio
Space Penguin Ink
SoulMuppet Publishing
Space Penguin Ink
SoulMuppet Publishing
Tuesday Knight Games

Work

Project Management
Crowdfunding
Project Management
Layout / Design
PDF Remediation
Layout / Design
Layout / Design
Layout / Design
Crowdfunding
PDF Remediation
PDF Remediation
Layout / Design
Marketing / Social Media
Layout / Design
Marketing / Social Media
Layout / Design
PDF Remediation

The Monster Overhaul
The Demon Collective, Vol. 1
A5 softcover, 60pp
ISBN 978-0-578-55698-7
2019


GMDK was a tabletop RPG publishing company I ran from 2019 – 2021. Its first release was The Demon Collective, Vol. 1, an anthology of horror adventures written, illustrated, and edited by a team of trans and nonbinary game designers. It launched on Kickstarter on February 5th, 2019, and raised just under $7,000 against its goal of $1,000 in 25 days. 

As each adventure took inspiration from a different genre of horror, the design of the book faced the challenge of incorporating visual elements from each of the styles while maintaining cohesion as a total product. The typographical solution immediately presented itself, and the book would ultimately be designed using just five typefaces: one unique display for each adventure, with the entirety of the body copy set in blissfully neutral Caslon. The zine was printed by Mixam on uncoated 80lb white paper with a 110lb cardstock cover with a matte laminate.

The title page of each adventure was set opposite a poster designed by myself and illustrated by Lauren Bryce, again referencing and playing off of the genre tropes in the associated adventure. Thus, the cover of the splatterpunk cultist bloodbath Bad Faith was done up like the classic box art for DOOM, and the gothic vampire story She’s Not Dead, She’s Asleep took inspiration from the posters for Hammer and Universal horror films of the first half of the 20th century. These posters were also sold as high-quality 18” x 24” prints through our distribution partner, Exalted Funeral.

The Demon Collective, Vol. 2 is coming out next year, no matter what year you’re reading this in. 

Written by Camilla Greer, Mabel Harper, Comrade Pollux, and Dai Shugars.
Illustrated by Lauren Bryce.
Cartography by Odysseus Jones and Shay.
Editing by Fiona Geist.
Concept, Art Direction, Design, and Project Management by Dai Shugars.





©2024 Dai Shugars | DAI Design Works, LLC