9 to 5: Survive the Grind
9 to 5: Survive the Grind
ROLE Project Lead
TEAM 3 Product Designers
TIMELINE 6 weeks, Fall 2025
TOOLS Figma, Physical Prototyping, CMF
PROBLEM
How might a board game make corporate stress visible — and shared?
Corporate burnout often makes people feel alone inside systems that demand too much.
PROBLEM
How might a board game make corporate stress visible — and shared?
Corporate burnout often makes people feel alone inside systems that demand too much.
We’ve all heard the advice, manage your stress, set boundaries, take breaks, but nobody teaches you how to do that while everything around you is on fire. I wanted to redesign the “every person for themselves” nature of games like Game of Life into something more honest: a semi-cooperative experience where the only way to survive is to actually look out for each other. Because burnout isn’t just a personal problem. It’s everyone’s problem.
We’ve all heard the advice, manage your stress, set boundaries, take breaks, but nobody teaches you how to do that while everything around you is on fire. I wanted to redesign the “every person for themselves” nature of games like Game of Life into something more honest: a semi-cooperative experience where the only way to survive is to actually look out for each other. Because burnout isn’t just a personal problem. It’s everyone’s problem.
SOLUTION
A cooperative game about holding each other together. Four roles navigate workplace pressures through conversations, tactics, and collective care.
SOLUTION
A cooperative game about holding each other together. Four roles navigate workplace pressures through conversations, tactics, and collective care.
SOLUTION
A cooperative game about holding each other together. Four roles navigate workplace pressures through conversations, tactics, and collective care.
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
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
PROCESS
From workplace rituals to tactile game pieces. We tested role dynamics, visual language, and the balance between tension and play.
Making sure our users understood how to play to game in an intuitive format was essential
PROCESS
From workplace rituals to tactile game pieces. We tested role dynamics, visual language, and the balance between tension and play.
Making sure our users understood how to play to game in an intuitive format was essential
PROCESS
From workplace rituals to tactile game pieces. We tested role dynamics, visual language, and the balance between tension and play.
Making sure our users understood how to play to game in an intuitive format was essential
FONT AND COLORS
Source Code Pro is friendly and playful
Corporate environment colors mixed with a sense of play
Source Code Pro is friendly and playful
Corporate environment colors mixed with a sense of play
ICONS
Playful chairs
intern gets the stool, employee gets a generic folding chair, the HR gets a comfy chair, and the boss gets the Eames chair
ICONS
Playful chairs
intern gets the stool, employee gets a generic folding chair, the HR gets a comfy chair, and the boss gets the Eames chair
CONSENT FORM READABILITY
Instead of a long page consent form that makes users scroll all the way past the information, I implemented a form that truncated what the session is and how long the form will take for easier readability
Instead of a long page consent form that makes users scroll all the way past the information, I implemented a form that truncated what the session is and how long the form will take for easier readability
CONSENT FORM READABILITY
OUTCOME
A game that makes room for empathy. Players leave with a clearer picture of how individual choices shape a shared environment.
OUTCOME
A game that makes room for empathy. Players leave with a clearer picture of how individual choices shape a shared environment.
OUTCOME
A game that makes room for empathy. Players leave with a clearer picture of how individual choices shape a shared environment.
Final Board, spinner, meeples
Players emobody 4 roles: Boss, HR, Employee, and Intern
Final Board, spinner, meeples
Players emobody 4 roles: Boss, HR, Employee, and Intern
Each player gets TWO sets 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
Each player gets TWO sets of cards
Every action impacts the player’s stress level
The goal is not to climb the ladder or crush competition, but to end the game with a low collective stress
USER TESTING
A game that makes room for empathy. Players leave with a clearer picture of how individual choices shape a shared environment.
USER TESTING
A game that makes room for empathy. Players leave with a clearer picture of how individual choices shape a shared environment.
USER TESTING
A game that makes room for empathy. Players leave with a clearer picture of how individual choices shape a shared environment.
After user testing, we added a rule where unused cards affect the player they were drawn from, making players more strategic, engaged, and invested in each other's outcomes.
After user testing, we added a rule where unused cards affect the player they were drawn from, making players more strategic, engaged, and invested in each other's outcomes.
"Each round of the game felt a bit repetitive"
"So far really strong game logic, but there's more opprtunity for the game to grow"
"Each round of the game felt a bit repetitive" "So far really strong game logic, but there's more opprtunity for the game to grow"
"Each round of the game felt a bit repetitive"
"So far really strong game logic, but there's more opprtunity for the game to grow"
LEARNINGS
Humor can be a tool for honesty. Play gives difficult conversations a gentler entry point.
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.
LEARNINGS
Humor can be a tool for honesty. Play gives difficult conversations a gentler entry point.
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.
9 to 5: Survive the Grind
ROLE Project Lead
TEAM 3 Product Designers
TIMELINE 6 weeks, Fall 2025
TOOLS Figma, Physical Prototyping, CMF
PROBLEM
How might a board game make corporate stress visible — and shared?
Corporate burnout often makes people feel alone inside systems that demand too much.
We’ve all heard the advice, manage your stress, set boundaries, take breaks, but nobody teaches you how to do that while everything around you is on fire. I wanted to redesign the “every person for themselves” nature of games like Game of Life into something more honest: a semi-cooperative experience where the only way to survive is to actually look out for each other. Because burnout isn’t just a personal problem. It’s everyone’s problem.
SOLUTION
A cooperative game about holding each other together. Four roles navigate workplace pressures through conversations, tactics, and collective care.
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
PROCESS
From workplace rituals to tactile game pieces. We tested role dynamics, visual language, and the balance between tension and play.
Making sure our users understood how to play to game in an intuitive format was essential
FONT AND COLORS
Source Code Pro is friendly and playful
Corporate environment colors mixed with a sense of play
ICONS
Playful chairs
intern gets the stool, employee gets a generic folding chair, the HR gets a comfy chair, and the boss gets the Eames chair
CONSENT FORM READABILITY
Instead of a long page consent form that makes users scroll all the way past the information, I implemented a form that truncated what the session is and how long the form will take for easier readability
OUTCOME
A game that makes room for empathy. Players leave with a clearer picture of how individual choices shape a shared environment.
Final Board, spinner, meeples
Players emobody 4 roles: Boss, HR, Employee, and Intern
Each player gets TWO sets of cards
Every action impacts the player’s stress level
The goal is not to climb the ladder or crush competition, but to end the game with a low collective stress
USER TESTING
A game that makes room for empathy. Players leave with a clearer picture of how individual choices shape a shared environment.
LEARNINGS
Humor can be a tool for honesty. Play gives difficult conversations a gentler entry point.
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.
"Easy manual, figured out how to play the game in 15 minutes" "very cute icons and meeples, makes the game easy to pick up
"Each round of the game felt a bit repetitive" "So far really strong game logic, but there's more opprtunity for the game to grow"