Designers
Designers
Designers
Your Cards, Your Story
Your Pokémon is a project that reveals Pokémon cards not as commodities, but as cultural artifacts.
Key Words
Designers
Anna Yim
SUMMARY
My research moved from discovery to testing, blending cultural inquiry with human-centered design. I began with secondary research, followed by a questionnaire on behavioral and emotional drivers in Pokémon card collecting. Long-form and street interviews added a layer of nuance, which I synthesized through affinity mapping to reveal themes of nostalgia, community, and attachment. These insights shaped prototypes exploring value and belonging. After user testing and experiential feedback, I refined my final concept, Your Pokémon, a personality-based site that generates a personalized Pokémon card portfolio.
challenge
Through my research, I discovered opportunities I could utilize to design experiences that help collectors feel seen, share meaning, and translate emotional value into identity-driven expression. I identified key gaps in how collectors express identity, nostalgia, and connection. On one side, many saw Pokémon collecting as a communal hobby. However, they lacked tools to articulate personal attachment or the stories behind their cards. On the other hand, others sought ways to connect nostalgic value to their present identity or use their collections for personal branding.
Outcome
The project evolved into Your Pokémon, a website that generates a personalized Pokémon, energy type, and card portfolio. This outcome directly addresses stakeholder gaps by translating personal attachment, nostalgia, and identity into a tangible, shareable experience. It provides a space for collectors as a means of self-expression, community, and engagement to Pokémon cards as a communal hobby. By turning emotional value into a personalized digital artifact, my project fills the Pokémon card’s market need for identity-driven, story-based collecting experiences.
MEET THE Designers:
Anna Yim