Out Like a Light

Although we spend a third of our lives asleep, many people don’t get restful sleep. This is largely due to the lack of consistent bedtime routines, often disrupted by factors like work stress, anxiety, and especially technology use.

Out Like a Light is a card game designed to help young people establish better bedtime routines, ultimately leading to improved sleep quality.

The game’s imagery centres around moths—nocturnal creatures which are drawn to light—and a variety of night blooming flowers, which moths pollinate when not flying around light sources. I chose this imagery as a metaphor: just as moths are drawn to light, we are often pulled toward the light of our devices at night. Meanwhile, we could be nurturing ourselves through a calming bedtime routine.

In the game, players grow a garden of mystical night-blooming flowers. As their garden of flowers grow, they attract moths away from a lightbulb and toward the flowers. This mirrors the player’s own shift— from being drawn to screens to engaging in a more mindful, healthy bedtime routine.