about babbel
It started with a questionnobody expected
The Babbel Game was not designed in an office. It was collected question by question, across some very long trips.
The story behind the game
A question while running
Fresh out of my master's in communication and with a growing urge to travel again, my mind kept wandering back to the time I had lived abroad in Helsinki and Melbourne. Those were some of the best experiences of my life, but coming home had also been surprisingly difficult. How do you explain months of friendships, cultures and memories to someone who wasn't there? Somewhere during a run, that thought turned into an idea, what if I created a game with the questions I wish I had asked, both while travelling and after coming home?
From thoughts to cards
Once I started writing, the questions kept coming. I spent the next weeks brainstorming, sketching cards at the kitchen table, creating categories, asking for feedback and figuring out how on earth you actually produce a card game. I was about to leave on another backpacking trip and became determined to have a first prototype ready before I left.
10 games and a plane to Shanghai
One day before my flight to Shanghai, the first 10 sample games arrived on my doorstep. I packed some in my backpack, brought a few to some friends and family who would travel soon too and started testing Babbel on the road. That's when I realised the game could do more than I originally imagined. It wasn't only a way to reflect on travels and keep memories alive; the questions also made those slightly awkward first conversations with new people much easier, taking us beyond the usual “Where are you from?” and “Where are you going next?”
Back to the drawing board
The idea worked, but I wasn't completely happy with the game yet. It still felt like it was missing a strong concept that tied everything together. So I kept testing, changing questions and categories and refining the concept instead of rushing it into production. I wanted Babbel to feel like something that belonged in a backpack, colourful, curious and allowed to get a little worn as it travelled from place to place.
Giving Babbel its look
Once I finished my own design, I started working with graphic designer Fernanda Martínez Ruiz on a complete redesign of The Babbel Game. Fernanda translated the concept into the visual identity it has today, including the logo, packaging, card layouts and six passport-stamp illustrations for the different categories. This was when Babbel finally started to look the way I had imagined it. Like a game that had already travelled the world before even leaving the box.
From my backpack to yours
Almost two years after that first idea, the finished games arrived. What started as questions written down after a random thought at the gym had become 70 cards in an actual box. Since then, Babbel has slowly been finding its way into backpacks, trips with friends, conversations around tables and shops across the Netherlands. And now the fun part begins, seeing where people take it next. And who knows, I might be working on new Babbel projects…
meet the maker
Meet Babs
Hi, I’m Babs, from the Netherlands, living in Utrecht, work in marketing, and the one thing I never seem to get enough of, is traveling. The Babbel Game started as a small idea, but somewhere along the way it turned into my passion. Traveling has given me some of my favourite memories, but I’ve always found that the most interesting part isn’t just where you went or what you did, it’s what those experiences did to you. That’s what I want Babbel to bring out. To get people talking about the adventures, unexpected moments, people and places that stayed with them long after coming home. To ask the questions that go a little further than “So, how was your trip?” I created 70 questions to help turn travel memories into stories worth sharing. And if Babbel gets people to talk a little longer, dig a little deeper and relive those moments together, then it’s doing exactly what I hoped it would do.
— Babs