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Playing Card Chat ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ => Design & Development => Topic started by: cardazine on December 27, 2013, 09:07:11 PM
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Hi all, I'm looking at releasing a new deck of cards on Kickstarter in January. My idea is a travel-themed playing cards, featuring 52 different cities and historical sites around the globe. From what I've gathered, real life objects are not magician's favourites. So I thought to seek feedback from the community...
Come visit our Facebook page for previews and updates on this deck. And of course, all comments are welcomed! :)
Harris
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Might want to include a link to the FB page ;)
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Strange, I've double checked that my profile has my FB link but it still doesn't appear on my badge. Anyway, my Facebook page is www.facebook.com/cardazine (http://www.facebook.com/cardazine). I'll be uploading more artworks on the Page over the next few days.
For now, here is the Ace of Spades. Thoughts?
:)
Might want to include a link to the FB page ;)
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Strange, I've double checked that my profile has my FB link but it still doesn't appear on my badge. Anyway, my Facebook page is www.facebook.com/cardazine (http://www.facebook.com/cardazine). I'll be uploading more artworks on the Page over the next few days.
For now, here is the Ace of Spades. Thoughts?
:)
The artwork on the deck looks fine, though perhaps could use a more colorful presentation rather than monochrome - that's more of a personal opinion.
These are questions having more to do with the design - why do you have frames around the art? It would probably look more expansive without them. And why did you stray so far from a standard index? There's a reason why indices evolved the way they have - it's quick and easy to understand. The font used isn't a problem, but put the value above the suit and size the pip a little bit smaller than the value, or at least no larger than the value. Also, make your "10" cards' indices using a non-serif version of your font. It's a common mistake for a designer to make the "10" much wider than all the single-character values, but on standard decks, all of the values are of a uniform width - again, there's the quicker understanding factor, also the wider indices requires you to spread the cards further apart in a hand that has tens in it, which has the two-fold negative effect of a) telling your opponent you have a ten in your hand, and 2) giving the other players a better chance of "accidentally" spotting your cards because of the width of the hand you're holding.
If you want to discuss this more, I do consulting for deck designers such as you. The design company Uusi (Blue Blood, Blueblood Redux, Bohemia, Royal Optik, Pagan) is my biggest client to date.
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Hi Don!
Thanks so much for the feedback!
The colour of the card design really depends on the colour of buildings and landmarks in that particular city. There are some that goes really colourful (e.g. Copenhagen) and many that are quite "monotonic" (e.g. Dubai, Paris). We'll be releasing some more previews over the next few days!
As for the other stuff, I'll be honest that we have not really put much thoughts into the practical implications of the design. A common mistake for rookies, I assume? Haha! We will certainly take your valuable insights into our next round of revisions. :)
Harris
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I like the idea, and how the cartoonish artwork works for me. Are there anything special for the courts cards to differentiate them a little?
Copenhagen => Colourful => Nyhavn ?
P,s. I think St. Petersburg needs to be near the top of your list.
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Hi Don!
Thanks so much for the feedback!
The colour of the card design really depends on the colour of buildings and landmarks in that particular city. There are some that goes really colourful (e.g. Copenhagen) and many that are quite "monotonic" (e.g. Dubai, Paris). We'll be releasing some more previews over the next few days!
As for the other stuff, I'll be honest that we have not really put much thoughts into the practical implications of the design. A common mistake for rookies, I assume? Haha! We will certainly take your valuable insights into our next round of revisions. :)
Harris
Easy way to get in more colors - use things like the sky, city/state/national flags, trees (where appropriate), fireworks, flocks of birds, sunsets/sunrises, bodies of water and so on to spice up what might otherwise be a humdrum skyline. You could even frame some like a tourist photo - for example, a photo of the New York skyline as seen from the East River/NY Harbor shores of Queens or Brooklyn, complete with tiny tourist in the foreground and a City Line boat in the water at "midground". For some cities, aerial shots will work well, too - particularly cities on flat terrain, like Miami. I can already imagine breathtaking views of Hong Kong as seen from the mountains around the city...
There's a lot of ways to get creative with more color in the city images. If some are very colorful and some are downright bland palette-wise, the deck as a whole may seem inconsistent, and there are ways of inserting color into even the most boring of skylines (and if it's THAT boring, why include it at all, right?).
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I like the idea, and how the cartoonish artwork works for me. Are there anything special for the courts cards to differentiate them a little?
Copenhagen => Colourful => Nyhavn ?
P,s. I think St. Petersburg needs to be near the top of your list.
There you go! You got it right! I'll keep that one as a surprise... Though, I can tell you that cities and historic sites on the lists are picked based on the number of mentions it gains on the "Top X Lists for Y Category". Aces being the most mentioned and the 2s list mentioned. Did I mention that each card will be unique? And yes, court cards and Aces definitely have special treats! :)
Easy way to get in more colors - use things like the sky, city/state/national flags, trees (where appropriate), fireworks, flocks of birds, sunsets/sunrises, bodies of water and so on to spice up what might otherwise be a humdrum skyline. You could even frame some like a tourist photo - for example, a photo of the New York skyline as seen from the East River/NY Harbor shores of Queens or Brooklyn, complete with tiny tourist in the foreground and a City Line boat in the water at "midground". For some cities, aerial shots will work well, too - particularly cities on flat terrain, like Miami. I can already imagine breathtaking views of Hong Kong as seen from the mountains around the city...
There's a lot of ways to get creative with more color in the city images. If some are very colorful and some are downright bland palette-wise, the deck as a whole may seem inconsistent, and there are ways of inserting color into even the most boring of skylines (and if it's THAT boring, why include it at all, right?).
That's some brilliant ideas! We'll surely be working on these! Thanks, Don! :D
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I like the idea of this deck and I like what I see so far. I can't wait to see how this design develops. :)
I also really appreciate all of Don's inputs. I enjoy reading them because I learn so much. I didn't know that tidbit about the values being a uniform width.
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I also really appreciate all of Don's inputs. I enjoy reading them because I learn so much. I didn't know that tidbit about the values being a uniform width.
Thank you. I do try my best!
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I like the focus on Skylines that I'm seeing. Cities hold on tight to those (I think Las Vegas even copyrighted or trademarked theirs). Might be a good cross sell to the architects of the world.
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I like the focus on Skylines that I'm seeing. Cities hold on tight to those (I think Las Vegas even copyrighted or trademarked theirs). Might be a good cross sell to the architects of the world.
One could copyright the plans for a building or the actual building itself, but an entire skyline? It certain can't be a trademark - it's constantly changing with the destruction and construction of new buildings, so it's never the same for very long.
I know that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame building is copyrighted.
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Following the recommendations by Don, the indices on the cards have been reviewed. It's amazing how different the card looks, simply by removing the border.
What are your thoughts?
By the way, I'm pleased to announce that the project has received approval from Kickstarter and will launch within the next week or so. The other Aces will be revealed closer to the launch date. Get excited! :D
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Following the recommendations by Don, the indices on the cards have been reviewed. It's amazing how different the card looks, simply by removing the border.
What are your thoughts?
By the way, I'm pleased to announce that the project has received approval from Kickstarter and will launch within the next week or so. The other Aces will be revealed closer to the launch date. Get excited! :D
It's really a notable improvement. Good luck on the launch.