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Playing Card Chat ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ => Playing Card Plethora => Topic started by: tanderle on July 24, 2015, 06:18:03 PM
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Hi guys. I just launched a Kickstarter playing cards project that you may want to check out. The deck is inspired by Greek Gods and Goddesses (I am also getting married to a Greek girl in 2 months!). I'm new to Kickstarter so this is my first project. I'm a math teacher but I have always had a love for graphic design and video editing. Let me know what you think.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/286203767/olympus-bicycle-playing-cards (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/286203767/olympus-bicycle-playing-cards)
Thanks,
Tom
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I think you may be looking at an uphill battle with Olympia Playing cards (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/steveminty/olympia-playing-cards/description) Having just funded.
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(https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/198/865/4dee552ed2885da8016d2a25213cacc0_original.jpg?v=1437675047&w=680&fit=max&auto=format&q=92&s=e3fea0cca2113d8d31f6edc5113f6476)
(https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/198/770/8e59fd9c1e2f60ba756de4c5461b995c_original.jpg?v=1437673658&w=680&fit=max&auto=format&q=92&s=1d8c674460a538ff64a0772dd2947b23)
(https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/203/463/08653b06aeabbefe7025025f416b270d_original.jpg?v=1437750294&w=680&fit=max&auto=format&q=92&s=b0690a4b466ff6e562747c1d85c5cf64)
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Oh man I didn't even know about those cards. Oh well. We will see. The designs are way different so who knows.
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I like the teal and yellow colors you have chosen, and really like the Greek styled indices. Plus I like the idea of the gaff card that shows poker hands, very nice addition. I'm sure between the different styles and great artwork you won't have any problems making goal.
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I would guess you looked at KS a bit before you launched because, in my limited experience, you covered all the bases perfectly. Good pricing, USPCC, logical rewards, all the illustrations, a goal that actually makes sense, interesting cards, and not too busy.
I really wish I was interested in them as such a well thought out project deserves recognition. I will certainly watch for your next efforts. Don't take the critical comments personally; they are just trying to help.
Good luck
PS I agree with the border comment.
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(https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/198/865/4dee552ed2885da8016d2a25213cacc0_original.jpg?v=1437675047&w=680&fit=max&auto=format&q=92&s=e3fea0cca2113d8d31f6edc5113f6476)
(https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/198/770/8e59fd9c1e2f60ba756de4c5461b995c_original.jpg?v=1437673658&w=680&fit=max&auto=format&q=92&s=1d8c674460a538ff64a0772dd2947b23)
(https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/203/463/08653b06aeabbefe7025025f416b270d_original.jpg?v=1437750294&w=680&fit=max&auto=format&q=92&s=b0690a4b466ff6e562747c1d85c5cf64)
That Ace of Spades looks strikingly familiar...
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I am definitely willing to listen to any constructive criticism. It is definitely helpful since this is my first attempt.
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That Ace of Spades looks strikingly familiar...
you mean to this AoS?
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I am definitely willing to listen to any constructive criticism. It is definitely helpful since this is my first attempt.
OK, first and foremost - use ORIGINAL ARTWORK that you either created or commissioned. That Ace of Spades, as shown in the previous post, is a modified version of the Ace of Spades from the "Clipped Wings" deck by Emmanuel Jose - I named that deck for him! Unlike the rest of a deck of cards, the backs, Aces of Spades and jokers are considered copyrightable because they are unique in nearly every deck design and certainly from company to company.
Have you tried using something more like red instead of gold for the red suits and red in the courts? You can still retain the gold in the courts as gold, or at least some of it, but you need perhaps two more colors, one of which should be red, to make those courts pop more - modern courts are colorful. Not to mention that this color scheme looks too much like the Hornets deck produced by Circle City Card Co., which sold its IP to Gamblers Warehouse.
The characters you made on the courts are large - huge, in fact. Why try restraining them in frames? Get rid of the border around them.
I know you probably like the Greek-esque font used in the index. I recommend against it. Indices should be easily read and I lean more toward simple, easy to read fonts, with indices being of a uniform height and width, values above pips and twice as tall as them. Of course, for a custom deck, artists want to take creative license, so your mileage may vary, but from a veteran card player's perspective, easy, simple indices are best.
The card back - change the colors. The dark blue-green is fine, but there's not enough contrast with the light blue you're using and the end result will look muddy, especially in areas with minute detail work. Pick a brighter color for the light color of the deck - perhaps white? DON'T use gold - gold printed on paper is a lot darker than people think it is, more like mustard brown, even when using metallic ink.
If you want more advice than that, you'll have to hire me!
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That Ace of Spades, as shown in the previous post, is a modified version of the Ace of Spades from the "Clipped Wings" deck by Emmanuel Jose
erm Don you are wrong for once... ;) that ace of spades is from Curator..
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Thanks Don for your feedback. I really appreciate it. I am going to definitely make the borders thinner or remove them like suggested. I am concerned about changing the color scheme after the launch. Some people really like it and may leave the project...then again others who hate it may join. I will have to think about it and try out different colors.
I am going to tinker with the back and try white instead of the light blue like you suggested.
Thanks for all of your help and suggestions.
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That Ace of Spades, as shown in the previous post, is a modified version of the Ace of Spades from the "Clipped Wings" deck by Emmanuel Jose
erm Don you are wrong for once... ;) that ace of spades is from Curator..
I stand corrected. I was basing it on the fact that it was a bird! Thanks.
Thanks Don for your feedback. I really appreciate it. I am going to definitely make the borders thinner or remove them like suggested. I am concerned about changing the color scheme after the launch. Some people really like it and may leave the project...then again others who hate it may join. I will have to think about it and try out different colors.
I am going to tinker with the back and try white instead of the light blue like you suggested.
Thanks for all of your help and suggestions.
You can still use light blue if you want - but in the end, you want a greater amount of contrast between the two blues in the design. Some combination of making the dark blue darker and the light blue lighter can get you there just as well as making the light blue into white. White provides the greatest contrast with any dark blue shade you can devise, when compared to any shade of light blue, which is why I suggested it. Plus, if gives the design a more classic look - most older card backs are a single dark or darkish color with white.
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You can still use light blue if you want - but in the end, you want a greater amount of contrast between the two blues in the design. Some combination of making the dark blue darker and the light blue lighter can get you there just as well as making the light blue into white. White provides the greatest contrast with any dark blue shade you can devise, when compared to any shade of light blue, which is why I suggested it. Plus, if gives the design a more classic look - most older card backs are a single dark or darkish color with white.
I tried using white...it didn't look great. I am going to see if darkening the one blue and lightening the other helps. Thanks again Don.
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You can still use light blue if you want - but in the end, you want a greater amount of contrast between the two blues in the design. Some combination of making the dark blue darker and the light blue lighter can get you there just as well as making the light blue into white. White provides the greatest contrast with any dark blue shade you can devise, when compared to any shade of light blue, which is why I suggested it. Plus, if gives the design a more classic look - most older card backs are a single dark or darkish color with white.
I tried using white...it didn't look great. I am going to see if darkening the one blue and lightening the other helps. Thanks again Don.
You may not like the high-contrast look. You should post it here, see what people think. The biggest reason for using it, though, is that without adequate contrast, your design will look bad, almost like a sea of solid color.
I don't know if you remember what Theory11 tried when they released the Monarchs deck. First of all, they hyped the deck to high heaven, as if God himself designed them. They had the same design you see today, but the back design was black and the line work was done in metallic gold. They seemed to have forgotten that metallic gold is actually very dark - the lines were so fine in the design that they were lost in the black, almost unnoticeable. In the end, they trash nearly the entire first print run, except for 144 decks now known as the ultra-rare "Gold Monarchs" and of which only 111 were put into circulation. They held the rest and released a last-minute redesigned version that had white line work. People were ticked off that after all the hype, the deck was not that exceptional - the customers overlooked at the time that it was a reasonably solid design, in the end. A subsequent reprinting with a thinner border helped make it a successful line of cards for T11, but they learned that you can't have two colors on your card back that are too close to each other in contrast levels, especially if one of them has fine lines or high-resolution details.
The Pedale Design Co. had the same issue with their first deck - but they didn't have the luxury of trashing the deck to reprint it, plus they were selling to a market that practically didn't care (high design more than card collectors). The back of the first edition deck is terribly dark; thin, gold lines on a black background, leaving most of the detail almost impossible to see except under bright light with magnification.
There were two Bicycle decks made by 9780 Design - they were called Bicycle Venom and Bicycle Venom Strike. They had the potential to be two very cool magician's decks, until they came back from USPC. Both decks looks like mud on the back, especially the Venom Strike - on a black background, they had dark blue skulls and a greenish pair of snakes, all so dark that tons of detail in the art work was rendered unviewable. They tried a little too hard for a cool design without bearing in mind the limitations of the printing process for the deck.
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Thanks for the insight Don. Here is the white.
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I'm still not sold on the blue, but that is MUCH better. You'll also avoid the risk of colors not transferring from digital to print perfectly and bleeding into each other. Apparently even more common if you design in RGB instead of CMYK, but that's just what I've heard.
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I'm still not sold on the blue, but that is MUCH better. You'll also avoid the risk of colors not transferring from digital to print perfectly and bleeding into each other. Apparently even more common if you design in RGB instead of CMYK, but that's just what I've heard.
I'd like to hear what others think because I prefer the light blue. But I trust everyone's experience here and I do not want any issues with the back if this ever gets printed.
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Not I. My nod would go to the second version.
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I agree that blue on blue will not print well or read well once printed, I don't know that white is the best option, I would love to see some other colors used. The yellow might look really nice..? Something warm or complimentary to the blue.
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I could go for yellow, especially as it is on the court cards.
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I could go for yellow, especially as it is on the court cards.
Just tried yellow. I'm not digging it, but thanks for the suggestion.
I tried lightening one blue and darkening the other. I kind of like this the best. Thoughts?
The last picture is the original
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Yeah, that yellow is too bright, I would think maybe a richer gold color, or more of a honey. But both of those blues will get washed out in printing, the darker background is a step in the right direction, but I worry it will not read as a specific image to the brain, but a blob of color; there needs to be contrast. Either bring the blue illustration much lighter and/or the background even darker, maybe shift to a different hue value of blue, or go with a different color.
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I started tinkering with making that dark blue in the card a little bit darker to add more contrast. Good idea or bad idea?
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I like the darker contrast of blue for the courts...as for the backs, what about mainly yellow and blue with some white accents...I do like how the yellow contrasts with the blue, but in the sample above, it is a little over the top
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I could go for yellow, especially as it is on the court cards.
Just tried yellow. I'm not digging it, but thanks for the suggestion.
I tried lightening one blue and darkening the other. I kind of like this the best. Thoughts?
The last picture is the original
You're right. The modified blue looks better. The white is still good.
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Thanks for the insight Don. Here is the white.
I like this - but with a deeper blue. Here in New York, there's a tradition of Greek diners everywhere. The Greeks practically have a monopoly on the diner industry! Most diners have these "to go" hot beverage cups that are decorated with Grecian border work and colored blue and white, but a deeper shade of blue - and that's what I typically associate with Grecian design, that darker blue with white.
I started tinkering with making that dark blue in the card a little bit darker to add more contrast. Good idea or bad idea?
The darker blue used here is better - but try something more of a pure "Aegean blue", with less green to it (less yellow, to be technical). Think of a deep, rich ocean blue, devoid of green altogether.
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I don't think I am going to reach the funding needed so I am thinking about doing an eventual relaunch. I would plan on going with Legends because they require only 1,000 instead of 2,500. This way I can drastically reduce the target goal. Obviously the tuck box would not say Bicycle anymore. I am also thinking of changing the colors to be black and gold. Do you guys have any suggestions that will help me make this more successful or do you think this deck will never get funded?
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Black and gold looks good! Legends will look better on the box anyways to fit the mythology theme!!!
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The box looks good but I am not a fan of the new faces. The blue looked much more interesting.
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I don't think I am going to reach the funding needed so I am thinking about doing an eventual relaunch. I would plan on going with Legends because they require only 1,000 instead of 2,500. This way I can drastically reduce the target goal. Obviously the tuck box would not say Bicycle anymore. I am also thinking of changing the colors to be black and gold. Do you guys have any suggestions that will help me make this more successful or do you think this deck will never get funded?
Making the deck less expensive is always a good way to improve your odds. Remember that a shorter print run will come with a higher per-deck cost.
The blue was much better than the black, though it needed tweaking. If you go black, use yellow instead of metallic gold - metallic gold ink is very dark and you'll have the contrast issue all over again.
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Making the deck less expensive is always a good way to improve your odds. Remember that a shorter print run will come with a higher per-deck cost.
The blue was much better than the black, though it needed tweaking. If you go black, use yellow instead of metallic gold - metallic gold ink is very dark and you'll have the contrast issue all over again.
Don, any idea how much Legends will charge per deck for 1,000?
Thoughts on this color combination? Trying something different. That blue reminds me more of Greek colors. Like Santorini.
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I made the blue a tad darker actually.
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Would love to see a sky blue and contrast to a deep gold. Now how these look on cards is a good question, but those are the colors I associate with Greece.
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Don, any idea how much Legends will charge per deck for 1,000?
Thoughts on this color combination? Trying something different. That blue reminds me more of Greek colors. Like Santorini.
I'm afraid I don't know - I could guess, but that's all it would be. Plus there's a lot of factors involved in pricing, not the least of which being any special features you might request. You'd have to contact them for a quote.
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I really like the idea of a black and gold version of this deck -- gold and black is always an awesome combination. Stuart Palm's black/gold Gnostic deck is a good example of why that colour combination is cool.
I'd definitely back the project if the decks were to be printed with LPCC, because I really like Greek mythology, and I also like the back design of the cards :D
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Hi guys. I thank everyone on this forum for their suggestions and constructive criticism. I plan on relaunching my Olympus deck of cards soon. I changed the colors and went with LPCC. My new target goal will be around $8,500 instead of $15,000. Here is a first glimpse:
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I like it a lot! :D When is the re-launch? BTW, would you consider making thinner borders on the backs...LPCC has very good alignment, unlike USPCC
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Looks good from here. And yes, I'm agreed with Cardfool - LPCC has more precise registration allowing for more uniform centering and cutting, so you could enlarge the design a bit more and make the border a little thinner. I think it would be an improvement.
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Excellent! :D
As stated on the previous thread, I love the design and concept. I think this deck will look quite stunning.
I just received the Legends Day of the Dead deck yesterday, and they'd used a really nice orange foil on the tuck... it looks quite stunning. Whether you go for orange foil or just ink on the tuck, either way it'll look great. Do consider orange foil as a stretch goal though.
I'm probably in a minority here... but I genuinely like "normal" sized borders, rather than thin ones!
I'll definitely be backing this project. See you at the launch!
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I like it a lot! :D When is the re-launch? BTW, would you consider making thinner borders on the backs...LPCC has very good alignment, unlike USPCC
I plan on launching over the weekend or early next week. I will look into making the borders thinner and see how it looks.
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Like an entirely different deck. Thumbs up.
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This is looking great :)
I would prefer darker shade of gold/yellow ;D
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This is looking great :)
I would prefer darker shade of gold/yellow ;D
We were trying to improve the contrast, silly man...
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This is looking great :)
I would prefer darker shade of gold/yellow ;D
We were trying to improve the contrast, silly man...
;D
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Looks good from here. And yes, I'm agreed with Cardfool - LPCC has more precise registration allowing for more uniform centering and cutting, so you could enlarge the design a bit more and make the border a little thinner. I think it would be an improvement.
Thoughts on these borders?
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Thoughts on these borders?
I think you misunderstood what we were talking about. We meant the outer white border on the BACK of the card. It's a popular trend to make this border as thin as possible - it allows for larger artwork and has an elegant look to it, but it's also difficult for the printer to create unless they have very precise registration in both printing (to align faces and backs) as well as cutting (to prevent the border from being uneven all the way around the card due to a miscut).
I will mention, though, that another popular trend which has a nice look to it would be to remove the border line between the indices and the court character image altogether. The border seems to "constrain" the character image - when removed, it often gives it a cleaner, improved appearance and allows room to enlarge the court image. I'd say experiment with it and see if it looks better to you.
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Thanks for the clarification Don. So the white would be considered the border you are talking about? Here is how it would look if it was thinner:
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Looks a lot better imho :D
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Looks a lot better imho :D
Yes I think so too. Everyone was talking about borders and I had no idea what they meant haha.
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Thanks for the clarification Don. So the white would be considered the border you are talking about? Here is how it would look if it was thinner:
Looks better. Reshape your corners to match the arc of the cut corners of the card - a ⅛" corner (about 3mm). Notice that your corners are larger in terms of the size of the arc than the card edge corners, leaving a little extra white at the corners than on the border.
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The rework looks great!
I personally would like to see Gold Foil embossing on the Legends branding as a stretch goal.
Similar to the Bicycle Archangels deck if you wanna see what i mean.
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The rework looks great!
I personally would like to see Gold Foil embossing on the Legends branding as a stretch goal.
Similar to the Bicycle Archangels deck if you wanna see what i mean.
Ah yes, I have that deck and the embossing does look very nice. I'll look into it and see how much extra it would be. Thanks for the idea.
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Hi everyone. The cards are now live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/286203767/olympus-playing-cards
I want to thank everyone for their suggestions, help, and support.
Tom
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Hi guys. Unfortunately my Olympus playing card deck did not fund.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/286203767/olympus-playing-cards
I am looking for some advice for an eventual relaunch. I want to take a decent amount of time to get this right. I am thinking about going with traditional black/red. I may also customize all the aces. I spent a lot of time on the artwork and I would really like to see the cards get funded. I am open to any thoughts you all have. Thanks.
Tom
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tanderle, I merged your 2 topics together. It just helps keep the place tidy.
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Hi guys. Unfortunately my Olympus playing card deck did not fund.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/286203767/olympus-playing-cards
I am looking for some advice for an eventual relaunch. I want to take a decent amount of time to get this right. I am thinking about going with traditional black/red. I may also customize all the aces. I spent a lot of time on the artwork and I would really like to see the cards get funded. I am open to any thoughts you all have. Thanks.
Tom
Why did you go with Legends branding?
Where was the promotional campaign? You announced the launch - and vanished into thin air! With thirty or more decks running at any given time, you need to keep people aware that your project exists or they'll forget all about it and move on to the next deck.
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Why did you go with Legends branding?
Where was the promotional campaign? You announced the launch - and vanished into thin air! With thirty or more decks running at any given time, you need to keep people aware that your project exists or they'll forget all about it and move on to the next deck.
I went with Legends because of the 1,000 print run (USPCC is 2,000) which lowered the goal.
You are totally right about being MIA. To be honest, I should've waited a little bit. Life got hectic as I bought a house and got married. Between moving and planning a wedding, I really didn't have much time for promotion. That was a big mistake on my part. I want to really take some time to fix some things and make this deck better.
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I went with Legends because of the 1,000 print run (USPCC is 2,000) which lowered the goal.
I think what Don means is that why do you use Legends brand on your deck. You could have use Olympus as the branding.
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I went with Legends because of the 1,000 print run (USPCC is 2,000) which lowered the goal.
I think what Don means is that why do you use Legends brand on your deck. You could have use Olympus as the branding.
And you'd be absolutely right, HankMan. It's one thing to use the Bicycle brand, but I don't think the Legends brand carries quite the same cachet just yet...
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Oh I see. Thanks for the insight.
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I am finally starting to work on my project again. Thoughts on these cards?
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Here are the cards below.
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I am finally starting to work on my project again. Thoughts on these cards?
Market them better? You've got to really shout loud to be heard over the 30-odd other projects for playing cards running at any given time on Kickstarter. And not just to collectors - not one of the top ten deck projects would have made the money they did without an influx of backers from outside of the card collectors' community.
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Yeah I completely dropped the ball with marketing last time. Here is the new and updated Dionysus.
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Take a look at the redesigned Aphrodite.
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The art was pretty attractive last time as well - you just need to market them better.
Know any message boards for people into Greek history and myth?
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I agree with Don. You need to plan your marketing outside of the playing card community. I call this a "dual community concept." The big win will come from marketing to those who are interested in Greek mythology, history, and literature.
I don't want to say the playing card community is low hanging fruit but it has a better awareness of playing card projects. You still need to market the playing card community but increase your effort outside of the community and in the concept community (i.e., message boards, Facebook groups, partner with blogs or websites, etc.).
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The art was pretty attractive last time as well - you just need to market them better.
Know any message boards for people into Greek history and myth?
I was happy with the art last time but they look much better now in my opinion.
I agree with Don. You need to plan your marketing outside of the playing card community. I call this a "dual community concept." The big win will come from marketing to those who are interested in Greek mythology, history, and literature.
I don't want to say the playing card community is low hanging fruit but it has a better awareness of playing card projects. You still need to market the playing card community but increase your effort outside of the community and in the concept community (i.e., message boards, Facebook groups, partner with blogs or websites, etc.).
Totally agree with you and Don. I admit that I dropped the ball last time but I plan on heavily marketing this time around.
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I officially relaunched. Thanks for the advice along the way.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/286203767/olympus-playing-cards-deck
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I am having some black Friday pre-sales. Don't miss out on reduced prices. Limited quantities!
$44 for Four (4) Olympus Decks
FREE SHIPPING within United States
$60 for Six (6) Olympus Decks
FREE SHIPPING within United States