| You are Here: |
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
According to the Jackson Robinson Club 808 interview from yesterday, the entire Federal 52 series took around 250 hours to design. The entire series.
That's the same amount of time that the creator for this deck is expecting this design to take, at the very least (250+ hours indicated).
Is Jackson fast, or is the designer for this single deck slow? I'm a bit baffled.
Bear in mind there were many common elements among the decks Jackson created - for example, he only created two full sets of courts for all those decks. If Fed 52 was a single deck and nothing more, it might have run him 125-175 hours. Certain elements of the deck are repeated, such as the backgrounds on the spot cards.
I'm going to make a wildly estimated comparison of Fed52 and this project here - please don't lynch me if it's not 100% accurate.
Jackson made 10 tucks, 10 jokers, 5 Aces of Spades and 24 court cards. Let's say one tuck is roughly equal in workload to two custom cards - it's likely more, but I'm being optimistic in the time estimate. Don't include the deck back - it's actually on the tuck, with minor tweaking. That's the equivalent of 44 individual custom cards. The spot cards require a layout format and some repetition - call that equal to five cards, and that's really an overestimate. Now we're up to 49 unique cards.
Unlike Fed52, this deck doesn't use any repeated or simply-formatted images for the spot cards. Instead, it has 54 unique cards, plus the tuck and back. That's how this one deck could run into 250+ hours.
Now, one could argue about the complexity of the designs between the two and all sorts of other things, but a deck of this nature is still a LOT of work. Few custom decks are of this level of customization. Every single card is a unique image, not a dozen unique courts, a unique Ace of Spades and 39 spot cards with assorted matching arrangements of pips. The only deck type I know of that would have been more complex in its customization would have been a full tarot deck, with unique art on all 78 cards.
Looks like Harris will be lowering the prices. From the latest backer's update:
AUD13 Single Deck EARLY BIRD (Limited to 100)
AUD15 Single Deck
AUD26 A pair of Deck EARLY BIRD (Limited to 100)
AUD175 A brick of decks
Thanks for listening Harris.
I think this is listed in the "for backers only update"? Doesn't he need to make actual changes on the pledge tiers for it to work out?
And wouldn't listing it in a for backers only update make no difference in terms of trying to get new backers to come pledge when it doesn't reflect on the pledge tiers?
Have to tell you… approximately $18 including shipping for a deck is on the higher side, but not outrageous given the quality and design of the deck… I do, however, wish Harris would be a bit more honest regarding the funds being asked for… Falling in line with what most decks cost on kickstarter would most probably yield an amount that far exceeds the $20,000 goal… If the decks sold for $10-$15 with shipping for example and the decks sell out, they're going to be sold in the aftermarket for double, triple, or more for that matter… Harris, you're looking to turn a profit (rather than everyone that picks up the decks for less) and honesty would be your best policy… You're raising such an amount to pay a designer? It's all just too a little too over the top… You would make more $ if you were charging less… Should've consulted with Don or others regarding pricing prior to having launched… Regardless, good luck… Hope to see this deck roll through the presses of USPCC, which is not something I say often when it comes to kickstarter decks…
With regard to the actual deck, I think it looks great… The only thing I'm not crazy about is either of the Jokers… Dreadful actually… Harris, no offense, but I don't need to see a caricature of you on such a nicely designed deck of cards, and I certainly don't need a caricature of Joe Card Collector just because he paid $600 to have himself placed on the deck… Given it's a travel themed deck, continue the artwork with nice lines and nicely designed Jokers (IMHO)… However, all in all, I think they look great - The back design is wonderful and the clean lines throughout the rest of the deck are really nice as well… Please reconsider the Joker situation… I am not alone regarding my feelings about the Jokers…
I like these and wanted to get two but it's a really pricey deck.
But the thing that could absolutely sink this project is the price. The US dollar and Australian dollar tends to trade at very close to 1:1, even more so than does the Canadian dollar. $20 for an EARLY BIRD of a single deck is way too high for even the regular price. Setting the regular price at $22 will severely curtail your potential backer pool. Granted, you can ship within Australia and the US without charging extra, but that's still 20 bucks for a single deck. People balked when $15 started becoming common, and that was less than a year ago. The only new decks I see selling in that price range are the multi-artist collaborations that are collected more for their value as art than their value as playing cards. I imagine your Asian and European customers won't be happy - an extra $12 for shipping, bringing the total to $32 for an early bird and $34 for those not fast enough. You'd be amazed at the volume of sales generated by Asian customers among all the playing card companies and designers - as a culture, they love to play cards.
The heavy chain attached to that anchor would be your $20,000 goal. Sure it's possible to hit it, but why so high for a single deck of cards? We know deck projects can be done for much less - even half that much would be considered an adequate amount. Is it because you're paying so much for international shipping of the decks bound for Australia? Seriously, that sounds like a lot - more like a 5,000-deck run or maybe even a 7,500-deck run rather than a 2,500-deck run.
MOD NOTE: this topic and the first topic shown here were originally posted to the topic for this deck in the Design/Dev board.
The deck looks beautiful.
The card images are a mix of framed and frameless faces. Pick one style and stick with it.
You need a better, sharper image of the card back and the other sides of the box.
I've overlooked updating some of the Kickstarter images but will look at them immediately and upload the tuck box die for the back and other sides of the box.
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.
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?).
Might want to include a link to the FB page
Welcome! The Design & Development board is perfect for people who want critique on their work before it heads to the presses, check it out.
