Feedback on custom deck

[DanFeldmeier]

Hello all, I'm currently working on an alien themed deck of cards and was hoping for feedback on imagery, symbol designs, tuck box, etc.  Not all the images are finished and I'm totally open to feedback on improving any aspect.

Here's the link:

http://imgur.com/a/9uz96

[DanFeldmeier]

Figured I'd go ahead and just add a few pics to this as well   I totally welcome feedback (even if brutal).

Deck box


One of the Joker cards


Ace of Spades


King of Spades


Queen of Clubs


Jack of Hearts



Layout and design for number cards and sybmols

[Fess]

Theses first critiques are pretty big deals in my opinion. I have to start off with what I say to pretty much everyone who uses wonky pips that people can't easily identify which suit they go to. I recommend you reign it in a bit and try to find a more traditional shape. You can still do tons of sci-fi design in there but the shape is too off with your current pips.

Your QoC shows the indices. That is going to be very difficult to read quickly and easily. I'd suggest moving the indices and making the rank indicator a little more bold. Baring the moving, maybe consider the background instead of a gradient of red to brown consider a gradient of red to transparent so the indices pop.

Your number cards have some complex ghosting in behind the pips. Could consider a simplified image there. When you have a complex image snuck into the negative space, it's not so much negative space any longer and can be an eye distraction. This doesn't effect me to too bad an extent but for some it could be very off putting in the eye feel department. Contrast of the colors between pips and ghosted image is good for the most part, I would still suggest simplifying the ghosted image, removing the box frame on the ghosted image and seeing what it feels/looks like then.

I like the card back quite a bit, great design. Not sure I like all that negative space behind the alien face thing though. It may be a bit too simple in that department, scratch the maybe it is just too much negative space for a card back in today's market.

I like your Tuck box direction. I think it's kind of interesting. The Hex lattice you have is nice. I think it may have more punch if the hex pattern was amped up a bit, maybe colorized. A whole lot of green glowy show on the tuck face is taking the eye away from your alien.

What's going on with the Joker? It looks to me like a bottle cap with gum stuck on it. I do like the transition on the Joker more than the other transitions I see here. It's a more interesting effect than the other joins of the mirror image.

[DanFeldmeier]

Thank you very much for the feedback!  I hadn't taken into consideration a much of what you mentioned, especially with the pips.  I can definitely see what you mean, in my mind I knew exactly what they were but to someone who has no idea what's going on in my head wouldn't really have a clue.

I'll definitely have to be revisiting a lot of the design aspects to ensure things can be more easily read, such as that ghosted image on the number cards and the readability on the face cards.

Thanks again for the feedback, it's really appreciated!

Dan

[DanFeldmeier]

I've updated the pips and adjusted their location on the card to reduce covering the images. I've also faded out the image on the numbered cards to make them less distracting.  I have also created a version without the background image.

Queen of Clubs


10s without ghosted image


10s with ghosted image


King of Spades - it appears there's a minor bit of overlap on the wing of the King of Spades, is this something that can be problematic or is it minimal enough that it wouldn't effect functionality of the cards?

[Fess]

Redesigned indices look light years better in terms of functionality. I also like the tails/tentacles you've added in the design. The number cards without the ghosting have a crisp feel that would very likely cause a more positive response than the ghosted number cards would. The full bleed ghosting is light enough that it shouldn't cause an issue with cheatability in the deck, so that's nice. From the 10, Q and K the font you are using for the indices is also nice and clear. I think you are absolutely heading in the right direction these changes have made it a playable deck.

[Helshawk]

Most certainly heading in the right direction. Love the pipped cards.  As for the face cards, with the few we've seen here, I would try to play with the line of symmetry.  Personally, I would try to make one flow into the other, such as your Jack card.  Although you can pick out the line, it feels as if the design of the upper half extends below that line. And with the fantastic work on the pips, it seems only natural that mirrored images would snake and twine into each other.  I hope that makes sense.

[DanFeldmeier]

Thanks again for the feedback everyone, it's super appreciative!

I have made additional changes though the biggest changes I've made have been more of a personal design choice regarding the imagery itself.  I've been thinking about how I could make the two halves of most of the cards appear to be more intertwined but haven't come up with anything that wouldn't require me to pretty much do the entirety of the image, at least none that don't look forced.  I'll definitely have to keep it in mind though as I'd like to have all the artwork done within the next month or two.

On that note, below are some of the additional changes.

The tuck box (I got a template from Bicycle so the shape is different. I made the hexagonal pattern a little more prominent without overwhelming the image.


Hearts


Diamonds


Spades


Back of the card; added a bit to the negative space while hoping it doesn't end up looking too busy

[Helshawk]

Ah, I see what you did with the court cards!  Very cool.  Eager to see how you handle that with the clubs.  I only have one suggestion and that is with the K of Hearts and Diamonds. The other king and all the other face cards extend beyond the background frame on top/bottom.  I would like to see the KofH and KofD also follow suit. 

[DanFeldmeier]

I'm looking into options that would allow me to actually change the flow of the figures without having to rework the image.  If I can implement something that looks good I'll have to make some adjustments; it's likely though I may have to just wait until a new deck of cards.  In the meantime here are a few additional updates including the Clubs and Aces.

Clubs


Aces


Oh, and I adjusted the King of Diamonds and Spades to extend past the top and bottom edges of the rectangle.

[Fess]

Things are looking nice. The changes have been positive in my opinion. I do not believe the cardback is too busy. The negative space is used in a tasteful manner that flows well with your theme. Dimming the green glow behind the title of the deck on your tuck is nice. I also think the enhancement to the hex pattern on the tuck box addresses that very well.

One thing I would like to draw to your attention if the offset illusion of the K on your Kings indices. May want to take some time to center the negative space on the bottom of the letter with the top center of the pip under it. This will help with the feeling of polish. Also any number cards where the font is shifted to one side should have a little extra care.

[Helshawk]

I'll whole heartedly agree with Fess, all the changes have been positive.  This deck is on track to be top notch.

[DanFeldmeier]

Thanks again guys for the feedback! I'm working on making adjustments and will hopefully post a few updates in the next day or two.

[DanFeldmeier]

I adjusted the indices on the K, well, I had to adjust on all the cards as they were all off centered, some more noticeably than others. When I get a chance I'll post pics of the number cards for feedback, but in the meantime, here's updates on the two Joker cards.

[DanFeldmeier]

So I've realigned the indices with the pips on all the cards. Below are the number cards (except the 10's as there hasn't been any change to those other than a minute realignment).

[DanFeldmeier]

So I took a moment to make a few adjustments to the design of the background to see what it would look like if it extended nearer to the edge of the card.  Not sure what everyone else's thoughts are, but I'm kinda digging this look. Funny enough, the prints I plan on making would have the full bleed background, which is something I really liked but hadn't considered doing with the cards.



An example of one of the prints

[DanFeldmeier]

I tweeked the format of the court cards so they are mirrored and also added a larger suit.

Here's the new look for the king cards.

[Fess]

Jokers are looking good. K and R in the word Joker have a little offset issue. May consider lining the spine of each letter with the outer edge of the O. The O is the anchor letter and the one which will enable other letters to illusion one way or the other. The outer edge should be as straight as possible, again for illusion purposes and because our human eyes like an outer line giving a frame quality.

I like the revamped backgrounds on the courts, however I think I prefer the first version of the revamp on the spades. The negative space there helps point out what's going on. Allowing me to see it easier. Contrast between the added pip and the many colors of your courts with background combined isn't very strong. I'm not seeing the pip easily. This could be helped with resizing of the pip, maybe instead of half the frame width a one third approach. If not a little more contrast could do the trick particularly on the Spade and Club.

Coming to life and I think this is very cool stuff. 

[SunDay811]

Cool! In my opinion smaller background is better. I would leave Jokers without background at all, to highlight them. Good Luck!!!

[DanFeldmeier]

I decided to take a little step back from the cards to make sure I was still happy with the design of the cards.  I know there are concerns with complete symmetry of the court cards but I think the design of the background, while not symmetrical, lends itself to not needing to be symmetrical. Below is what the King cards look like when held both "right side up" and "upside down".  While there is a difference I don't believe there'd be a desire or need for a player to flip their card over to make sure it was facing the correct way.  Though I will admit I may be way off and biased as I personally like the design better; it feels less cluttered and the Kings appears to be more easily readable.  What are y'all's thoughts on this seeing them side by side?

Jokers are looking good. K and R in the word Joker have a little offset issue. May consider lining the spine of each letter with the outer edge of the O. The O is the anchor letter and the one which will enable other letters to illusion one way or the other. The outer edge should be as straight as possible, again for illusion purposes and because our human eyes like an outer line giving a frame quality.

After you pointed out the offset nature of the K and R on the word Joker, I noticed it.  Funnily enough, I checked the alignment and they were spot on; must be something with the shape of the letters.  I moved the two letters over like 1-2 pixels to see if it'd alleviate the problem, which I think it did.

Cool! In my opinion smaller background is better. I would leave Jokers without background at all, to highlight them. Good Luck!!!

Thanks SunDay811 for the input, I'm glad to hear from as many people as I can While I do like the smaller background, the larger background does feel more appealing to my eye so for this deck at least I'll probably keep it that way.  If all goes well I'd definitely like to do more decks and will likely have to utilize the white space a bit more down the road.  Oh, and I check to see what the Jokers would look like without the background and while cool, when I compared them to the rest of the deck they felt out of place.  Again though, its definitely something I'll have to consider for future decks

[Helshawk]

I have no problem with the background.  In fact, I think I like them the way they are now. Still, however, the KofS still seems out of kilter with the mirror image of the court cards.  All others seem to flow into the other half.  This one does not.  Here, I just did a slight mock up of how you might could lessen that obvious line of symmetry.  Remove the slight indention at the side of the figure.  So not let the folds of the green cloth bend so dramatically.  Use some type of devise to mask where the purple garment comes together.  Hope this image helps.

[DanFeldmeier]

Here are what I believe are going to be the final designs of the cards/layouts.

I have no problem with the background.  In fact, I think I like them the way they are now. Still, however, the KofS still seems out of kilter with the mirror image of the court cards.  All others seem to flow into the other half.  This one does not.  Here, I just did a slight mock up of how you might could lessen that obvious line of symmetry.  Remove the slight indention at the side of the figure.  So not let the folds of the green cloth bend so dramatically.  Use some type of devise to mask where the purple garment comes together.  Hope this image helps.

I like your suggestion.  I'll have to look into tweaking the artwork itself on possibly a few of the cards as there's little things I noticed with some of them that I hadn't before.

I have made the hearts/diamonds more red and actually made the clubs/spades a hint more blue to really separate the pips.

[Helshawk]

Yep, I can honestly say this is my favorite background design to date.  Keep those tweaks coming!

[DanFeldmeier]

First off I'd like to thank everyone for their feedback.  While I may have not implemented all suggestions I feel confident in saying I've reached a decision with my cards and am satisfied with their designs and their artwork.  Feel free to still give feedback if something seems off and I missed it.

Anyway, here's the court cards.









Here are the number cards.

[Helshawk]

Very cool.  Nice concept, great artwork, unique but identifiable pips. I'd add this to my collection.