What does a custom card design need to be successful?

[RandCo]

There are some obvious qualities a card design should have like proper indices, legibility, and a professional level of illustration, but there are more aspects that I don't fully understand.  There are designs with beautiful illustration that fail to meet their Kickstarter goal, and decks with mediocre artwork that do succeed.  There is clearly more to a successful deck than just the quality of the illustration or even the design.

I would, and I'm sure other card designers would, be interested in what makes a successful custom deck of playing cards.  I would be interested in the opinions of serious collectors and designers who have had success on Kickstarter.

[DanFeldmeier]

This is a great point/inquiry! As someone currently working on a deck of cards this is certainly something I'd be interested in hearing more about.

[intlgrrl]

 Well, for me personally; a well thought out concept is always good. Recurring themes or original themes work for me, as long as they're well thought out, with nice clean artwork. Unique pips are always nice as well.

[Bucky]

As much as I hate to admit it... Mass appeal is a factor that shouldn't be overlooked. The art can be good, but if the theme isn't specifically appealing to me, and the creator isn't someone I've seen around before it's already an uphill battle at that point sometimes. Now if the art work is AMAZING then that's enough usually right there.

For me personally, the tuck case and card backs play a HUGE role in selling me on the deck. Sure the face cards matter, but the amount of time someone puts into creating all the custom faces compared to the time spent on the card back and the tuck is typically out of proportion to the amount of sway the tuck and backs have on me.

Artificial scarcity can be a compelling factor in the right circumstances.

Another factor that could cause an otherwise great deck of cards to only do mediocre on Kickstarter or fail is MARKETING. I know this one can be hard, but honestly building buzz before launch and prepping whatever fan base you have will lead to a better turn out at launch. Also, for ANY Kickstarter, the amount raised in the first 1-24 hours is a big indicator for those on the fence. This is true for Kickstarters or stores and restaurants. If the place is dead or has a dead opening then it doesn't attract as many new people. If the joint is hopping then it draws in other potential customers.

That's my off the cuff 2 cents. Probably not worth much! 

[Frosty]

Essentially I think everyone is different in what they like. I'm not an expert card collector, but my view is that there are people that like things that are appealing to the eye, others like good quality, others like a theme. I personally like decks that look fancy and ornate.


To add another question, does the company that prints the deck play a factor in the project getting funded? For example, is it generally more likely that if a deck will be printed by the USPCC rather than being printed by makeplayingcards.com? Does having a bicycle branded deck really make that much of a difference?

[Don Boyer]

There are countless factors in a deck's success.

Quality of the art.

Originality of the theme - or lack thereof!  An unoriginal theme can succeed if you do it better than the decks that preceded it.

POPULARITY of theme.

MARKETING, MARKETING, MARKETING - it can't be emphasized enough.

Quality of manufacture - it can make a difference, depending on the actual design.  Sometimes printing matters more than stock.  Sometimes packaging makes the difference.

"Bells and whistles" - bonus features like foil, metallic ink, embossing, custom deck seals, unique box design, etc.

In the end, there's too many factors to boil it down to a simple formula guaranteed to succeed.  But with a bit of research, you can, with the right elements, make a successful deck.  Many have - so can you.  Some have even made a successful business model out of it.  Just don't imagine for a moment that getting the design thought out or just making cool artwork alone is enough.  It's work from start to finish.

[EndersGame]

MARKETING, MARKETING, MARKETING - it can't be emphasized enough.

THIS.  You can have the best deck in the world, but if people don't get to find out about your campaign, it's not likely to do that great.

A lot of work needs to go into marketing a Kickstarter campaign for a deck of playing cards, by carefully placed previews and reviews, advertising, and clever use of social media. 

Once in a while someone might succeed without this, as something goes viral by word of mouth or social media without involvement from the designer/publisher.  But in most cases, it's a lot of sheer hard work and clever marketing moves by the person running a Kickstarter project, to get the word out, and help their project stand out from a crowded field.