Japanese Garden - New concept needs feedback

[publius]

I've got several ideas in the hopper currently, but this is one I've had a lot of fun with lately. I am planning on probably going with recolored ARRCO faces, and doing custom jokers, but here is what I have so far.

The red sunburst I would like to see about doing in a red metallic foil, like the Bicycle MetalLuxe cards feature. I think that would look really cool.

The green came out much brighter than originally intended - imagine it a little more muted (working on this)

The tuck will have more included, but the front is pretty much what I want. Extremely minimalist. The Japanese text says "Japanese Garden".

[Eddie Hughlett]

I really like what you have here. Perhaps a little color on the outside edges to pop when the cards are spread or fanned, but that's just me.  Best of luck on this project.

[publius]

Thanks for the feedback Eddie. When you say color on the edges, do you mean on the actual cut edges of the paper, or the border between where the dark brown meets the white paper? Thanks again.

[Eddie Hughlett]

Maybe a red splash in the fans at the corners. Or maybe the outer most line in red (Gold foil would look nice here-but that's another level). Maybe even some color in the dragon that would show up in a fan. The dragon would surely show up in a spread. Probably not all together as that may detract from the simplicity. Just a splash will do. Bicycle Tragic Royalty deck would be an close example of the idea I'm trying to explain.

I always enjoy a design or pattern that shows up in a fan that wasn't necessarily noticed when you look at each individual card and I think you have the potential to make that happen here.

[Don Boyer]

I like the basic concept, but it can be VERY difficult these days to get a deck like this to be successful without either marketing it as a magician's deck (in which case, a single, short print run is counter-intuitive to a magician's needs) or more customized faces.  Have you considered having an artist customize the Arrco courts with Japanese courts in traditional garb instead?  I've seen a number of people tweak the "standard" Bicycle/Bee/USPC faces, but not a lot has been done with Arrco beyond color changes.

Take a look a the Oriental Deck - it was a similar concept; Asian-themed back, minimal box, Arrco faces with new colors.  I say look at it because some collectors will compare your deck with it, so you will want to make yours more distinctly different from it in order to better stand out.

http://www.playingcardforum.com/index.php?topic=2841.10
https://www.cartesmagie.com/en/tcc/81-oriental-deck-0000000000081.html

[publius]

Wow - I've never heard of nor seen the Oriental deck. Some of the similarities are striking. I have to say, I like mine more; and of course I'm not biased ;p

Very good call though Don - I need to definitely consider this in my approach. i don't want to ever be considered a copycat of any kind. And I definitely want my deck to be successful. I will play around with the custom courts idea - you've got another great point there as well - and as usual.

Thanks for the insight.

[Don Boyer]

Wow - I've never heard of nor seen the Oriental deck. Some of the similarities are striking. I have to say, I like mine more; and of course I'm not biased ;p

Very good call though Don - I need to definitely consider this in my approach. i don't want to ever be considered a copycat of any kind. And I definitely want my deck to be successful. I will play around with the custom courts idea - you've got another great point there as well - and as usual.

Thanks for the insight.

The Arrco style with custom courts would look pretty impressive, I think - especially since no one's done it before that I'm aware of and it's certainly not a common sight.

[NineLives]

It is a striking back design! Definitely looking forward to seeing more of this deck

I agree with Eddie that the corner fans (on the back) would look great in red - as would the outer line, especially how it angles its way around each corner. Might make the eye jump, but worth trying and could look great

[publius]

Thanks for the replies! I'll work on some of these ideas.

[publius]

I tried the outer line in red with the funky corners, and it just didn't look right. Instead of "popping" it kind of got more lost. The corner fans in red didn't work either. It drew too much attention to the corners instead of the overall design. So I came up with this. The greens are much closer to what I had originally intended as well. Let me know what you guys think!

[Don Boyer]

I tried the outer line in red with the funky corners, and it just didn't look right. Instead of "popping" it kind of got more lost. The corner fans in red didn't work either. It drew too much attention to the corners instead of the overall design. So I came up with this. The greens are much closer to what I had originally intended as well. Let me know what you guys think!

Have you considered going lighter instead of darker for the corners?  Say, for example, white and pink (like cherry blossoms) on the fans?  Also, if you want to appeal to cardists, you can try making the upper right/lower left corners different from the other two corners, allowing for a unique look when fanning in the other direction.  Lots of cardistry decks employ this technique for making more interesting fanning possibilities.

A caveat on the current design: remember that your "canvas" is a mere 2.5 by 3.5 inches!  Too much detail and people won't even be able to see it, never mind appreciate it, especially when it comes to low-contrast linework like what you have in the background near the center.  Either increase the contrast just a touch on that or leave it out altogether, and make sample prints in the correct size to get a good idea as to scale and what will really show nicely or not show up at all.