Deck ''Dark Kingdom"

[Evgenya]

Hello! My name is Evgenya and I am novice developer playing cards. I would like to show you some finished work from my new deck, so that you would appreciate them. Waiting for your feedback

[flexdeck_mike]

I like the floral border. The black backdrop dominates the visual for me.

Looking at the 10 of diamonds and a little confused why you use 2 suit index pips in the corners for that card but only 1 suit index pip for the aces.

Best,

[Eddie Hughlett]

I agree with Mike. The double pips seems too inconsistent for me. Either double pips all the way or single; I prefer single. I also feel there is competition for the indices with the border design. I would lose the top half of the circle of border design around the indices and enlarge them to fill the area.

[Evgenya]

Hello, here are the first prototype files, now the cards look like this

[Evgenya]

I settled on double pips

[Don Boyer]

I settled on double pips

For the indices, double pips are redundant.  You want to have as little out in the index as possible, because every square centimeter that's used by the index is space where you can't fit your art or have adequate negative space.

The reason most indices have pips below the ranks is that when you hold cards in your hand, squeezing them together to just show the indices, you can get them closer together if they are stacked one on top of the other, rather than side by side.  The more you have to spread your cards out when holding them in your hand, the greater the chance that someone you're playing against might spot what you're holding, even if by accident.  Ranks are usually placed above suit pips because in most games, the rank is more important most of the time - for example, in poker hands, only the flush and the straight flush are in the least concerned with the suits of the cards you're holding, while all the other hands are only concerned with rank - and the straight flush requires both the suit AND the rank, meaning only one hand completely disregards rank.

Consider this when looking at your design.  Remember that, like any rule of design, you can occasionally break them - but it's best to know why, and to have a really good reason rather than to do so by accident.  Otherwise, your work might end up appearing amateurish.

Also consider something else - contrast.  You have a very, very dark background - granted, your images are black and white right now, and I'm guessing at some point they will be in color.  When that time comes, you'll need to make your artwork very, very bright to adequately stand out from such a dark background - if there's inadequate differentiation between the colors, your art will get lost in that black background and look muddy and indistinct.  I've seen some potentially great designs completely ruined by a poor choice of colors.

[Evgenya]

Hello, this deck will be black and white. At the expense of pips, I'll think about it, maybe I'll make single ones.

[Evgenya]

I settled on double pips

For the indices, double pips are redundant.  You want to have as little out in the index as possible, because every square centimeter that's used by the index is space where you can't fit your art or have adequate negative space.

The reason most indices have pips below the ranks is that when you hold cards in your hand, squeezing them together to just show the indices, you can get them closer together if they are stacked one on top of the other, rather than side by side.  The more you have to spread your cards out when holding them in your hand, the greater the chance that someone you're playing against might spot what you're holding, even if by accident.  Ranks are usually placed above suit pips because in most games, the rank is more important most of the time - for example, in poker hands, only the flush and the straight flush are in the least concerned with the suits of the cards you're holding, while all the other hands are only concerned with rank - and the straight flush requires both the suit AND the rank, meaning only one hand completely disregards rank.

Consider this when looking at your design.  Remember that, like any rule of design, you can occasionally break them - but it's best to know why, and to have a really good reason rather than to do so by accident.  Otherwise, your work might end up appearing amateurish.

Also consider something else - contrast.  You have a very, very dark background - granted, your images are black and white right now, and I'm guessing at some point they will be in color.  When that time comes, you'll need to make your artwork very, very bright to adequately stand out from such a dark background - if there's inadequate differentiation between the colors, your art will get lost in that black background and look muddy and indistinct.  I've seen some potentially great designs completely ruined by a poor choice of colors.

Thanks for the advice, I’ll carefully consider the pips, if I use the single version, I’ll have to put the frames in the center, and the distance will increase. With double pips, on the contrary, the distance comes out more compressed, since the rank is on the side.Regarding color, the deck will definitely be black and white, but you say that black dominates. I reviewed a lot of decks with a black background, many have even more blacks than mine, does it really interfere so much with perception? If you add some more images to the background, then there will be an overload, since the pictures themselves are already so full of details. You have confused me.

[flexdeck_mike]

The queen and ace's take up more of the space from the black and I think are very nice. To me, the pip cards are busy with the individual picture frames for each. Perhaps you could batch the pips in a frame within the border frame so the black background is still there but a bit more white space in the middle?
Best,

[Don Boyer]

Thanks for the advice, I’ll carefully consider the pips, if I use the single version, I’ll have to put the frames in the center, and the distance will increase. With double pips, on the contrary, the distance comes out more compressed, since the rank is on the side.Regarding color, the deck will definitely be black and white, but you say that black dominates. I reviewed a lot of decks with a black background, many have even more blacks than mine, does it really interfere so much with perception? If you add some more images to the background, then there will be an overload, since the pictures themselves are already so full of details. You have confused me.

It has to do more with the level of detail you're attempting to show.  Your design is dominated by that huge background field of black.  Your details are very, very fine.  It can be easy for those fine details to become lost visually in all that black.  Most black decks I've seen keep the level of details to a minimum - trying to show too much in too small a space results in details being lost due to the limitations of having such dramatic contrast in such a small area.

When printing such fine details, remember that your "canvas" is merely 2.5 inches wide and 3.5 inches long (63.5 mm by 88.9 mm).  If you attempt to squeeze in too much detail, even if the printer is able to handle the work, the eye might not be able to take it all in and appreciate it in such a small space.  I know artists like to work on large canvases or medium-to-large video screens, but try shrinking down your work now and then to see what it looks like when it's the size of an actual playing card.

In simpler words, intricate can be nice, but try not to go too baroque when dealing with such a tiny work of art.  The end result may be disappointing.