Hi, there!
We are two freelance graphic designers living in USA and Austria with a love for playing cards, the whole history, philosophy, and art behind this cultural phenomenon. We are counting decades of experience in our trade, including numerous exhibitions, art and photography appearances in various publications.
Being also avid collectors, we've decided to create our first deck to represent our work to the public in a somewhat original manner.
This is the first step of our humble artistic contribution to the playing card enthusiast of the world.
THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS PLAYING CARDS
This deck of playing cards is about "The 4 Temperaments", a theory inspired by the medieval belief that human beings are made up of four different humors that determine a person?s temperament.
The system of the four temperaments, or humors ? melancholic, choleric, sanguine, and phlegmatic ? has been used to analyze personality and health for over two thousand years, since the philosophical insights of Aristotle and the healing arts of Hippocrates. It has been the basis of Western medicine and character portraits ever since.
The four temperament theory is a proto-psychological theory which suggests that there are four fundamental personality types associated with one of the four classical elements (earth, air, water, and fire):
Sanguine (optimistic, social, and associated with the element of air),
Melancholic (analytical, quiet, earth),
Choleric (short-tempered, irritable, fire),
and Phlegmatic (relaxed, peaceful, water).
SANGUINEUS LTD. EDITION
This is a unique 100 percent hand-drawn full custom courts design influenced by medieval art and adapted to a modern style, the result of countless hours of historical research, sketching and completing the digital version.
The cards are borderless, with a vintage art feel, and represent the first limited printing batch of only 900 of our "Sanguineus Limited Edition" deck.
This is the 1st of our limited editions of four decks representing the idea behind the four classical temperaments.
The tuck box will be printed with hot foil embossing, and the card backs with metallic ink.
We have chosen Legends Playing Card Company to produce the deck on their classic finish card stock for more durability.
The artwork has been approved, and the printing will start as soon as the project is funded.
If this campaign will be successful, the 3 other limited editions will follow : the "Melancholic" deck, the "Choleric" deck and the "Phlegmatic" deck, each one with different tuck boxes and card backs colors, as well as different power aces for each edition.