Build your own deck

[variantventures]

Print on Demand has it's pluses and minuses.  On the down side they tend to be of inferior quality and more expensive on a per-deck basis.  On the up side you can do projects that just aren't economically viable in larger print runs and the ability to customize can be powerful.

Playing cards reach Southern Europe sometime around the middle of the 14th Century.  By the last quarter of the 14th Century they've reached Northern Europe, specifically Germany, and the Germans go nuts for playing cards.  The printing industries there used no less than thirteen different suits, some of them intended for export to other countries.  This includes: coins, cups, swords, hearts, acorns, leaves, bells, shields, crowns, flowers (several types), birds/hawks, dogs.

I put together a basic deck with a King, a Queen (which the Germans didn't use), an Over/Knight, and Under/Jack/Knave, and 10 through 1.  The German/Swiss decks tend to use a banner/10 and drop the 1.  They also pioneered the use of printed card backs (which was very hard to do with the technology of the time).

The beauty here is that because of Print on Demand I can allow customers to build their own deck.  They can choose the composition of their court.  They can pick four suits from the 8 I currently have.  They can pick a solid card back color or one of two designs.  The cost is still higher per unit, but the ability to have some say in the design of the deck will hopefully compensate for that.

I'll let you know how it works out for me.

[Shebhnt]

What is the printer you are using?

[Don Boyer]

It sounds like you started in the middle of a sales pitch and never doubled back to the beginning.

What, exactly, is it that you're talking about? 

[variantventures]

Oops.  I'm not pitching anything.  I was just discussing the flexibility that print on demand offers to designers rather than going with traditional batch printing.

In my case it allows for a lot of creative back and forth with customers.  The people I sell to can order a custom built deck from the available components and they end up with a product they're happier with rather than a 'one-size-fits-most' deck.  It also gives me, as a designer, some flexibility because I don't have to choose between doing a court with King-Queen-Jack or King-Knight-Knave, I can do all four courts and let customers choose which they prefer.

The downsides are, most obviously, the increased per-unit cost and the lower general quality of print-on-demand cards; no metallic inks, lighter card weight, lower quality finish, and etc...

[variantventures]

What is the printer you are using?

It varies.  Right now I am checking the price from both Printer's Studio and MakePlayingCards and going with whoever is the least expensive.  In that regard, Printer's Studio is tending to be the winner.  In addition to having lower costs in general they also charge less for shipping, despite being located in Hong Kong.  I think MakePlayingCards has a poor shipping cost calculator.  Three mini-size decks should not be twice as expensive to ship as one mini-sized deck.  That leads me to believe they have a per-unit shipping cost rather than a calculator that uses weight and size.

[variantventures]

Updating my answer to this question:  I'm working almost exclusively with Printer's Studio right now.  My customers are interested in the cards for their utility value.  They are going to pull them out and play games with them and use them (and use them up) under some pretty rotten conditions.  So low cost is currently winning.

I have found no difference in actual card quality between Make Playing Cards and Printer's Studio.  MPC comes out way ahead on options for packaging but since my customers aren't really interested in that, it's not a plus for me at this time.  I look forward, in the future, to having nice tuck boxes, seals, and so on, but not yet.

Printer's Studio is also offering the option of selling my cards through their website (ala Cafe Press or Zazzle).  It's not my preferred option right now, but as they improve the capabilities of the site it's starting to become an acceptable option.  Currently I have to fulfill orders by processing payments and placing the order with the printer.  Once Printer's Studio gets their site a little better organized I won't have to do that.  I'll be able to upload my designs and Printer's Studio will take care of payment processing, printing, and fulfillment.

The build your own deck option has been extremely popular with my customers.  It has also allowed me to take advantage of metrics.  I can see which designs are selling and modify the ones that aren't to try to make them more popular.  I've also been able to phase in new designs by bundling new suits with popular older suits and I've been able to offer custom decks where the customer wants a special suit rather than one of the standard suits I offer.

All in all, this has been an extremely good experience for me and I'm looking at expanding it by making two different decks with multiple suits for customers to select from.

Here's the current image showing the suits, and the card backs, we offer.  A version showing photographs of the finished cards is in the works.

[Frost]

That reminds me i saw a post here that said that USPCC offered a full custom deck with finish for $400 is it true.

[Don Boyer]

That reminds me i saw a post here that said that USPCC offered a full custom deck with finish for $400 is it true.

If you're referring to a SINGLE deck, USPC makes demo decks for I think $500 and they aren't finished - they're not even printed like regular playing cards on an offset press, but instead are printed on an industrial-sized computer printer.  Almost every other company I know of in the card business does it for less.