Hello everyone!

[markallender]

Hello everyone! My name is Mark Allender and I am a designer living in the Akron-Cleveland Ohio area. I have been interested in playing card designs for a little over a year. I have one successful Kickstarter campaign under my belt that featured several preliminary designs. My style tends toward the artistic and has been described as "quirky" and "fun." I often break many so-called sacred rules of card design and then rigidly adhere to others. 

I do have one project live on Kickstarter called "INTERFERENCE" - http://kck.st/Xc9avX - going after a "post-industrial, post-apocalyptic wasteland" sort of feel here.

Thanks!

Mark Allender

[Don Boyer]

Well, we're glad to have you with us, Mark.  Please make yourself at home and if you have a question, ask!

How did the previous deck project go?  I know you got funded, but what happened after that?  Everything go smoothly or a bit rough at points, have any problems with or accolades for the printer, etc.?

[Fess]

Hey Mark, welcome to the forum. Looking forward to hearing your opinions on things and hope you choose to participate in the discussions.

[markallender]

My first card project was very much an exercise. I learned about Kickstarter, I got comments from card enthusiasts, I learned about materials. It was good. One of the things I learned about Kickstarter is that planning to break even is a bad idea! I was about $500 over budget - and for a single dad on a graphic designer's salary, that is nothing to sneeze at.

I used a printer out of India.  I am not completely pleased with their work.  One of the decks in that series was improperly aligned. I asked for a reprint, which they did, but they messed that up as well. Plus the actual cards themselves don't hold a candle to USPCC cards - zero glide for one. But as I say, it was a learning experience! Very glad I did i!