Well I did say I encourage frank commentary. Everyone has a passion, I am just now learning the qualities of this genre that bring that passion to the forefront.
In terms of moving the project from Bridged sized to Poker (or American Poker, seems to be two poker standards) is sadly moot as it is already launched and advertised as such. So the best I can do for this project, is to clean up the indices, and hunt up another quote or two to see if the other companies fall into my budget.
I have, however, been incorporating small things via the feedback such as the comments on the jokers needing to be red and black. I overlooked that detail and have now fixed it. Thank you.
I had originally planned not to do another card deck. I thought I would do just this one, something for my friends to play with and to get my art out into the world.
But with all this feedback and encouragement not to mention the fuss between Bridge and Poker sizes, it has got me thinking of another deck idea with a cleaner design as well as Poker sized.
The goal is not to make a living design cards, as I doubt I can truly do that. But I feel I need to do it one more time, to do it right, to prove to myself that I can.
So while this project is underway I'll take a few days, work up a prototype. I will post them in another thread and then we'll see where the passions lie.
Jeff
Jokers being different colors is optional, depending on the audience you want for your deck. Players might use the two differently colored jokers as trump cards, as I learned when I was taught a popular Spades variant. Magicians would use two identical jokers to perform certain simple magic effects. In the end, you make the choice you're happy with - there's no shortage of decks to appeal to those and many other varieties of playing card users.
Most modern playing cards come in just two sizes, though there are some others which are generally used as novelties or special printings. For International Standard playing cards, it's also no longer "industry standard" to refer to them as "poker" and "bridge" sizes - they're called "Standard" and "Narrow". It is still common for players to use the old terms, though.
Standard - 2.5" wide, 3.5" tall, formerly called "Poker"
Narrow - 2.25" wide, 3.5" tall, formerly called "Bridge"
In metric sizes:
Standard - 63.5mm wide, 88mm tall (a B8 size, using ISO 216 standards)
Narrow - 56mm wide, 88mm tall
It's possible that you thought the metric measure, not being the exact same as the "English" one, was a different size category. Other, less common sizes would be patience or miniature/mini (1.75" wide, 2.375" high) which are used most as children's gifts or a deck for playing solitaire in a confined space, "travel" (1.25" wide, 3" tall) and "jumbo" (size varies, approximately four times the size of a standard card). Honestly, I have yet to see the "travel" size deck anywhere, but I've heard of it and similar. There's also tarot cartomancy decks, but these also vary in size to some degree, depending to some extent on which printer you choose - they're generally about as wide as standard but taller and printed on a less-expensive, lower-quality pasteboard as they aren't required to "perform" under rigorous playing conditions like a standard deck would on a typical game night.
There's a certain irony that in professional poker games, "poker-sized" cards are rarely used these days. Narrow decks, originally made for the game bridge because you had to hold up to thirteen cards in your hand at once, became more popular for poker as it was easier to conceal the smaller cards with your hands when peeking at your cards on the table. They also use plastic decks exclusively at the pro level for greater durability and the fact that they're more difficult to deface or deform using common methods for marking a paper deck on the fly while playing (in short, they're more "cheat-resistant"). Initially, poker players resisted the use of plastic because of the higher cost, but as costs have fallen and card quality have risen, most players realized that a pack of plastic cards would outlive several paper decks and was more cost-effective in the long run.
But I digress - I have a tendency to go on tangents!
Please, bring us your next design. We'd be happy to chime in on it for you!