REN - designed by David Goldklang

[davegk]

Hey all,

I wanted to officially introduce you to a project I've been working on since I launched the original Vanda decks...

This deck is called "Ren" – a Swedish word meaning 'pure' or 'clean'. Minimalism never looked this sexy!
The idea behind this deck is to emphasize the natural beauty of the pips themselves and it takes inspiration from some of the very early decks of cards and their simple elegance, but with a modern touch.

More details and images to come soon...

-David

[Don Boyer]

OK, the backs look interesting.  Simple, clean.  But the name?  When I hear "Ren," I think of Renaissance Faires, a.k.a. RenFaires, and the people who love them, work for them, attend them in costume - Rennies!

I still remember going to one near my home - there was a gathering place in the rear that appeared to be for the staff.  Someone hung a sign: "Please don't feed the Rennies."

So - how about the faces?

[davegk]

Here ya go, Don...

[PrincessTrouble]

When I hear "Ren," I think of Renaissance Faires, a.k.a. RenFaires, and the people who love them, work for them, attend them in costume - Rennies!

When I hear Ren, I think Stimpy.  LOL

[davegk]

uncut sheet mockups...

[Don Boyer]

When I hear Ren, I think Stimpy.  LOL

Hee hee hee...

Here ya go, Don...

So, you're planning to take playing card design back about 130-140 years by removing the indices?

If you were aiming for a more difficult-to-use deck, you hit the nail so hard on the head, it's six inches under the surface of the wood...and the second nail split the first one in half.

[davegk]

As you've pointed out, this design is a nod to some of the much older decks that were originally used to play Faro.

I did explore a number of minimalistic options for indices on this design, but ultimately decided to stick with the beauty of simplicity and really showcase the pips themselves. I've attached one example of indices that I experimented with and I'm still considering the possibility of an edition of Ren that uses indices and 4 colors...

Different decks have different strengths and weaknesses. Ren is great for cardistry and magic, and appeals to collectors and designers (and design enthusiasts). There are many decks out there (almost all of them) that do have indices, but as a designer I'm always looking at ways I can push the boundaries of what everyone else is doing while still creating work that I consider to be beautiful. The result is that every deck of Vanda cards is unique and really stands out from the crowd. I'm aware that the playability factor on this deck is low and I admit that I'm unlikely to use the Ren decks to play card games (we usually grab a deck of Mustache cards for that purpose), but I'm really excited to add these to my collection, and particularly looking forward to putting up an uncut sheet (which will look damn sexy, if I say so myself). 

-David

[Don Boyer]

Not every deck needs to be perfectly functional - some are just for artistic reasons, or as a design exercise.  But the more popular decks do tend to be the ones that people can actually play with and use.  Yours are more of a design exercise without any indices or any art beyond the pips (as opposed to something like The Black Rock Collective deck or the Stranger & Stranger Ultimate Deck).