Partisan Playing Cards

[JackofDiamonds]

Hello there. I'm back, and better than ever.

I'm working on a new deck called "Partisan", which will be based around Moral Foundations Theory, a theory that attempts to make sense of the variety of moralizing we see within and between societies. Each suit will depict aspects of morality that can be valued more or less, but everyone can relate to.

I'd love to get any feedback you can provide.

[Don Boyer]

Well, so far, you're asking for feedback not on a deck but on three cards, seen from a raking angle that distorts the view.  They look interesting enough, I suppose, though the monochrome design is a little flat.  Perhaps if you included more (less-distorted) images and explained a layman's version of Moral Foundations Theory it would help us understand what you're trying to achieve here.

[Don Boyer]

Well, so far, you're asking for feedback not on a deck but on three cards, seen from a raking angle that distorts the view.  They look interesting enough, I suppose, though the monochrome design is a little flat and low on details.  Perhaps if you included more (less-distorted) images and explained a layman's version of Moral Foundations Theory it would help us understand what you're trying to achieve here.

[JackofDiamonds]

Well, so far, you're asking for feedback not on a deck but on three cards, seen from a raking angle that distorts the view.  They look interesting enough, I suppose, though the monochrome design is a little flat.  Perhaps if you included more (less-distorted) images and explained a layman's version of Moral Foundations Theory it would help us understand what you're trying to achieve here.

Moral Foundations is a social psychological theory that proposes a basis for moralization in the form of discrete, innate moral senses. The theory puts forward that Care, Fairness, Liberty, Loyalty, Authority, and Sanctity are moral foundations upon which cultures and individuals base their morality. Different cultures and individuals value these foundations to varying degrees, resulting in a variety of perspectives on what constitutes the "right" way to live life, and an explanation as to why people who live "wrong" seem to get along in life well enough. Politically, liberals have a strong favoring of care, fairness, and a hint of liberty, while libertarians strongly prefer liberty and fairness at the expense of other foundations. Conservatives favor all more or less equally.

I've set up these cards so that spades represent the trio of conservative foundations, loyalty, authority, and sanctity. The remaining suits are hearts - care, diamonds - fairness, and clubs - liberty. The interpretation of the cards can be left up to the player, but each card does represent an aspect of the moral foundations. With regard to the three hearts I have completed, the king represents friendship (clasped hands) and murderous hatred (no explanation needed, really), the queen represents love (right hand) and loss (left hand, wilting rose), and the jack represents care (plague doctor) and suffering (... plague doctor).

[Don Boyer]

The concepts of Moral Foundations don't come through very clearly, but it's hard to say considering I've only seen a few of the cards so far.  Of what little I have seen, I'd say you have some nice artwork that could find an audience, but I think your monochrome presentation is doing it a bit of a disservice.

Perhaps you want to do something different than what other people are offering and that's fine, but presenting nice art like this as just line work makes the cards far less interesting.  Some designs are better with a monochrome look but I don't think this is one of them.  At the least consider something similar to what you find on traditional cards - a limited color palette, usually three or four colors done as solids.

I feel that more color would make the court cards really eye-catching and help sell the design as a whole, even if your audience doesn't get the Moral Foundations concepts you're trying to get across.  It's extremely difficult to convey abstract concepts like sanctity, fairness, etc. within the confines of a court card's two-headed portrait.  I'm not saying don't try - by all means, strive on - but don't be too disappointed if people don't get it without a legend card to provide an explanation.  You could perhaps try (and for all I know, you already are trying) to present different cultural garb and appearance for each suit as a way of helping to convey different cultures and their varying values.  In the end, if you make something that's beautiful and well-executed, people will tend to flock to it in larger numbers.