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Papilio - Deck of Playing Cards

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Papilio - Deck of Playing Cards
« on: June 22, 2016, 07:50:31 PM »
 

thekiroo

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Hi guys, yesterday we launched our first ever Kickstarter campaign.
This deck will be printed by the USPCC and beeing students, it's very difficult to promote such a project.
It is fully custom, but based on the standard design, so that it will look familiar to most (players or audience if you do magic)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/609762306/papilio-deck-of-playing-cards?ref=category_newest

Please guys take a look!! You won't regret it
 

Re: Papilio - Deck of Playing Cards
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2016, 04:46:46 PM »
 

Don Boyer

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OK, I've taken a look.  I have some comments and constructive criticism.

I applaud your low price per deck of only $10, especially when you're making a 1,000-deck run at USPC.  Their per-deck cost must be punishingly high on such a small run - are you sure you'll be covering all your expenses and making an adequate profit?  Are you using an American fulfillment service to handle American orders?  It would reduce the number of decks that need to be send to you in Switzerland, thus reducing your Customs costs, while at the same time reducing the shipping costs to American buyers as well as the eliminating the requirement on your end to fill out Customs forms for every single American order.

I'm seeing some inconsistencies in the theme.  It's a butterfly-themed deck - but most of the wings on the card back are feathered bird wings, even with what looks like a few loose feathers.  Why?

I see more of the butterfly theme in the courts - but why then do you show only three of them?  Ditch the photo of the poker cheat with the Ace up his sleeve and get clear images of all the court cards.

Its clear from your rewards that you've never offered playing cards to collectors before and you aren't a collector yourself.  I say this because you're not offering cards in "bricks" (industry-standard boxes that hold a dozen cards), you're not offering ways to add on individual decks for people wanting quantities you aren't offering and you aren't offering uncut sheets - you're not even showing a photo of the uncut sheets.  While the sheets themselves are usually offered only in small quantities because demand is limited and rarity is valued, the image of the sheet is often a good way to show off the entire deck all at once and functions as a sort of ad-within-an-ad for your deck.

The overall design is a difficult sell - it's a basic design with ideas that have been used over and over before.  Unframed courts are nice, but you didn't take advantage of the lack of a frame - most artists will make the court art larger with the extra space, whereas you just have more white space.  You've advertised gaff cards in an effort to appeal to magicians - but your deck is such a short run, thus so extremely rare, magicians would be very unlikely to use them in front of an audience.  You don't even show what the gaff cards are, forcing people to guess!  Magicians, however, would actually have been a decent audience to target with a deck that's as minimally customized as this one is; when dealing with general audiences, magicians don't usually go for heavily-custom designs, preferring to show off a deck that's more like the ones their audience members have at home.  That doesn't mean there isn't room for customization, but it's easier to perform with a familiar, recognizable design.

Collectors tend to go for more bells and whistles in the design - full-custom everything, tuck boxes with embossing, debossing, foil, custom seals, etc.  The only thing you're offering the bells-and-whistles crowd is metallic ink on the cards, something that was exciting maybe five or ten years ago but today doesn't raise as much attention.  The box is so plain and unadorned, it's not going to attract many collectors - and you don't even show all the sides of the box.  Did you know that there are playing card collectors that collect almost exclusively based on the tuck box design, because they never actually open the box and look at the cards inside?  A box like yours wouldn't grab their attention in great numbers.

I wish you luck with the project.  In the event it doesn't succeed, consider a serious retooling of the design, taking some of this advice into consideration.
Card Illusionist, NYC Area
Playing Card Design & Development Consultant
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Services for Hire - http://thedecktailor.com/
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Re: Papilio - Deck of Playing Cards
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2016, 06:08:51 PM »
 

PrincessTrouble

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FYI, he posted this pic over at the UC.

 

Re: Papilio - Deck of Playing Cards
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2016, 07:08:20 PM »
 

thekiroo

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Thanks for the constructive comment, it was really interesting to read, and I'm happy that you took all that time to write all this to me.
I'll try to answer to every point :)

Artwork:
When I started drawing I decided not to do the predictable thing: I decided to draw a butterfly using the wings of an eagle and a dragon to represent power and elegance.

I will take your advice and show the courts instead of other photos that only take space  :)
Unfortunately I don't have the uncut sheets because I didn't send them to print, I've got only a prototipe deck that I used for the campaign.

You are totally right regarding the collector thing (you sure are an expert :) ): I'm not a collector and I don't have any idea of what people look for when they buy to fill their own collection of decks. The "odd" rewards packages are due exlusively to efficiency: by considering the shipping prices here in Switzerland, the best options were those ones.
The traditional 12 decks  brick would have caused a disadvantageous  shipping-cost per deck.

The deck is in fact designed for gameplay and magic. That's way I didn't want (for example) to change the faces of the court cards, or the font of the numbers and letters, like you said it's better to perform with something that the audience can immediately recognize.

I actually wrote that the two gaff cards are a double backer and a blank card (I'm sure you missed that).

And finally, about the american fullfillment service, I wanted to wait until I could determine actually how many of the backers were from the US before contacting one. I know that kickstarter is mainly used in the US but I will also have some customers from Italy (in a week or so a famous italian streetmagician will show my deck in his social platforms) and some shops in Switzerland and Italy that will probably pledge also.

Ok, I think I covered it all
Thanks again for taking the time

I know I will struggle in the promotion of the deck being unknown to the community, but "There's always hope"
 

Re: Papilio - Deck of Playing Cards
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2016, 04:56:54 AM »
 

thekiroo

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LAST THREE DAYS
Hi guys, we've now reached 95% of our goal but we only have 3 days to go.
Please check out the page, every pledge will count!!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/609762306/papilio-deck-of-playing-cards