Quote from: Don Boyer on July 18, 2014, 01:30:12 AM

Ow.  I think the prescription for my glasses just changed because I looked at this design...

It is actually irritating my eyes just looking at it.  If I was this deck's creator, I'd be concerned about product liability lawsuits!

I've seen bad designs - REALLY, REALLY bad designs - but none so bad as to actually cause physical pain until I saw this.

You must've purged this from your memory. 

Hi everyone,

I’m Randy Coffey the designer of this deck. I am new to custom playing card design. Allan Rousselle was good enough to send me an email and let me know about this forum.

Thanks for your comments, negative comments are usually more informative than positive ones.

My approach on this deck design was to create a graphic design oriented deck that has a minimalist layout with a lot of linear detail. I was inspired by graphic design styled decks like the Metropol NOX, Atelier, Vanda, CMYK, and Helveticards.

It looks like I missed the mark on this one, it certainly looks like my Kickstarter project is not going to succeed. I think the art on this deck is probably too abstract to appeal to the average custom card collector. In fact, most people prefer representational art over abstract art. Oh well, live and learn.

I am not giving up though, I am working on other custom deck designs that are more colorful and have custom illustrations for all of the face cards. After discovering custom playing cards a few months ago, I think it is a great way to create a functional work of art that anyone can afford.

I have researched playing card history and viewed as many custom deck designs as I can find. I have payed special attention to the decks created by the best card designers like Theory 11, Ellusionist, Elite, Dan & Dave, and Cardicians. My goal is to create contemporary card designs, with the detail that the best traditional ornamental decks have.

I am approaching custom card design from the point of view of a designer and illustrator. I would appreciate any advice from collectors and cardists on what you look for in a good custom card design. What do you like or dislike about custom playing card designs?

Thank you for your advice Don.

I looked at your comments on several of the Design & Development posts. I wish I had seen this site's Design & Development section before I started my Kickstarter project, I would have learned a lot from your advice and the others who contribute.

As far as the 'hurting the eyes' aspect, the printed cards don't do this. The cards when viewed on the computer screen certainly do mess with the eyes. The flickering of the monitor (about 60 to 75 times a second on most monitors) is over-exagerating the optical effect. I should have considered this, but I am so used to looking at a computer screen all day as a designer that I didn't occur to me.