Queens with new border

Alright, I couldn't sleep last night thinking about this whole border issue so I ended up working on it quite a bit and I'm very happy with this solution and think it covers most people's concerns. The new border is the same with every FACE and BACK and it is a softer Gold color with a few hints of Silver. This keeps the Black cards from changing and let's the Red cards change very limited. I think the little bit of Gold gives the Red cards a little more depth also.

MagicAddictz - I don't want to take the chance with a huge Kickstarter goal to print 2 completely different decks. So yes, as of right now they are the same face cards with 2 different Backs and 2 different Tuck Boxes. If the USPCC won't give me a good quote to run the job 1/2 and 1/2 between the 2 face cards then it will be JUST the Blue/Gold Back and Tuck Box.

I also got rid of the one-way back. The circle works just as nicely so that was fine with me!

thanks, Randy

A few face cards with the new Border.

Having 2 different back designs give you an opportunity to make 2 unique decks. Having the same front for both, to me, is a wasted opportunity to make them so much more appealing.

I think I hate the Blue/Silver look! For the backs I'm going back to what I originally posted - Blue/Gold and Red/Silver. I'll see what I can do with the Faces to be less problematic. When I first decided on the 2 different borders I figured most card players organize they're hands as soon as they look at them so it would minimize the "Rainbow" effect.

I would love to do the Red/Silver Back with Silver Border Faces and vice versa for the Blue/Gold Back but I know USPCC would ream me for a quote of 2 completely separate decks! The reason I'm trying to use the same Face Cards for both Backs is because I want to see if the USPCC would take a full print run and print half with each different back. With most print companies this would only incur a small extra cost, I'm not sure about USPCC yet.

I'm also working on some ORNATE Poker Chip designs and the plan is to start another Kickstarter campaign if/when the Playing Cards get fully funded. The second campaign would involve completely custom Poker Sets of 100, 300, 500, 750 or 1,000 (with the exception of the cases). The Chips would be Ceramic and the goal would be to include 1 Blue/Gold Deck and 1 Red/Silver Deck with each Poker Set.

thanks, Randy

Wow. We're getting serious now!

Alex and Good@Sabacc thanks for your comments. I will keep them in mind when I'm working on the deck.

My line of thinking is very similar to Kanped's post above. I thought about making the Black/Gold face cards Blue/Gold but I liked having the Black suits have a Black background. I knew I was taking a controversial chance with the borders but if it ends up being just an artist's deck in the end, I'm fine with that. I'm a little worried about the Gold and Silver bordered face cards together in one deck but I don't think they'll make the deck impractical for use. I doubt the different borders would be noticeable from the edge of the deck. I guess I'll find out with the first prototype deck. I definitely plan on at least 2 rounds of prototypes to get the colors and detail just right. Since they have to run each of the 56 cards for the prototype my plan is to change opacity levels for the background patterns and even detail levels in the borders. The prototype will look uneven but it will be the best shot of nailing down a good quality with the first or second prototype.

I'm not too worried about the deck name. I like Ornate because of it's bluntness. In my opinion it's no worse/better then names such as Arcane, Artifice, Infinity, Aristocrats, Sentinels….

I saw the USPCC printing press on that History Channel segment and unless that thing has a horrible newspaper-quality line screen of 75 lpi then the quality of printing should be fine. I noticed the Theory 11 Steampunk Back Card has some very small 4CProcess details. I ordered a couple decks to see how the quality stood up. If their detail came through then the USPCC presses shouldn't have any problem with the details on mine.

My first job out of college was at a print shop / prepress house and my job was to prep and troubleshoot files for print and then run the film separations. We never had to worry about high ink saturation and these jobs were being printed on a small-scale press that doesn't come close to the USPCC press. And this was back in the mid 90's! I don't see how playing card printing could be that much different than the rest of the print industry.

Just in case I will try to get the thickest paper I can. I did build the Ornate Black CMYK build at a pretty standard saturation at 30, 30, 30, 100 and that's only in the dark corners. The majority of the Black is only a 25, 25, 25, 90 build that should be fine with any printing press.

The thing I'm most worried about is the trimming of the cards. Watching the History Channel segment I was impressed with everything in their setup except for the trimming. I couldn't believe they were being punched out by an actual person! With today's technology they should have a large diecut that punches out all 56 cards on a press sheet at once. That would minimalize mis aligned cuts by a great deal. No wonder they have uneven border problems!

thanks,
Randy

Queen of Hearts

xmetal - I will definitely be pledging for some Tendril and Curator decks!

Looks amazing! But the red in the back design looks kinda orange to me.
Also, why is the front of the red box, a diamond instead of a spade? Its not a bad thing... I'm just wondering.

Yep. The gradient for the Red Back goes from a rich red to a yellow/orange in the center. I have on my notes of changes to add some more Magenta to the gradient to make it less orange, I just haven't squeezed it in yet.

I actually like it going from red to pink in the center (much like the Blue Back going from a rich blue to light Cyan) but I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to have a back card containg Pink in what seems to be a fairly male dominated world of Playing Cards.

As for the Diamond on the Red Tuck Box - Why not? I know the history of the Spade with the English taxes and Vietnam scare tactics but I figured the other suits needed their props as well. That's why all of the Aces have large center suits, not just the Ace of Spades.

thanks, Randy

I was planning on waiting a couple more weeks to introduce myself and my deck design, but after I saw Encarded's Tendril very nice preview I figured I better do it now so no one thought I later "borrowed" the inclusion of a border and background pattern on the face cards.


Hello everyone,

My name is Randy Butterfield. I'm a designer with Motive Marketing and I live in Indianapolis, IN with my wife Susan, our 4 year old daughter and 2 year old son. I have been working on my design for ORNATE Playing Cards for a couple months now. With work and the family I usually only get a couple hours to work on the cards late at night, hence the name Midnight Card Company.

I have lingered around on this great forum for a few months now and have a lot of respect for the regulars and their opinions. I will have a Kickstarter campaign up for the cards probably in February or March. I still have some court cards and the Jokers to finish plus I want to do an animation video / trailer.

I have been a fan of playing cards since I was a kid and have always loved great packaging design, so when I was introduced to Kickstarter and saw the Revision 1 Deck in mid-campaign I was hooked. That and the Americana Deck are two of my favorite custom decks I have seen. Both created by fellow Indianapolis residents even!

I have posted the Tuck Box (haven't touched the legal flap yet), the Back and a few of the Face Cards. The cards have kept me pretty busy so I haven't had much time to lockup any domain names or attempt to get any quotes from the USPCC or any other business-related necessities. I hope everyone likes the look of it!

thanks, Randy