Designing a Deck - Check it out.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Hey,

So I'm kinda new here. I've been browsing for a little while as I've been designing a deck. It's a lumberjack/woodsmen themed Bicycle deck that's done in line art. I'm going for a simple yet detailed illustrations. Anyway, I'd love to hear what you guys think. I'm also open to suggestions!

I comp'd up some cards and boxes:

Front of the tuck box in white:


Back of the tuck box:


Ace of Hearts and the backs of the cards:


King of Diamonds, Queen of Spades and Jack of Clubs:


And another option for the tuck box... all red:


The Bicycle logo I used is not the official logo, for placement purposes I used a mockup of their logo. To start things off, I'm not a fan of the swirls on the back of the tuck box. If someone has a better suggestion I'll be willing to try it!

Thanks,
Kleetz

[Evan]

I really like this! It's very well designed and has a clean look too it. I'd buy it!

Do you plan on making a kickstarter project for it? Using HOPC? Funding it yourself?

[10ofclubs]

I LOVE this. My only suggestion is to get the legitamite Bicycle logo. And I think I prefer the red box, but both look really nice.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

I really like this! It's very well designed and has a clean look too it. I'd buy it!

Do you plan on making a kickstarter project for it? Using HOPC? Funding it yourself?

Thanks guys!

@Evan: I'm leaning towards a kickstarter as I can't fund this myself, but there are still some kinks I'd really like to iron out before that. Like I said, I'm not crazy anymore about some of the elements on the back of the tuck box (e.g. the swirls) but it looks too empty without them and I'm currently not sure how to tackle that.

@10ofclubs: Bicycle won't send you their logo. I contacted them and the rep said they put the logo on themselves. :/

[Paul Carpenter]

Very different! And very nice work, it's great to see such an original theme! I think the red box works a lot better, and I'd agree that the swirls on the back jump out as being out-of-place. Perhaps ditch them and just increase the size of the back design art, filling the space a little more?

Cool stuff, and nice xacto skills on mocking up those cards with the rounded corners.

[Evan]

I think that the red box looks a lot better. It just stand out more.

Also, I think that the deck should have thinner borders. Thinner borders appeal to a lot of people, and fans, spreads, etc. look much nicer with thin borders!

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Evan, what do you mean by thinner borders?

[Evan]

Evan, what do you mean by thinner borders?

The white borders on the back of the cards should be thinner in my opinion.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Hmm, that could allow me to make the back illustration a little bigger. I'll try that, thanks!

[jmrock]

I'm getting wood just looking at this deck... 

[Don Boyer]

If you go too narrow on the borders, there will be a higher likelihood of registration errors and cards visibly cut off-center.  I love narrow borders, but USPC will place limits on how thin you can go.


I'd leave off the blue humor from the axe handles on the back of the cards.  USPC tries to keep their products at least somewhat family-friendly.


Paul's idea took the words right out of my mouth - make the card back image larger and you can get rid of the goofy swirls.  Alternately, you could make the swirls into vines or tree branches.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Thanks for all the comments guys!

I will enlarge the illustration on the back of the box. I have a feeling that will do the trick. I'll have to agree with @Don Boyer about the borders. USPCC guarantees that nothing will get cut off a 3/16" which is where the artwork begins now. I would love a narrower border but for registration sakes, I'll leave it where it is.

If USPCC says something about the words on the back, I'll remove it. If not, I plan on keeping it. It ties the joker in

I'll upload a new mock up of the back of the box today. Along with some other court cards!

[Don Boyer]

There is another border alternative, one I've been thinking about for a while.


You should drop me a line.  I do consulting work like this for beginning deck designers!

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Alrighty! I made the edits to the back of the tuck box. I think this really did it. Let me know what you think! Also uploaded a couple more court card previews and to give y'all a better idea as to what I was going for, all the Kings will be holding saws, all Queens holding wood (haha) and all Jacks holding axes.





Thanks!

[xela]

BRO

this is a sexy hawt deck +1 would bang

K BYE BRO

[LauR]

Very nice work indeed, how did you make the prototypes? If the logo is not legitimate I assume its not from the USPCC.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Very nice work indeed, how did you make the prototypes? If the logo is not legitimate I assume its not from the USPCC.

Thanks! The template is in fact from USPCC but you are correct about the logo, USPCC will not give you the logo. Once the design is done they add it in themselves... That's what their rep said.

[Emmanuel]

I like your deck a lot! Can't wait to see more of it

[Don Boyer]

Alrighty! I made the edits to the back of the tuck box. I think this really did it. Let me know what you think! Also uploaded a couple more court card previews and to give y'all a better idea as to what I was going for, all the Kings will be holding saws, all Queens holding wood (haha) and all Jacks holding axes.

Thanks!

The monochrome design of the court cards is interesting, not something you see a lot outside of the spot cards.  I might make the court images a bit bigger - traditional court characters take up a lot of real estate on a card, while yours look a little skinny!  Wait - I know what's missing!  It's the large pips usually placed next to the heads!  That why it seemed so empty.

Negative space can be very useful in design, but for courts, I like the "go big or go home" school of art! 

[Evan]

Sorry to keep pushing about the borders, but I just think this deck should have thinner borders. Yes, USPCC likes to keep borders at the standard size, but they have done very well with thin borders on other decks, such as, Tendril, Aurum, Ornate, Seronda, Rebels, and probably more that I can't think of.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

@Evan I'll see what I can do to make them a little thinner. I'll post some new mockup photos on Monday or so. Persistence maybe adding pips like Don suggested will give a narrower feel?

@Don Boyer I will add pips to them and see what that looks like as well. Some maybe tricky though (e.g. jack of hearts and jack of clubs with their axes taking up that space) I will tweak and make some options.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the constructive comments.

[Emmanuel]

@Don Boyer I will add pips to them and see what that looks like as well. Some maybe tricky though (e.g. jack of hearts and jack of clubs with their axes taking up that space) I will tweak and make some options.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the constructive comments.

Kleetz, I sent you a pm. Another possible solution is to turn the pips into axes.

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Got it, replied!

Thanks Emmanuel!

[Vadim Smolenskiy]

Alrighty! I made the edits to the back of the tuck box. I think this really did it. Let me know what you think! Also uploaded a couple more court card previews and to give y'all a better idea as to what I was going for, all the Kings will be holding saws, all Queens holding wood (haha) and all Jacks holding axes.

Thanks!

The monochrome design of the court cards is interesting, not something you see a lot outside of the spot cards.  I might make the court images a bit bigger - traditional court characters take up a lot of real estate on a card, while yours look a little skinny!  Wait - I know what's missing!  It's the large pips usually placed next to the heads!  That why it seemed so empty.

Negative space can be very useful in design, but for courts, I like the "go big or go home" school of art! 

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I've been doing some tweaking / additions and before I get any further, I wanted to share and see what people think. I've added larger pips to the court cards, here are a few examples (with and without) I didn't print and mock them up this go around, giving you guys pixel previews:

King of Spades - works well here I think:


Introducing the Queen of Hearts! Also think it works well here:


Jack of Spades. This one was tricky, I had to move the axe to the other side otherwise it would be too tight on the right. This will have to be done with a couple other jacks and the king of clubs.


Lastly, I've increased the size of the back by 3% to tighten up the borders:


Let me know what y'all think and if I should go with or without the larger pips.

@Emmanuel Having axes as pips won't work well. Here's why, all of the kings hold saw, queens wood and jacks axes. So I don't think it would make sense. It was a good idea though.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I'm still working other tweaks. I'll upload a few shots of the pip cards.

[10ofclubs]

I like the extra, larger pips more. They definitely get rid of some of the blank space.

And the slogan on the axe on the right of the back is missing a period.