Vända deck now available on kickstarter!

[davegk]

Now accepting backers for the Vända deck - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/goldklangdesign/vanda-playing-cards-redesigned

Please 'like' the facebook page  - http://www.facebook.com/pages/V%C3%A4nda-playing-cards/139114036231643

I'm planning to hold some drawings for cool prizes like signed art prints - all fans of the facebook page will be automatically entered in the drawings. Also, be sure to share the link on your own wall or the walls of friends to help spread the word and get enough backers to make this deck possible. I may hold separate drawings with better prizes specifically for people who have shared photos or links.

The Vända deck has just been featured on maxplayingcards.com in a blog post:
http://www.maxplayingcards.com/en/2012/09/10/the-minimalist-and-innovative-vanda-deck/

Again, here's the details of the deck:

the highlights:
- minimalistic, completely innovative deck design
- simple, sleek, bold, and sexy back design
- simple corner symbols (combined card value / suit pip)
- all cards are rotationally-symmetrical (a feature that’s completely unique to vända deck)
- unique new rotationally-symmetrical center pip symbols for hearts, spades, and clubs
- bold graphic ace designs
- unique diamond-shaped pip layout grid
- typographic court cards
- Bee casino-quality card stock (printed by US playing card company, maker of Bicycle and Bee brands)

magician features:
- three double-backed cards (red, gold, and purple back designs) for flashy color changes
- gimmick card (13 of diamonds)
- plenty of white space on all cards – perfect for signing chosen cards (and visible to an audience)
- smooth color change effect to/from adjoining number cards (2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 8-10)
- color change effect from ace of spades to back design
- ‘magic’ air-cushioned finish for easy handling and flourishing

Thanks!
-David

[davegk]

a few more photos...

[davegk]

and the poster design...

[xela]

I'll be pledging a bit closer to the end of the KS. I hope this gets funded, it's a gorgeous deck.

[davegk]

Thanks, Alex!

Well, it's about 24 hours in and we're at 24% ... 100% in 100 hours? here's hoping...

I've noticed that the Vända project is getting really good visibility in the product design category...it's ranking very high in positioning under 'popular projects'. 45% of the backers so far have reached the project page via other kickstarter pages (as opposed to direct links from external sites) which I take to be a very good sign. I'm wondering if any previous card decks have been selected as staff picks and if so, what was it about those projects that stood out enough to get picked?

-David

[Paul Carpenter]

My Tendril deck was both a "popular" and a staff pick. I think that rapid funding rates gets you the attention of KS and can increase your chance of being highlighted like that.

I ended up with 1,011 backers and about 700 of those were people getting just 1-2 decks after finding it via some KS page.

My deck was different, visually interesting and the project page had obvious thought put into it, so I'm sure all those things helped out a little.

[davegk]

My Tendril deck was both a "popular" and a staff pick. I think that rapid funding rates gets you the attention of KS and can increase your chance of being highlighted like that.

I ended up with 1,011 backers and about 700 of those were people getting just 1-2 decks after finding it via some KS page.

My deck was different, visually interesting and the project page had obvious thought put into it, so I'm sure all those things helped out a little.

At what point during your project did it become a staff pick? Was it immediately after launch or did it take a few days or longer?

[Paul Carpenter]

My Tendril deck was both a "popular" and a staff pick. I think that rapid funding rates gets you the attention of KS and can increase your chance of being highlighted like that.

I ended up with 1,011 backers and about 700 of those were people getting just 1-2 decks after finding it via some KS page.

My deck was different, visually interesting and the project page had obvious thought put into it, so I'm sure all those things helped out a little.

At what point during your project did it become a staff pick? Was it immediately after launch or did it take a few days or longer?

I think that was more than a week after launch.

[davegk]

My Tendril deck was both a "popular" and a staff pick. I think that rapid funding rates gets you the attention of KS and can increase your chance of being highlighted like that.

I ended up with 1,011 backers and about 700 of those were people getting just 1-2 decks after finding it via some KS page.

My deck was different, visually interesting and the project page had obvious thought put into it, so I'm sure all those things helped out a little.

At what point during your project did it become a staff pick? Was it immediately after launch or did it take a few days or longer?

I think that was more than a week after launch.

hehe, ok...there's still hope!

[Russell CircleCityCards]

None of mine have ever been a staff pick... 

[davegk]

Hey Russell,

This came up in another forum, but I was wondering how you are making much (any?) profit by offering so many decks at $5 each...

-David

[Russell CircleCityCards]

Everyone knows how much decks cost to make.  I don't make a dime on the $5 decks once you include shipping. That's why they are limited to 100 backers, as of now I have about 1,300 backers.  I use the $5 to get the deck off the ground and funded automatically, then I make a small profit on the rest of the backers.  Then after Kickstarter is over the price jumps again when it hits my web-store.

I'm not one of those designers which charge out the ass for a deck of cards and call them 'art'.  It goes against CCCC's whole philosophy.  No bullshit, just good cards.

Another reason we keep our prices down is so that everyone can afford them, they are just playing cards after all.  Also, we don't want to be sitting on a bunch of unsold stock because the price was too high.

(Edited for clarity.)

[davegk]

very interesting...I've been thinking a lot about different ideas for structuring of rewards now that I've launched the project and been watching the results for a couple days. I like the simplicity of your approach and will probably do something more similar to that on my next project.

also, I just added new poster designs to the project...thoughts?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/goldklangdesign/vanda-playing-cards-redesigned/posts/306147

-David

[Russell CircleCityCards]

I like the style of the deck/posters very much.  I always thought though that the white background of the cards need to go from a 0-10% black fade from the center to match your back design.


Something like this... Ignore the crappyness of it, I did it in 3 minutes.