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Playing Card Chat ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ => Playing Card Plethora => Topic started by: Marci B on July 18, 2013, 09:23:15 AM
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Hi! I wanted to let you all know that I finally got my Kickstarter project put together and launched it yesterday.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mbrinker/gods-of-mythology-bicycle-playing-cards
It took me quite a while to get it ready, because I did a lot of research and wanted to make sure I was really prepared for what I was getting into! I also wanted to have all of the artwork completed so that if I'm successful in getting funding, I'll be able to submit the art for printing ASAP. I went ahead and had USPCC review it and approve it for Bicycle branding so that I wouldn't run into any trouble later.
I wanted to say that I really appreciate the wealth of information you provide on this forum, and the encouragement you've given me in getting this deck out there. It's not only my first deck design (although I have years and years of design experience in general), it's also my Kickstarter project. I hope you'll check it out, and if you like it, become a backer. Thanks again!
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I'm on board as an early bird pledge, thanks for launching the deck. Of course this means I'll have to bone up on mythology... who is Odon again? :P
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I'm SO glad to finally see this deck available!!
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haha! Thank you Alex and Don. I really appreciate the support, and also the advice you both gave me before I took this on. So far, so good!
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This is well thought through and designed. Although its not my taste for playing cards, This is one of the best bicycle theme decks I've seen on kickstarter. Great Job. I wish you all the best.
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Great deck! I like how you incorporated the "eye of providence" on the back. Most people don't realize that the symbol is older than "the iluminati" and all that mumbo jumbo and that it fits right into Egyptian mythology and the Eye of Horus.
I passed the link along to a grip of Mythology Groups on Facebook - hope this deck gets made
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Thank you, Magic_Orthodoxy - I'm glad you like that. My original card back was just ornate and didn't have the eye, but when I decided to move forward with trying to get it printed, it seemed like I needed something that tied in with all of the symbols a little better so I revisited the design. It ended up working out really well, and became the icon for the whole deck, really. Thanks for spreading the word about it too!
And thank you, Legacy - even if it's not to your taste (and art is so subjective anyway), I like that you appreciate the thought and design of it.
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I've been getting some suggestions to narrow the borders on the card backs, and I don't have a problem with that at all. I know that a lot of people have a strong preference for narrow borders. There have also been suggestions to change the color a bit on the card backs and, in some corners, there's been criticism that the back is too busy. I've been playing around with it and I think I have something better. I wanted to see what some of you think. I can't please everyone, but I do want it to be the best it can be.
And for those of you who have made changes to your designs during your Kickstarter project, how did you approach it with your backers? I thought I would post an update with an image of the new design and explain why I changed it and why I think it's better. I would also change out the images in the main page, but it seems like making sure to call it out in an update is the best way to make sure everyone who has already backed the project is aware of it.
Here's what I'm thinking for the new back. I narrowed the borders, incorporated more of the blue I used in the cards and toned down the background elements, and I changed out the border elements completely and used some of the scrolls I also use in the ace cards. I think it ties in better with the rest of the deck and has fewer elements pulling for your attention now. What do you guys think? (please be gentle :) )
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Thin borders are always good, but your previous back design I felt appealed more to people who might be into cultic and astrological and maybe even spiritualist designs. And now the back design looks like a plain ol deck of cards.
I have no eye for design, but I liked the previous back design. What if you just made the entire image larger (making smaller borders) and then replaced the black background color for the blue you are using in this second model? Just my two cents.
It's your vision - its your deck - only make changes if YOU like it
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Thanks, Magic_Orthodoxy - your input helps. That's my other option for sure - to not make any major changes other than the narrow borders. And really, it's probably the safest option because anyone who has already backed the project liked the original back well enough. Anyone who doesn't like it, well, that's OK - they don't have to be backers!
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Thanks, Magic_Orthodoxy - your input helps. That's my other option for sure - to not make any major changes other than the narrow borders. And really, it's probably the safest option because anyone who has already backed the project liked the original back well enough. Anyone who doesn't like it, well, that's OK - they don't have to be backers!
Look at what is arguably the most popular and well-know card back on sale today - the Bicycle Rider Back. There's no one I know of that would call the design subtle, straightforward or streamlined! It's pretty busy, and yet it's so popular.
Thinner borders are appealing to people for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that they make for very nice-looking card fans and spreads. As far as the rest, I liked the first back and think the second one is OK as well. My sole concern would be to insure that your design can be cleanly printed. I've seen card designs with highly detailed backs that didn't come out quite as nicely when they were shrunk to 3.5" x 2.5" - fine details can become a muddy mess.
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That's a great point, Don.
I think the detailing should be OK for printing, but I have worried about that a little bit. I do have some fine line weights, but I've tried to keep them at what should be a reasonably printable weight. I've never had playing cards printed, but I do have experience with offset printing for things like packaging and brochure design, so I'm hoping most of that will apply here too.
Thanks for the input!
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That's a great point, Don.
I think the detailing should be OK for printing, but I have worried about that a little bit. I do have some fine line weights, but I've tried to keep them at what should be a reasonably printable weight. I've never had playing cards printed, but I do have experience with offset printing for things like packaging and brochure design, so I'm hoping most of that will apply here too.
Thanks for the input!
There's also the paper factor - card stock gets embossed when the layers are sandwiched together, which happens before it's printed. It used to occur after printing, when an impression was made in the card laminate with cloth rollers to create the embossed feel, but that process was abandoned about three-plus decades ago. A proof sheet will help, but only to a point - the proofs are created on a printer, not the card press. Don't get the test deck, though - they're INSANELY expensive now, up to $400 I believe.
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Oh, that's good info. Yeah, test decks are $400 or $450... I was hoping that wouldn't be necessary!
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Oh, that's good info. Yeah, test decks are $400 or $450... I was hoping that wouldn't be necessary!
People generally get them if they want to have a physical deck to show of in videos or something, a deck that has your design and that people can handle - like, for example, if you wanted to include a bit of simple cardistry in a promo video.
You do have an option to take your design to another printer for a sample deck. While I haven't dealt with them in a while, Brahma Playing Cards in Mumbai, India should still be offering $50 test decks, no extra fees or charges. They won't feel like the real ones, but they should look close enough to the real ones for your needs, if you needed a deck.
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Despite the changes that may or may not be occurring, I interviewed Marci about here project and posted the interview here:
http://tuckcase.com/2013/07/21/kickstarter-project-bicycle-gods-of-mythology-designer-marci-brinker-discusses-first-deck-project/ (http://tuckcase.com/2013/07/21/kickstarter-project-bicycle-gods-of-mythology-designer-marci-brinker-discusses-first-deck-project/)
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Thanks again for the opportunity to do the interview, Scott! It's exciting to see my work on your site.
As for the card back, for now I've decided to just make the margins narrower without making any major design changes. Thanks for your help with that decision. Oh, and that's good to know about the sample decks. I probably won't need to do that, but it's always good to have that information just in case. Thanks!
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Why people don't like Gods?
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Why people don't like Gods?
I think it's less to do with whether they like it and more to do with whether there are other projects they like more. Kickstarter has really exploded and it's not as easy to get attention for a project as it used to be. Granted, there's some really bad decks there, but there's enough decent-to-good ones that people have to make hard choices about which ones they want the most, what with money being a limited resource to pretty much everyone. Personally, if I had no hard limit to how much I could spend on cards, I'd be all over this like white on whitewash, as well as for other decks, but such is not the case...
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Why people don't like Gods?
I love the art and design, the theme is subjective. I pledged but the old world gods were not part of my decision.
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from today's update
Unfortunately, Gods of Mythology Bicycle® Playing Cards did not reach its funding goal by the project deadline. As a result, your pledge has been automatically canceled and your card will not be charged.
Even when a project doesn't meet its goal, backing a project shows your support for a creator's work. The value in that never expires!
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And this is sad. I guess someone got stuck in Radical 80s.
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Guys, I thought it was a great concept, too. But there's just so many decks hitting Kickstarter these days. It used to be there was no more than a half-dozen at any given time. Now it's rare that there's less than twenty. If you can't really capture the backer audience, really gain traction early and fast with a steady influx, your odds have significantly dropped.
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Good news for all those disappointed by the failure of this project.
It has been given a second chance under CollectablePlayingCards.com
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2104052526/bicycle-gods-of-mythology-playing-cards (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2104052526/bicycle-gods-of-mythology-playing-cards)
Slated for shipment in February 2014.
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I was able to work with Mike from CollectablePlayingCards.com to give it another try. Since I only got to 47% of my goal the first time, I was a little reluctant to do it again, but together, we were able to set a much lower goal this time and I think we have a much better chance! If you liked it the first time, I hope you'll support it again. Thanks! :)
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Good Luck with the project Marci, I've met Mike, he's very open to working with people.
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Thank you! He's been very nice and I've heard good things about him from other people too. Looks like the project is off to a good start!
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Thank you! He's been very nice and I've heard good things about him from other people too. Looks like the project is off to a good start!
Not simply good - excellent! I'd be shocked if you didn't get this deck made this time.
My wife lost a bet to me and owes me a few decks of cards - I'm hoping this will be among them!
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I hope so too, Don! :)
Yeah, I'm feeling good about this one - we're more than halfway there in less than 24 hours. I'd be pretty thrilled to have this deck in my hands finally!
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So How often do failed KickStarters get picked up by another company to be produced?
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So How often do failed KickStarters get picked up by another company to be produced?
Not too often. This deck is solid, I backed it on both efforts. Seems like Mike from Collectableplayingcards.com takes in Kickstarter decks he sees as promising that missed their goal for one reason or another. I assume he subsidizes their decks out of pocket and sells the remainder on his site. Seems like a good deal for all involved. I'm sure Marci could shed more light on this subject. I believe this is the second time Mike has done this. The first being the Emotions deck, although I don't think he ran that through another Kickstarter campaign, just printed it and sold it on his site. I'm not 100% sure on all this so anyone can correct anything I've said here.
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So How often do failed KickStarters get picked up by another company to be produced?
Not too often. This deck is solid, I backed it on both efforts. Seems like Mike from Collectableplayingcards.com takes in Kickstarter decks he sees as promising that missed their goal for one reason or another. I assume he subsidizes their decks out of pocket and sells the remainder on his site. Seems like a good deal for all involved. I'm sure Marci could shed more light on this subject. I believe this is the second time Mike has done this. The first being the Emotions deck, although I don't think he ran that through another Kickstarter campaign, just printed it and sold it on his site. I'm not 100% sure on all this so anyone can correct anything I've said here.
That sounds about right, kdklown. I remember the Emotions deck having at least two KS runs and I think it was taken on as a private job after that. If I wasn't so lazy, I'd check the deck's topic!
Decks taking a second (or third) run at KS is not uncommon, but taking it private after a failure is quite uncommon.
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I actually approached Mike about it. My first go on Kickstarter only got to 47%. I had done some thorough research and I couldn't think of that many things I would do differently if I relaunched, so I wasn't very confident that a 2nd try would do much better. People encouraged me to relaunch with a lower goal, but it was too financially risky for me to do that. I wasn't sure I'd find a way to distribute the remaining decks and I'd have to pay for the whole print run plus shipping the rewards out too, and that adds up. One of my backers told me about Mike and suggested contacting him to see if he would be interested, so I submitted my deck through his website. It turns out he was one of my backers too and he wanted to see it printed. He's able to set a much lower goal than I was and like kdklown said, he'll be able to sell them on his website after this. I'm relieved that I won't have to deal with shipping out rewards because I knew that was going to be a lot of additional work.
It's almost fully funded now, less than a week in, so I'm really happy about that!
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At less than $20 to go, this time your project's in great shape! There's no question that you're going to reach the goal - it's just a matter of what, if any, overfunding goals you'll be setting.