The Planets — Vanda Artists Series

[RichK]

David,

Your deck mock ups make the back design look better. Will the tuck back be gold and not the brown of the card?

[davegk]

David,

Your deck mock ups make the back design look better. Will the tuck back be gold and not the brown of the card?

Thanks, RichK! Srdjan created all the renderings/mockups and I think they look pretty amazing so thanks to him for the gorgeous artwork!

The tuck will be embossed black paper stock with white ink and metallic foil artwork. Haven't finalized the color of foil yet but I'm hoping we will use a different color for each deck in the series...I have to get more details from the printer on what is available.

[cartamundicards]

looks great! love the way all the decks together make for a new image!

[Frosty]

This is an awesome idea! I've been interested in space exploration since I was a kid, so this deck is awesome! I'm really excited about the whole series!

[davegk]

Thanks cartamundicards and Frosty!

So, I'm working on final touches for the deck now and trying to finalize the pip designs and font for the index values. I've got 2 options for each and curious to know what y'all think...

1. Do you prefer the font in top row or bottom row?
2. Do you prefer the stars inside pips to be white (top row) or orange (bottom row)?

Thanks!

[JuFiN]

1. Bottom Font. (top font seems too long and rigid).
2. Top color (The orange is hard to distinguish within the red hearts).

Also want to note that I really like the change in the pip shape from previous iterations posted in this thread, big improvement for me.

[shaitani]

1. Bottom Font. (top font seems too long and rigid).
2. Top color (The orange is hard to distinguish within the red hearts).

Also want to note that I really like the change in the pip shape from previous iterations posted in this thread, big improvement for me.

+1

[rousselle]

1. Bottom Font. (top font seems too long and rigid).
2. Top color (The orange is hard to distinguish within the red hearts).

Also want to note that I really like the change in the pip shape from previous iterations posted in this thread, big improvement for me.

+1

+1

[MagikFingerz]

1. Bottom Font. (top font seems too long and rigid).
2. Top color (The orange is hard to distinguish within the red hearts).

Also want to note that I really like the change in the pip shape from previous iterations posted in this thread, big improvement for me.

+1 from me as well, but I do like how the orange inside the black pips look. Can you not have orange/black and white/red?

[TGunitedcardists]

1. Bottom Font. (top font seems too long and rigid).
2. Top color (The orange is hard to distinguish within the red hearts).

Also want to note that I really like the change in the pip shape from previous iterations posted in this thread, big improvement for me.

+1

+1

Exactly. +1

[RichK]

1. Bottom Font. (top font seems too long and rigid).
2. Top color (The orange is hard to distinguish within the red hearts).

Also want to note that I really like the change in the pip shape from previous iterations posted in this thread, big improvement for me.

+1 from me as well, but I do like how the orange inside the black pips look. Can you not have orange/black and white/red?

+1 I like this idea. Really easy to differentiate standard red/black pips.

[davegk]

Thanks all for the feedback!

I've decided to go with the bottom font but to adjust the scaling a bit. I reduced the size slightly for better balance. Also, while I do like the look of the orange stars on black pips, I've decided for the sake of consistency to go with white stars for both.

Here are a few mockups of the results as well as a peek at the pip grid for number cards and the jokers.

We're getting closer. More soon...

-David

[TGunitedcardists]

Major improvement with this last update.

[RichK]

Can you move the big heart/diamonds up a bit so their white center is even with the corner heart/diamond? The black spade/club white center courts pips are nicely level with the small spade/club in the corner. The reds look lower because of the white star center is lower than the corner suit and it's odd looking to me.

I hope you can see what I'm trying to say. Thanks for thinking about it.

[shaitani]

Can you move the big heart/diamonds up a bit so their white center is even with the corner heart/diamond? The black spade/club white center courts pips are nicely level with the small spade/club in the corner. The reds look lower because of the white star center is lower than the corner suit and it's odd looking to me.

I hope you can see what I'm trying to say. Thanks for thinking about it.

Good catch, I didn't even notice that myself, but that would drive me crazy (if I ever opened my decks).
To illustrate for others what you're describing:

[davegk]

Can you move the big heart/diamonds up a bit so their white center is even with the corner heart/diamond? The black spade/club white center courts pips are nicely level with the small spade/club in the corner. The reds look lower because of the white star center is lower than the corner suit and it's odd looking to me.

I hope you can see what I'm trying to say. Thanks for thinking about it.

Thanks for the suggestion! I had previously placed the large court pips in differing locations based on the white space between the indexes and the art so they varied from one card to another. I liked that each card looked balanced, but I agree that on a global scale it makes more sense to have more of a grid to establish consistency from one card to another. I've jiggered them a bit and here's the resulting layout for the full court...

-David

[RichK]

Can you move the big heart/diamonds up a bit so their white center is even with the corner heart/diamond? The black spade/club white center courts pips are nicely level with the small spade/club in the corner. The reds look lower because of the white star center is lower than the corner suit and it's odd looking to me.

I hope you can see what I'm trying to say. Thanks for thinking about it.

Thanks for the suggestion! I had previously placed the large court pips in differing locations based on the white space between the indexes and the art so they varied from one card to another. I liked that each card looked balanced, but I agree that on a global scale it makes more sense to have more of a grid to establish consistency from one card to another. I've jiggered them a bit and here's the resulting layout for the full court...

-David

fullcourt.jpg

Perfect!

Thanks @shaitani for the green line showing what I was saying.

[davegk]

Exciting news!

We'll be offering a limited edition of 500 Mercury decks that will be sealed and numbered (the standard decks will be left unsealed and more plentiful). I ordered the sticker seals and they just arrived today. Silver metallic paper with black and white inks and a perforated semi-circle to line up with the thumb cutout on the tuck flap, these are numbered and will only be available through the Kickstarter campaign. Some of these limited edition decks will also be set aside to be part of an 8 deck matching numbered collection if all goes well with the entire series.

[MagikFingerz]

Any difference between the limited and standard edition, other than the numbered seal?

[davegk]

Any difference between the limited and standard edition, other than the numbered seal?

The plan is for the LE decks to also have a different tuckbox (dark blue paper with gold & silver foils)

LIMITED EDITION
- 500 decks
- numbered seals
- tuck: dark blue paper w/ gold & silver foils
- all 8 planets will use same foil colors

STANDARD EDITION
- ? decks (depends on KS)
- unsealed
- tuck: black paper w/ copper & white foils
- each planet will use different color foil

[MagikFingerz]

Interesting. Not sure about the dark blue, it doesn't exactly match Mercury in my mind. Perhaps use a more neutral color? Maybe switch the standard to a dark red or something less neutral/more fitting, then make all the LE's black? Just brainstorming here.

I like the idea of the foil on the LE's being consistent across the planets, though.

[NineLives]

Been going through this thread and really like the concept of this deck (series)

I agree with @MagikFingerz - blank LE (on all) and then a different colour for the standard editions.

You could choose colour based on astronomy (like: http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/about- ... termediate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) or... a 'heat' scale based on how close to the sun the planet is - from hot red through to cold blue... or, something entirely different - and please ignore if an in-depth discussion on colour has already been covered in the thread and I missed it.

[RichK]

I like the Black for LE, especially since you have black seals already.

If you changed standard to colored paper I see Mars as red, Earth a blue, Venus green in my mind. Have to think about the others.

Honestly, the LE's surprised me. You worked so long with our feedback to design an exciting standard deck for the planets and now you drop the LE idea. Yes it's your right to do a LE deck but now we backers have to give our opinions on how the LE fit into a fine standard design of 8 decks. I know we'll give you our opinions like I did but again, the LE was a real surprise, not in a good way. Just my thoughts on it.

[davegk]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the feedback!

A few notes...

The original plan was to have the same tuckbox for LE and standard and the only difference being that LE decks would be sealed (and numbered) and the standard decks are unsealed. The reasoning behind this was that for people who want to open and use the decks, the seal is annoying and unnecessary, but for those who are just collecting, the seal is more important and exciting. I personally prefer unsealed decks because I like to see all the art inside and I don't like having a torn seal on the tuckbox that is now covering part of the box and looks crappy and is sticky.

The decision to swap the tuckbox for the LE decks was to make it a little more special and give a different look to the unopened decks. If there is a strong preference for the original option above, I may reconsider this decision.

We will not be changing the paper colors for each planet, only the foil color. This is to maintain consistency throughout the series and because the options for paper colors are more limited than those for foil.

I've attached the color palette we came up with for the full series. There are holographic foil colors we will use that fit with these print colors pretty well. That's correct...all 8 standard decks will feature holographic foil and white pigment foil while the LE decks will have holographic gold and holographic silver foils. They will look very cool, I promise!

-David

[RichK]

I agree about seals, I like to look at the card art. Stockholm 17 has a numbered "seal" on the bottom of their LE Noctis deck from his Gemini Kickstarter project which is perfect for opening the deck while keeping the number xxxx/1000 "seal" undamaged.

I like the color palette for the 8 planets. If anything, tweak Jupiter so it's not so similar to Mercury, unless it's the CMKY to RGB color change appearance.

[intlgrrl]

WOW! I leave for a few weeks to study, and suddenly the deck is just about complete! Excellent work. I can't wait to see what you come up with for the remaining planets.

[davegk]

Exciting times, folks...the tuck proofs came today and they look amazing! Quick snapshot below and then I'll assemble a few and send em for proper photographing...

-David

[shermjack]

Those tucks look really sweet! Looking forward to see more!

[RichK]

Those tucks look really sweet! Looking forward to see more!

+1

[davegk]

Hey guys,

Just a quick update...wanted to share this image from the official photo shoot. Launching soooooon....