UnitedCardists.com - The forum for Cardistry, Magic, Custom Decks and All Things Playing Cards.

Hey everyone, my friend and I have been working on a deck design and we need some thoughts/tips/constructive criticism... Any advice would be appreciated!

Certainly catchy colors, but the white backdrop is too bland in comparison to the black backdrop, which works a lot better to highlight the leaves. Btw, if you're looking for in-progress feedback, you could move your request to the Custom Deck Drafting Board section.

I do believe that you should make the leaves/ tendrils darker to contrast more with the white back ground, but if you don't want to do this then I do think that the stock should perhaps be changed to perhaps a creme colour or somewhat of an eggwash. That's just on the backs, I like the look and the potential of the flow. As for the courts... well I dunno if I'm the only one but usually it's much appreciated if you could customize the courts. Other than that godspeed.
Edit: Didn't see Black one, honestly Black > White.

Hey everyone, my friend and I have been working on a deck design and we need some thoughts/tips/constructive criticism... Any advice would be appreciated!

Decknowledgy wrote:Certainly catchy colors, but the white backdrop is too bland in comparison to the black backdrop, which works a lot better to highlight the leaves. Btw, if you're looking for in-progress feedback, you could move your request to the Custom Deck Drafting Board section.

Thanks for the advice. I've posted it over on Custom Deck Drafting Board section.

too

We're currently working on the colours. I've posted a few of our other ideas on the other page!

White background for the back design is easily a no-go.

theCapraAegagrus wrote:White background for the back design is easily a no-go.

I'm glad you're coming back with some substantial feedback, mate.

Well, I prefer the white background. I have seen decks in this basic grouping of colors, but something new and really good is tough. These colors do work nicely together. Recolored standard courts doesn't get me excited, but I am spoiled. If you are looking for something to get you started, then it is fine. I would suggest though it be a start and learn from there.

Decknowledgy wrote:

theCapraAegagrus wrote:White background for the back design is easily a no-go.

I'm glad you're coming back with some substantial feedback, mate.

"Forget everything you think you know."

I like the black background over the white. It just pops more. I think the center icon on the back needs a little work. For the courts- they are a little plain. If you can't do custom courts, maybe you can incorporate the whispyness of the back onto the border of the front somehow. For the case, I'm also not much of a fan. I don't think interior printing adds anything, and the outer tuck is bland/minimalist (which contradicts with the general card theme). Maybe emboss the back design on the tuck?

Moved and merged the threads, so it might be a bit jumbled. Didn't want to remove any posts as there were different pictures in each

I'm unisono with the black background, works way better for the shown design.
The left of the black background drafts looks a bit more unique regarding the colours but the right one just looks better imo.

As for the courts - you could at least use Daniel Schneider's REDESIGNED courts! /s

If you want to make the white background work, I would suggest putting a black halo around the design to make them stand out more. From the back design only, I would prefer the bottom right one.


As for the custom courts, the best example is Paul Carpenter's Tendril series

Now you don't have to go to that level of customization, but note that the 1st Tendril deck was done in 2012. So in 2020, you can understand why we're more demanding when it comes to custom courts. JAB (Joker, Ace, Backs) jobs and court recolours just won't do it anymore for most of us here in this forum, not at $10 or higher price point.

Even Chris Ramsay's 1st V3 deck had started to incorporate the theme into the courts and redid the clothes a bit. And the reason his decks can sell at $15 is that he's got the following.

Also, check out Organic PC's Fruit Salad series on what they are doing with their courts and theme. The pre-release decks go for under $8 per deck for 3 decks.

So in this sense, you need to know your target audience for your deck. Looking at it, most probably not cardistry. Plus you'll need to have the following that Zach, Any1, and other cardists have to be able to sell their decks with only JAB jobs.

Magicians, considering they can get marked decks for $5 per deck if you buy a brick from Penguin; you need to put in more stuff for the price of your deck.

Collectors, in 2020, there is not enough customization for serious collectors. Look at what T11 delivers for JAB jobs at $10 per deck.

It's not easy, but we've seen way too many failed KS projects, even the ones we loved as collectors. So keep at it and all the best with your deck. Always good to see new designers try new things.

Joker's_Progeny wrote:I like the black background over the white. It just pops more. I think the center icon on the back needs a little work. For the courts- they are a little plain. If you can't do custom courts, maybe you can incorporate the whispyness of the back onto the border of the front somehow. For the case, I'm also not much of a fan. I don't think interior printing adds anything, and the outer tuck is bland/minimalist (which contradicts with the general card theme). Maybe emboss the back design on the tuck?

Thanks for your feedback! We want the courts to have a standard feel, but we'll try out some customisation. For the box, the whole "plain on the outside, exciting on the inside" was the whole idea. We thought the contrast of a simple box but then opening it and getting a "wow" could be cool. Anyway, we'll be posting updates on here with our newest designs fairly often

*DESIGN UPDATE*
Thank you, everyone, for your feedback. We received a lot of ideas and we've tried some of them out. Something a lot of people weren't fond of was the lightning bolt so at first, we tried to remove it but the back felt too empty. So instead, we've changed the way it looks and tried to make it more homogeneous with the rest of the back. Here's what we tried.

Would love your thoughts! The first round of feedback really helped us a lot

Maybe I miss something here but isn't that just the prior back design with a less outlined bolt in the middle?

I think colorways are too easy

Harvonsgard wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2020 2:04 pm Maybe I miss something here but isn't that just the prior back design with a less outlined bolt in the middle?

Yeah, that's the changes we made to the back. We got a few comments saying that the lightning bolt was out of place so we updated it. We've changed the box and made a start to the courts. What do you think of the tweaked back?

3rd dominion wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2020 2:28 pm I think colorways are too easy

I'm not exactly sure what you mean there. Mind explaining?

taylor.adamm wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2020 4:34 pm

Harvonsgard wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2020 2:04 pm Maybe I miss something here but isn't that just the prior back design with a less outlined bolt in the middle?

Yeah, that's the changes we made to the back. We got a few comments saying that the lightning bolt was out of place so we updated it. We've changed the box and made a start to the courts. What do you think of the tweaked back?

Hmm... the bolt never irked me in the first place so both versions are equally fine with me. I'm still part of the fraction that likes the black background versions better than the white drafts. Much better contrast.