Project Overview
Objective: Develop a full visual system for a custom playing card deck—each card reflecting a cohesive theme and aesthetic.
Scope: Includes designing all 52 face cards, 4 jokers (if applicable), packaging design (box/tuck), and sometimes supplementary assets like instructional cards or poster art.
Design Process
1. Concept & Ideation
Research & Moodboarding: Explore themes, color palettes, typographic styles, suits redesign, iconography, and historical references.
Sketching & Rough Ideas: Quick low-fidelity sketches for suit symbols, face card layouts, borders—hand-drawn or digital roughs to lock down direction.
2. Structural Layout & Templates
Grid Setup: Create a master template (size: casino vs. poker, bleed, safe zone), grid rules, placeholder card labels.
Suit and Icon Construction: Digitally construct suit symbols using clean vector shapes—emphasize consistency in stroke weight and proportions.
3. Face Card & Special Card Designs
Symmetry and Flexibility: Face cards are often mirrored vertically; decide whether to use photographic portraits, illustrations, or abstract art.
Styling: Apply unified visual treatment—colour palette, line style, decorative corner pips, patterns.
4. Packaging Design
Box Mockups: Build dieline templates; design front, back, side panels with theme imagery, logos, legal text.
Finishing Techniques: Decide on foil stamping, embossing, spot UV, or matte finish to enhance tactile and visual appeal.
5. Review, Revise & Export
Internal Reviews: Share with stakeholders or teammates for feedback; iterate on color corrections, alignment, icon legibility.
Export Specs: Generate high-resolution PDF or EPS files—CMYK, correct bleeds, crop marks. Prepare production-ready packaging files.
Deliverables
Card Art Files:
- Separate artboards or files for each of the 52 card faces, jokers, and backs.
- Vector logos or branding elements.
Packaging Assets:
- Print-ready dielines with visual artwork mapped.
- Layer-separated packaging files (box cover, flaps) with bleed and dieline guides.
Style Guide / Brand Deck:
- Documentation of colour codes, typography, imagery guidelines, and icon style.
- Mockups showing final card and box in context.
Production Exports:
- Final PDFs/EPS/AI with bleed and trim marks.
- Optionally, RGB versions for web or digital previews.
Software & Tools Used:
Adobe Illustrator: For vector artwork, logo design, and label layout
Adobe Photoshop: For bottle mockup application and enhancement
Adobe Dimension: 3D mockup assets are used to present the product professionally in context