Binary/Circuit deck - In development

[Fud]

Hi guys,

While I wait for Pipmen production to finish, and Prism Day/Dusk prototypes to arrive, I have started designing another set of decks which I am calling 'binary' and 'circuit' (for obvious reasons). At the moment they are intended to be a 2-deck set with similar styles, though one will be a binary theme and the other circuit. I have mocked up a few designs, including a back, and would like your suggestions. I think it has a way to go to get the detail to pop, but would like to see if you think I am on the right track...

The obvious market for these would be computer enthusiasts and the like, but I am hoping the simple, clear artwork will also be interesting enough for the playing card community at large. I am not in a rush with this as I am looking to get it right the first time. Any suggestions would be great

Ben

(The grey borders are just to show the cut lines on the cards...)

[Fud]

The circuit deck back at the moment...

I am thinking of including a few long circuits underneath the corner indices to give a pseudo-border similar to the binary numbers on that deck - I mocked it up on the Ace of Spades below.

Looking at it now it seems like the background pattern for the ace is a bit light, and the back design is all scratchy - I must have saved it as a very small file then expanded it :S It will be smooth for final.

[jsantafe]

Nice idea! What bugs me is why keeping the standard pips and indices? While customizing, why not going all the way? The indices seem a bit off the topic to me.

[Fud]

Nice idea! What bugs me is why keeping the standard pips and indices? While customizing, why not going all the way? The indices seem a bit off the topic to me.

I thought about that, and while I could make a custom Pip for the circuit deck, it was impossible to get one looking good with the binary deck - the numbers just don't manipulate to fit the shape... And then I though that if one had unique pips it would look funny, which is how I ended up with this

[ecNate]

For added inspiration or possibly what to avoid, see these decks. I've yet to see a deck that does this theme right. Grid came close on the tuck and card back, but failed on the rest. Compucards took binary to the next level, but strayed too far. Honeywell did a good job incorporating binary, but is dated and missed circuit for back. Robocycle also did well on the back and better on faces, but went into robot land. Code deck had a neat theme, but forgot about the back and could have done so much more with pips and integration.


http://www.portfolio52.com/node/904


http://www.portfolio52.com/node/2092


http://www.portfolio52.com/node/1877


http://www.portfolio52.com/node/231


http://www.portfolio52.com/node/854

[Fud]

I have dropped the binary deck from development for the time being as it is proving that my initial ideas don't look as good on paper as they did in my mind But that's the beauty of design and development, isn't it? I think I'll focus on the circuit deck, and come back to the binary one if a brainwave (or suggestion) strikes me as to how to get them better.

Either way, I have experimented with the pips on the face cards; making them self-contained and more intricate. What do you think about these? Should I have the faint circuit background behind the pips? And in a halo around the pips, or a more central and uniform pattern? I have also removed the border around the pips as I think the circuit pattern is clear enough - thoughts?

I also think that the corner numbers should be in a more block-ish font more suitable to a computer theme. I'll get there...

[montecarlojoe]

I'd like to see what it would be like to have the background circuits more prominent and continuous across the card - I like the idea that the pips are just an emergent part of the circuit board - so the deck would be sort of semi transformational.

[ecNate]

I'd like to see what it would be like to have the background circuits more prominent and continuous across the card - I like the idea that the pips are just an emergent part of the circuit board - so the deck would be sort of semi transformational.

I was actually thinking something similar and like your suggestion. You could have the processors, capacitors, resistors, etc be pip shaped and even in a similar traditional arrangement pretty easily. This may end up being difficult to make look good without being too cluttered, it also would require much more art work preparation, but certainly would be worth it. I know you can pull it off. Still, I do like this original idea you have here with some changes. Perhaps the first one can simply be called 'Circuits' and the second 'Integrated (Transformation) Circuits', do 2 projects out of the theme.

For the initial idea here I would say go ahead and modify the pips in the indicies as well, the way it is now makes it slightly more playable, but ruins the impact and switching it won't hurt play-ability much. I also like the circuit design in the indices under the pip. Still, something is lacking on these I think, it might be as simple as you just need to come up with really awesome court cards that fit the theme. Electronic pioneer figures is an obvious choice, but I think playing off standard courts a bit and modifying them to fit would be quite fun. Holding solder gun, misc components, hard drives, cables...wearing lab coats, geek tshirts, nerd ties, etc. Maybe even 16 bit art style, I would even forgive conversion to ASCII art with color added. Although I think fully custom courts in the standard style made to fit the theme is best here.

[Fud]

For the initial idea here I would say go ahead and modify the pips in the indicies as well, the way it is now makes it slightly more playable, but ruins the impact and switching it won't hurt play-ability much. I also like the circuit design in the indices under the pip. Still, something is lacking on these I think, it might be as simple as you just need to come up with really awesome court cards that fit the theme. Electronic pioneer figures is an obvious choice, but I think playing off standard courts a bit and modifying them to fit would be quite fun. Holding solder gun, misc components, hard drives, cables...wearing lab coats, geek tshirts, nerd ties, etc. Maybe even 16 bit art style, I would even forgive conversion to ASCII art with color added. Although I think fully custom courts in the standard style made to fit the theme is best here.

I agree - I will make the corner indice pips a self-contained circuit in smaller and simpler style to the current circuit pips.

The ASCII art converter was actually the impetus for these designs - first with the 'binary' half of the original concept (though it doesn't work too well), which then morphed into the circuitry concept. I have an idea for courts that will be in keeping with the theme

Currently I'm looking at 2 designs - on a red/black on white (the first concept above), the second a more realistic circuitboard with gold and silver circuits on green background. I've mocked up a quick test of the gold and silver - any thoughts? (just imagine the gold is a heart or diamond)

As for the first design - I agree there is something missing. I'll try it with a full circuit background with bold black and red circuit pips and see how that looks - I imagine that will improve it significantly!

[RichK]

Currently I'm looking at 2 designs - on a red/black on white (the first concept above), the second a more realistic circuitboard with gold and silver circuits on green background. I've mocked up a quick test of the gold and silver - any thoughts? (just imagine the gold is a heart or diamond)

Green - silver and gold 1.PNG

As for the first design - I agree there is something missing. I'll try it with a full circuit background with bold black and red circuit pips and see how that looks - I imagine that will improve it significantly!

I like the green circuit board and proper colored corner pips will stand out. I had a tough time seeing the Spades amid all the circuit lines a first. It could be because it's a close up image, not full card size, though. I thought the gold looks too yellow also. If you could get funded using gold metallic ink that would be insanely sweet!

[Azid]

Nice idea,

This reminds me to a cigarette pack from the 90's
Maybe this can help or inspire you.



Greets, Azid

[lms_jam]

I think you should consider something like this for your colors.

[Fud]

I do like the blue color - it's very striking, but it would remove the instant recognition of a circuit board design which is where I am heading for the second part of the deck. That color scheme would be great as an extra stretch goal deck; I'll keep it in mind!

I have heaps of ideas to work on now; give me a few days to try some of them out and I'll give you all some more options soon

[Fud]

I've had a bit of a muck around with a 'realistic' design. I've come to the conclusion that it looks really bad; there may be a way to make the idea I have in my mind better but I think it is a bit of a lost cause... I've put in a pic of 2 of the test ones I tries - making the spades an IC, the diamonds some resistors, the clubs capacitors and the hearts (LED's??). Either way I personally think it fell quite short.

I have an idea to continue using the realistic green and silver concept, but this time with a blank printed circuit board concept - where the circuits are there, and just the outlines of the various components are printed on. It should be clearer, simpler, and hopefully much nicer.

I've spent a bit more time on the first concept - the black-on-white ciruitboard, and have some more pics for your comments. I have made self-contained pips, but am unsure of how large or how dark to make the background. I have tested it with a small and intricate circuit pattern in the background, and with a much larger one - what do you think? I've also put up my first draft card back; the circuits bounding the back will be a similar concept for how I will bound the face cards... The Ace of Spades is not complete - it was a roughup to see how the size of the background looked.

Thanks for your comments!

[Fud]

Another attempt at the 4 pips on the realistic design. I have increased the size of the backing circuits which rationalized the hardware components - made them look more logical. I like the way the hearts, diamonds and clubs look (and I will put a circuit border for the hearts as well), but the spades seem a bit chunky. Using a chip the way I have necessitates the whole package to be large maintain the relative size of the pip - do you think that's too large though?

On there I have resistors (Diamonds), Capacitors (Clubs), LED lights (Hearts) and EPROM chips (Spades)

I'm liking this style, so unless you have some other great ideas (of which many have already been given), then I'll start to make up the deck

[RichK]

The Spades don't work for me. They look like you slapped a Spade sticker on a chip, nothing like your resistor diamonds made of total computer component. Also, the spade and the heart look too big.

Sorry, no idea how to fix.

[lms_jam]

I think some of the lines need to be thicker it looks boring having the same width on all the lines. I like the circuit board pips more than the component pips at this moment. I look forward to seeing more.