About this project
UPDATES:
IMPORTANT NOTES:
This project is run under parental supervision and designs may be slightly changed to fit USPCC regulations (i.e thickness of lines on the art). The mockups are done in CMYK color-space so the final color is accurate. CMYK is what a printer can actually print versus RGB (what the monitor can display)
MORE REWARDS WILL BE CREATED AS THE FUNDING ADVANCES.
I love playing cards. They can be so differently designed but still, have the same purpose. I've noticed that there are too many complicated designs on playing cards, and I'm not a person who likes for things to be complex. I wanted to design a card face that looks clean, unique, and most importantly, amazing.
This is a huge opportunity for me, so if you want to make these cards a reality, make sure to pledge and get your rewards!
The inspiration for the suits comes from isometric design. The art style has always had a great look to it, so I wanted to focus on making it look similar. I used an isometric grid as a guide and began with a hexagon, drawn and designed on paper. I wanted to focus on uniformity and cleanliness, so here's where all the suits were formed. The drawings were brought into Inkscape and the outlines of the suits were formed with the assistance if the axonometric grid.
The suits were colored with three tones to represent highlights, mid-tones, and shadows. I chose these colors because it reminds of retro style art, where all the colors are blown out.
Then the suits were imported into Illustrator. Since I wanted the cards to look clean and minimal, I decided to leave some space so it doesn't look cramped. As a result, the letters themselves are quite small and there are no complex lines or designs, just the faces themselves centered on the cards. To complete the look, they were boxed around and centered at the middle of the cards. The numbered cards have a white text surrounded by a white box.
For the king, queen, and jack, the text and boxes were colored based off of the three main colors used in the suits. The higher of the cards needed to be separated from the numbers, just like in the regular playing cards.
The aces should be easily distinguished, so only the outlines of the suits combined with outlines of the box were used as the ace.
The jokers are just a simple “JOKER” designed as a typeface on the card. I wanted to go for clarity, so it is quite simple.
I didn't want the back of the card to be complex, so I decided to keep the logo on the back. The logo itself is the playing card name, "IZO" combined with the alternative logo that can be found on the tuck box.
The font used on the front text is Montserrat Light created by Julieta Ulanovsky and the back is Space Mono Regular created by Colophon. I chose Montserrat because it looks clean, and is hands down one of my favorite fonts when making minimal designs.
Why aren't the cards white instead of black?
Personally, I was never a favorite of white cards. They are too bland and unoriginal. There is a reason why I chose these three colors; because they pop on the card. If the funding is popular enough, I will make a white one just for you guys :)
The tuck box is also printed by the USPCC and it will be embossed and/or produced with a custom seal if I reach the unlockables goal. I wanted to go with a modern look on the box.
The Whiteout version will have a white tuck box instead of a black one.
The cards are printed by the United States Playing Card Company with their embossed Air Cushion finish, meaning you'll get the best feel and handling whether you're playing cards or doing magic tricks. USPCC has been in business since 1867 and is renown for their high-quality printing and service.
Please refer to the shipping chart above.
The custom seal with come with all decks ordered if we reach the 20K goal mark.
In order for me to be able to create these renders and card faces, I had to use my previous knowledge of Photoshop. I am fairly new to Illustrator so I watched many tutorials on how to work with the pen tool and produce the card faces in vector form. I then needed a way to render the cards, so I watched a complete tutorial to Blender, an open-source 3D modeling program and began to render scenes of the cards. It was time-consuming, I'll tell you that, but I am very happy I learned a new program that I can use the next time I want to model something in 3D.
Since I basically have no income, this was the only option for me. The hard-copies are too expensive and Blender was already free. There are not many variables in the mockups that could drastically change the outcome of the cards so that is why I used a 3D modelling pr
Initially, I wanted all the faces to have the same color on the card. But the Jack was tricky because the dark purple I used on the suits would not show up well on the Jack cards themselves, so I had to increase the whites to make sure it would show on the black cards correctly. Here is a comparison:
International shipping prices are in USD -- I will not be responsible for custom's charges.
Why are the prices so expensive?
Well, accounting for the free shipping on the add-ons, it will be a lot cheaper if you order more of the items because there will be the same shipping applied. So, if you want to save money, go buy some more add-ons! :)
NOTE: There may be extra goals I add on as time goes by. Please check back to see if any extra goals have appeared!
At this stage, funding is complete, and I can focus on making extra add-ons. The large funding requirement is so I can make sure I am able to fund all of the extra add-ons when I order them.
Every single card deck will include a custom seal, shown above. It looks a lot better than the default black that comes with the order.
Every single tuck box will be embossed. Embossing adds another dimension to the card box that improves the look and the feel when handling it.
Bee Stock is a higher quality stock that USPCC offers. It's more rigid, durable and feels better in the hand. Every deck will come with Bee Stock once we hit our goal.
If we manage to hit 55,000 CAD in during our funding period, a Whiteout Edition will be produced, and you can select the edition before the funding ends. As you may expect, the cards and tuck box will be white instead of black, and the card faces may be subject to change. All the previous goals will be included in the Whiteout Edition (embossed tuck box, custom seal, Bee stock).
ALL ADDONS INCLUDE SHIPPING!
FIRST 50 ORDERS WILL HAVE MY SIGNATURE WITH A NUMBERING
An uncut sheet is essentially the playing cards before it is cut. It contains all the faces of the card laid out on a large piece of cardstock. Perfect for hanging on walls or just as a memoir of my project.
(USD$ 35 for international orders)
This ultra soft t-shirt is a perfect addition to any deck. Show your support by purchasing a T-Shirt as an add-on today! If I get enough requests I will expand to sweaters or long-sleeve shirts. The color of the T-shirt is black.
(20 USD$ for international orders)
Add an 11in x 17in poster to your order for CAD$ 20. Printed on premium glossy stock.
(USD$ 25 for international shipping)
Available at 15000 CAD.
This addon is perfect as a gift or to keep on display when you buy your IZO Playing Cards. The coin is 2inches and printed on black nickel metal. It is double sided, monochromatic and coated with epoxy for durability and shine.
Available at 15000 CAD.
MORE ADDONS COMING SOON, MAKE SURE TO VOTE BELOW!
1. Pledge your base tier.
2. Click the blue "Manage Your Pledge" on the right
3. Add the cost of the add-on in the Pledge Amount box (especially important if you are an international backer). Do not change your tier you are at unless you want to support a larger package. Shipping is already included so no worries!
4. When the funding is complete, I will send out a survey and you will need to fill out which add-ons you want. You can increase your number of add-ons as necessary.
5. That's it! Enjoy your rewards!
Hey Kickstarter! My name is Felix Ha and I'm a 16-year-old Torontonian who has been designing for over 4 years.
This whole project was a great learning experience and I'm grateful that Kickstarter exists so I can publicize my work. I enjoyed making this project and I hope you will too! So where to begin? My story dates back to 2012 when the first program I started with was paint.NET. I discovered the Adobe Suite a year after and thought that Photoshop would be way better. Since then I've been using Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere and became adept with the tools, especially Photoshop. Since then I've been making digital art and posters for my friends to promote their own things (you can check my portfolio above). I decided that putting my skills onto a (possibly successful) project would look great on my resume, so this project was born. As for this project, I decided I would try something new. I used Illustrator to make the cards, and Blender to render them. I am running this project under the supervision of my mom, so thanks to her, I can put this project out!
Thanks!
- Felix Ha
Risks and challenges
Of course, with every single project, there are risks, but I already contacted USPCC for the cards and coinsforanything.com about custom coins, and I will contact the others once we reach our goal.
I made sure to ask every single representative for clarification so there are no last minute confusions, and made sure to give myself a decent length for shipping just in case anything out of our control happens. The length is going to be 45 days so I have extra time to design and contact the people for the add-ons. I made sure to tell my mom about everything I am doing so she can approve and help me make this real.
As a consumer and designer, I understand that people expect quality from every single product (especially me), and that is why I want to make sure I give the audience the best result as possible.
This project is sort of an experiment and a brag right to put on my resume too
Learn about accountability on KickstarterSupport this project
- All gone!