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ABOUT FACE: a deck with a twist

Hi everyone! I'm Mathilde Heu, and I would like to show you 'ABOUT FACE', my first deck of cards design. For the last few months I have been working towards my first prototype and started setting up a Kickstarter campaign page, but I thought I should pause the work and submit it here first in order to get your feedback.

I have printed a first prototype with MPC, so here it is, in its current state.

A bit more about the concept behind 'ABOUT FACE':

I have always loved ‘ambiguous images’ such as the rabbit-duck illusion or reversible faces. Whilst researching the history of playing cards I also learnt that the rotational symmetry we are familiar with only became dominant during the 18th century. It suddenly clicked! I thought to combine the concept of reversible faces to the court cards whilst subverting the rotational symmetry, but only a little: on the face cards of the 'About Face' deck, reversible heads lie at the centre with the familiar symmetrical bodies at the top and bottom. Thus rotating the face cards reveals new characters I'd never seen a deck like this, which motivated me to create it! (Also, as I am specialised in illustration for immersive puzzle adventures, anything 'hidden' or in the realm of illusions really appeals to me).
(same card, but 2 orientations)


FACE CARDS

Kings




Queens




Jacks




Jokers




PIPS BACKS

• Shall I redesign it so that it becomes more interesting for cardistry? I didn't know about the subject when I designed the back, and I wouldn't want to miss on it if that's something that cardists love.

TUCK BOX TEMPLATE

• I would love your feedback on whether you like the red or blue design, or if you would like the deck to be available in two colours?

ACES

• I haven't embellished any of the aces as of yet. Shall I do all the ACES? I initially wanted to keep the focus on the face cards, but maybe the ACE of spades should absolutely be embellished ?

Possible seal design - mockup
LAST NOTE
I'm nervous! But I really want to do things the right way and get to know the playing card community. I would like to know if 'About Face' is of any interest to you and what I can do to improve it. All feedback welcome.

('about face' has been hand-drawn digitally, on procreate)

I really like this deck so far. Regarding having it be two colors, I would just stick with the one you find works best.

I prefer the thinner border of the sketch above compared to the full color print below

I really like these, great job!

• Agreed with Gandalf, the thinner border (with the indexes being closer to the edge) looks much better.

• Regarding the aces, I would love to see something interesting done to the ace of spades, if it can fit with the theme of ambiguous images. The other aces would be a bonus.

• Similarly with the back design. It's fine now, but if you can find a way to incorporate the theme, that would elevate the project even more.

I like cohesive themes and for that you've definitely hit it.

I looked at my 10 criteria for rarting/backing a campaign and right now youre hitting 3

good court design
non-standard courts
cohesive theme.
almost 4, I'd love to see the colors "pop" a bit more.

yes maybe do something a little more interesting with the card backs to get to #5. Id stick with one good design rather than 2 color swaps of a plain color (though I prefer red)
I rate much heavier for decks with use of foil, but I don't know that this deck needs it or that it would fit at all.

Maybe make the number cards more interesting somehow.

personally the tuck doesnt factor into whether I back a campaign or not, but it should support your deck for sure.

definitely thinner borders you've put some effort into that art, show it off.

For the campaign weight your printer choices well, MPC would not likely be viewed as a plus.

I like how quirky the design is, it makes the whole deck have character.

I'm unison with most aforementioned. Obviously we all know that blue back designs are the way to go instead of red.
The concept is very nice and the execution quirky.
The tuck box could be stronger imho. I know it's hard to come up with an extra design but if the tuckbox mostly consists of designs that are featured on the deck already, then it's not a great selling point for me. I mean, it doesn't kill the deck for me because the cards are the main reason for my purchase descision but you know, a cherry on top is always nice to have and invites me to open my wallet much easier.
As for the back: don't try to cater to an audience that you don't really understand imho. Don't worry about cardists.

Those are weird as hell and I smurfing love them.

Thank you all very much for your great feedback and enthusiasm!

I pretty much agree with everything being said.

Re-thinner borders: 100% agreed! I had initially reduced the size of the artworks because MPC advises a 3mm safe zone on top of the bleed. But I was slightly disappointed when the prototype arrived: I definitely agree that the court cards artworks need to take up more space. I will absolutely look for another supplier for the final deck (MCP was handy to get only 2 decks printed at relatively low cost.). But others like Legends print a minimum order of a 1000 decks (if I am correct). So I'll have to wait for the Kickstarter campaign for that.

I will work on the Ace of Spade and the other 3 aces in the coming weeks and will update you with some pics when they are ready

Re foil : yeah I don't think it's suited for this deck. I love that some of you called it quirky and weird, and that sums it up nicely. Somehow foil has a luxurious feel and it's not the vibe I'm after for this deck. Maybe embossing on the tuck box could work well though.

Re back of the cards: good point about designing it so that reflects the theme more. Atm it's made of the patterns used in the court cards' clothing. Blue or Red will be a difficult choice ahah but I'm sure it'll become more evident as designing a new back.

Re stronger tuck box: you're right - worth considering. my only question would: would some people be disappointed if I design a new character for it, who doesn't appear on the face cards?


We haven't talked about pips and numbering/letters: I might have an idea for some custom pips, but I also like that they are 'classic'. Anyway I'll post more on that later - I'm not sure what to do yet.


Thanks so much to those who already gave their feedback, and looking forward to reading some more!

MathildeHeu wrote: ↑Mon Oct 02, 2023 2:28 am We haven't talked about pips and numbering/letters: I might have an idea for some custom pips, but I also like that they are 'classic'. Anyway I'll post more on that later - I'm not sure what to do yet.

I'm personally a fan of balanced decks. I too like that the number cards are in custom style, fitting to the deck, but classic overall.
Decks like e.g. the Brosmind Bicycle deck, who left no stone unturned in regard to fully custom, are nice and all but for gameplay one or two notches too busy imho.

Harvonsgard wrote: ↑Mon Oct 02, 2023 4:41 am I'm personally a fan of balanced decks. I too like that the number cards are in custom style, fitting to the deck, but classic overall.
Decks like e.g. the Brosmind Bicycle deck, who left no stone unturned in regard to fully custom, are nice and all but for gameplay one or two notches too busy imho.

I didn't know this deck! It looks brilliant but indeed maybe a tat busy for game play. I want About-Face to be a playable deck. I thought that 'Sardines' by Squiddle Ink hit the balance just right in terms of customisation and playability. I really liked her work

SIZE UPDATE
(I have yet to tweak the lettering, but this is just in response to earlier comments about the sizing of the artwork and sizes of the margins)

Now there are 9mm margins all around. (In the printed prototype version in the above posts it was 14mm!)

The Text box which contains the "K" sits 1.5mm away from the border. this is so that when the Q letter is inserted (widest of all, together with number 10) sits 2mm away from the border).


(red lines = 1.5mm, blue lines = 9mm away from border

result: Better?

I have to say, I like the thought of using the four pips in alignment in place of the word Joker. Nice idea.

When it comes to a nice card, squiddle otter know.

Thank you Squiddle_Ink I have looked at a lot of vintage Joker designs who either juggle with or hold in equilibrium all the pips - which is what gave me the idea! btw thank you for recommending me this forum, there is a lot beautiful decks out there!

Anyone opposed to four corner indices btw? I'm not beaten with the sickness myself but I have lefties in the family so every two corner index deck doesn't see one hand of gameplay in my realm.

Yeah, I have finally got around to buying a lefties deck to actually experience what it is like for the Devil's children (my daughter is a leftie)

I'm a lefty or "Devil's child" as Honeybee puts it, and I never really felt it was an issue, I just fan them the other way around ahah . From a design point of view, I find it's a bit busy with four corners indices, unless they are really small like in this deckhttps://www.reddit.com/r/playingcards/c ... uction_of/? But then it's not really readable either. Not sure.

I’m not against 4 corner pips - don’t like the idea of tiny ones though - eyes ain’t what they used to be

I have been working on the numbers and letters this afternoon to try something a little more impactful. It is very much work in progress: I need to make a second pass on most of them (for instance J looks too long compared to other letters, and 10 is too wide). But wondering what you think of this tweak to the design?

Very nice—those indices are much better.

I really like four corner pips when done well, but I don't think they're necessary. The notorious gambling frog deck is a good example.

Thank you Manu.
Yes these four corners ones look very good indeed!

MathildeHeu wrote: ↑Fri Oct 06, 2023 4:02 am I just fan them the other way around ahah . From a design point of view, I find it's a bit busy with four corners indices,

Where I live four corner indeces are quite the norm on cards so most lefties aren't used to fan the other way. Not really that busy imho.
New font design is nice, suits the deck just fine.

Heya!

I have tidied up my indices, and tried some new custom pips. I wanted them to remain quite 'simple' but also reflect the lettering, which is why I thought to add those long stems - let me know what you think?

I going to work on the designs for the Aces now

Here is my sketch for the Ace of Spades. I think I might have to adapt the jokers after this, so that they all fit together. I think quite funny that they are messing about with each other's upside-down worlds!

I think these are great! Very whimsical

Thank you so much for sharing these Mathilde. It has been quite a while that a deck impressed me but yours gave me good giggles, looks consistent in design and most importantly is a true deck of playing cards. It manages to look like it could be antique, vintage and contemporary fresh at the same time. The AoS is wonderful. I like that the concept for the aces is a cumulation of the court concept. With 4-corner-indeces these would be 10/10 .

New pips are an upgrade imho btw.

Thanks for your kind words Harvonsgard - you made my day! I'll try to export a version with 4 corner-indices to see what it looks like - promise!

The AoS is brilliant. They are all Very clever. The only one I have a problem with is the QoD - no matter which way she is turned, I see the big nose face. As the AoS is so good it tempts me to suggest that the Jokers too could be a bit different

Thanks Manu and Honeybee! @Honeybee: absolutely for the jokers. I am really attached to the QoD but I see what you mean. She used to have different nose actually, and I was thinking to revert back to it (see the sketches in my very first post - What do you think?).

(She is the very first card I designed for the deck )