Card Backs Design
Over the weekend, I started and finished the designs for the backs of my cards. I ended up basing the design for the backs on the design that I had created for the backgrounds of my cards. I feel having this common design element creates a lot of cohesion for the fronts and backs of the card designs.
Card Deck Box Design
From there I set to creating the box design for my cards. Luckily in the design process for the backs of my cards, I had developed a design that I thought would actually suit really well for the box front. This is the final version of the box which I'm very pleased with.
Illustration and Story Cards
Once I had finished the box, I moved on to creating the instruction card for the game. Originally, I had thought this might be a small booklet to fit inside the box but due to time constraints I decided it was best to keep with the card format. Even thought the instructions were going to be on one of the cards, I wanted to make them very visually different so they would not be confused with the playing cards, this is why I elected to have the gradient rim around the outside of the card and not the white (which is used on the rest of the cards).
Whilst making the instruction card, it occurred to me that there was no other information on the actual story. If the aim of my deck is to introduce children to the story- it seems like it would only make sense to include media in the deck that has information on the story.
Character Illustration and Card Formatting
Once I had all the illustrations and card backgrounds created I had to format the cards. This included bringing in all the characters on to the four different coloured backgrounds. This took quite a bit of time as I had to individually resize each character so that that all were the same size on the cards. During this it occurred to me that I would need an alternative background for the bull. As there is only one bull in the deck and he is the special card, he is not tied to a colour of suit. I decided that implementing the colourful gradient version of the background would be the best idea as it includes all colours of the suits.
It was at this point that I realised my title typeface did not include a fada which was an issue as there are a number of places where it would be neccessary to include. Most importantly in Cúchulainn's name. So I got creative and after researching some similar typefaces I managed to find a fada that I felt would match Eckmann and created my own fada design based on this.
I then compiled all the designs into the print ready document so that they were ready to be sent off. I did the same with the designs for the backs of the cards.
Mockups
Once I had formatted all the cards, it was time for the fun part, putting them on mockups! However I'm not going to show them here, you'll have to wait until next week for the grand reveal.
Final Feedback Meeting
On Tuesday I had my final feedback meeting on my project. This was my first time showing the final cards to anyone and I had a few last minute questions about submission. At this point my lecturer stressed that final testing of the deck would be important in finishing the loop for the project.
Prints-
On Tuesday, I went into the college to discuss potential different paper types that I could print my cards on to. Ivan in the FabLab explained to me that they only had 2 types of paper either matte or glossy. He explained to me that many students who wanted to print on card, printed the paper versions and stuck the prints on to card. I decided this is what I would have to do. When exporting out the cards I had an issue with Illustrator blowing up the size of the jpegs so I didn't end up sending the cards to Ivan until Thursday after I had resolved the issue. On Friday morning, I received the email to come pick up my prints and went to collect them. Over the weekend I will be cutting out and preparing the deck to be tested on Sunday before our final submission and presentation next week.
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