Playing Card design

What do the cards mean? Did you know that the king of hearts represented Charlemagne… the king of Diamonds was Julius Caesar… the king of clubs was Alexander the Great and… the king of spades was King David from the Bible?

History of the playing card… The earliest playing cards are believed to have originated in Central Asia. The documented history of card playing began in the 10th century. Chinese began using paper dominoes by shuffling and dealing them in new games. Four-suited decks with court cards evolved in the Moslem world and were imported by Europeans before 1370. In those days, cards were hand-painted and only the very wealthy could afford them. With the invention of woodcuts in the 14th century, Europeans began mass-production

The Western contribution… It is from French designs that the cards we use today are derived. France gave us the suits of spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts, and the use of simple shapes and flat colors helped facilitate manufacture. Americans began making their own cards around 1800. Refinements included: double-headed court cards (to avoid the nuisance of turning the figure upright) varnished surfaces (for durability and smoothness in shuffling) indexes (the identifying marks placed in the cards’ borders or corners) rounded corners (which avoid the wear that card players inflict on square corners). Americans also invented the Joker.

Avoid (at all costs) the split in half look of the cards to the left. Instead, your goal is to try and create a design that flows from one side to the other fluidly and without a discernable break.

Your assignment… Create a design for a face card of any suit. Your face needs to be the basis of the figure on the card. Card needs to be reversible with a fluid design that flows form one side to the other seamlessly. You will need to use limited color. Emphasis on pattern (use of pattern tools, cut and paste and stamp tools). Image should be stylized to some extent (flattened, outlined etc).

The standard Bicycle deck Bicycle is the most well known and commonly used deck in the world today. It has four suits (clubs, hearts, diamonds and spades). What do the signs stand four (what are they symbols of)? Each suit has three face cards (king, queen and jack). What makes a card a “suicide” card? It has five colors (red, blue, yellow, black and white). The cards have highly stylized (or simplified) imagery.

A playing card gallery…

Pictorial face cards… These cards are much illustrative and have an approach that is based on a drawing or picture of a “person”. Much more realistic in nature (or at least containing what we would call recognizable subject matter).

Design oriented face cards… These cards are much more abstract and have a more design oriented approach. Based on shapes, forms and colors rather than an illustration or picture of a person (or stylized to the point of being abstract).