One of my most challenging projects
My Frightening Deck of Cards
As part of my Graphic Design II course, my classmates and I were given an exciting and challenging project to work on: creating a deck of cards completely from scratch. I found this task to be particularly inspiring, and set out to come up with a concept that would truly capture people's attention.
After some brainstorming, I decided to take on the challenge of creating the scariest deck of cards possible! This meant that every aspect of the cards - from the images on the faces and suits to the design of the back - had to be genuinely thrilling and frightening. It was definitely a tough assignment, but I was determined to push myself creatively and come up with something truly memorable.
This project also required me to use applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator
Designing the suites
Making the suites fit the overall style of frightfulness that I was going for was a significant challenge. I had to consider how each element of the suites contributed to the overall feeling of horror and unease that I wanted to convey. This meant making difficult design decisions such as what I wanted to change or make different about each suite. For example, I broke the heart in half. I also implemented a lot of sharp edges to give the sense of thrill. this added to the difficulty of finding ways to incorporate images and symbols that were both effective and unsettling.
Designing the face cards
Designing the back and face cards of my deck was a fun challenge. I aimed to create the scariest parts of the cards, and getting the lighting, shadows, and highlights just right was crucial. To add to the fright factor, I implemented thrilling base images, and I chose to make Pennywise the main character of the deck. Symmetry was also essential, so I made sure that all of the cards were symmetrical in design. When making the face cards, color matching and correcting was an issue, but I focused on achieving a sense of unison throughout the deck. Despite the challenges, I was able to create a deck of cards that was truly terrifying and visually striking.
Back
Queen
Jack
King
Designing the middle of each card
To design the middle of each and every single card individually, I first came up with a concept that I felt would fit into the overall theme of my deck. For the hearts and diamonds suites, I decided to create a chalk concept that was reminiscent of body chalk used at crime scenes. The number of bodies depicted on the card increases as the number of the suite increases.
For the spades and clubs, I created an entirely different concept consisting of individual eyes that I illustrated. The design starts with one eye for the ace, and the number of eyes increases as the card number increases. I made sure to keep in mind that the number of the card would correlate with the design for the middle. So, for example, the 5 of hearts would have 5 bodies or eyes.
While symmetry was important for these designs, they are not 100% symmetrical. However, if you flip the card over, it will be difficult to tell. These designs were challenging to create, but they added a unique and terrifying touch to the overall design of the cards.
