Table of contents Concept Inspiration Process Results
With this project, I wanted to explore the personalities and characteristics of many different characters.
And what better way to showcase these letter forms but with a uniquely designed deck of cards. CardMYK once again reverts back to it’s roots. Keeping the simple, yet important aspects of printing and visual color in mind, I wanted to showcase the cards in the most simple, yet dynamic color scheme.
Each number or letter you will see, was redrawn to what I believe best portrays its own style, personality or meaning.
So relax and take some time off from your busy day to enjoy the simple beauty of the color and design of CardMYK.
Every letter, word, number and symbol has personality. Uppercase E’s are definitely a little on the mean side while lowercase e’s are soft and innocent babies.
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Inspiration is so important to me whenever it comes to starting a project. Inspiration helps me get my feet in the right direction and my brain waves flowing. I believe that inspiration is an important tool that can help you throughout your creative processes. For CardMYK, I looked at a wide variety of sources for images, techniques and aesthetics to use while coming up with a process and concept for my designs.
I looked at everything from actual playing cards, to poster design and even certain typefaces. These things all helped me get my mind in gear and sparked an excitement in me that made this project even more fun. The next couple pages outline the different sources and images I looked at to gain inspiration and confidence in myself and this project!
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silk screen printing
This silk screened poster was made using only 2 colors. The purple color was created by the combination of the red and blue and the white is the absence of color.
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The different styles and techniques of the playing cards really caught my attention. The Lumberjack series is a little more detailed while the Pixar series uses color and image well to sucessfully remain simplistic.
Playing Card Concept
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Everyone knows (and loves) the CMYK printing style and color scheme. I love how it has now become available in so many different things! From watches to hilarious art prints, CMYK is more than just a printing method, it is a style trend!
CMYK COLOR SCHEME 7
Cutout Graphics Cutout graphics offer a unique approach to the typical logo design. Paired with an interesting background image, the graphics give you an unique mixture of orgainc form and realism in photography as well as crisp clean lines from vectorized graphics or marks. All images used are courtesy of the following websites: Under Consideration, Designboom, Etsy, Vannen Watches, Behance, and Visual Graphic
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The process work for CardMYK was painstaking, laborious, but entirely worth all the work.
well known and widely used but I also used less famous fonts that still conveyed the same emotions.
First, I listed traits and qualities for each number or letter. I thought about the feeling you get when thinking of each character and what the ideal one would look like.
Using these typefaces as guides, I redrew them making sure to highlight the most important elements of the letter forms.
I collected typefaces that I felt conveyed the feelings and traits that I listed. I looked many fonts that are
Each letter or number has it’s own unique story that can be seen in the cards and my processes along the way.
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two is... cute and friendly, round and chunky, playful and a bit vintage. Clarendon Heavy BT was the main source of inspiration for the rounded two. Using lots of circles and curves, I redrew the two to be slightly more fun than Clarendon usually is. The curves play off of each other nicely and the circles imitate themselves throughout the shape.
three is... a bit more manly, sporty and tough, sometimes mean, always with a flat top. American Typewriter really influenced the shape of the 3. It had the perfect amount of angles and curves. I exaggerated some points in my three and gave it a typical “varsity font� appearance with a stroked outline.
four is... geometric, triangular, pointy, straight with no curves. Akzidenz Grotesk Black was a great help when it came to the overall form of my four. The shape is very geometric and rigid and it uses hierarchy with slightly varying strokes. After many sketches, I ended up breaking my four into many rectangles to create a blocky yet angular number.
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five is... a cowboy, western style, lots of attitude and sass The number five to me is definately straight out of an old western ghost town. I combined different parts of DeLouisville Regular and Louisianne Black to create my cowboy five. The accents on the top and side of the five make it ready for the rodeo.
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six is... round, curvy and feminine, comprised of circles and ovals Didot was my main inspiration for this six. It is so beautiful and elegant with the slim curves and billowing thicknesses. I wanted my six to have an extremely thin area to contrast the hugely curvaceous sides. This six is girly yet there is some edge to it with the abrupt and sharp top.
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seven is... retro, groovy and funky with swirling curves Pompadour Black from LostType.com was my driving force behind my psychedelic seven. It was not quite unique enough for me though. I wanted to exagerate the curves and angles of it even more and make it slightly less squat. I extended the bottom and made the curves even more dramatic.
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eight is... elegant but cute, beautiful with lots of curves. I was especially intrigued by the counter space in the Museo 300 eight. It is unique but still very symmetrical. I wanted to give my eight some curvature with thicks and thins as well. The curves relate to Didot’s eight.
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nine is... minimal, futuristic and thin wiry like an extra tall boy The intensely thin nine is an awesome example of type in the simplest sense. Helvetica Neue really helped me see the shapes in their most barren form. The nine is created is simply two circles. One of the circles is just cut off at attached to the other.
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ten is... classic, with old style numerals, like on a printing press I started with Didot which is a very classical typeface. I wanted my ten to have a little more depth and weight to it than Didot normally has. I stressed the similar sized serifs as well. The two numbers are similar in weights so they fit nicely together. 19
j is... playful and boyish, youthful and a tad bit mischievous I really wanted to make the J seem straight out of adolescence. Emigre’s typeface, Suburban, has such a youthful appearance. I used the rounded tips to give the J a playful appearance and the shadow behind it reminds me of candy stores.
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q is... a Victorian princess, womanly, beautiful and elegant My Q needed to be simple yet elegant. I did not want lots and lots of curls and swirls. The typeface, Sophia, creates a beautifully simple form. I changed the stroke weight so it tapered at the beginning and end to add strength and delicateness.
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k is... regal and large, bold, demanding and masculine I experimented in stem weights for my K. Carton Slab gave me an excellent example to look at. I really loved how the legs connected to each other at different angles. My K has structure and power. I made every leg slightly smaller than the next. This creates stability as well as tension.
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a is... inline, simple yet strong with a small flair. I looked at Ribbon for my A’s inspiration. The A is very angular and unique with strong and sharp lines. Slight modifications turned the distinct A into an A perfect for an ace. 23
After printing and cutting and painting and pasting CardMYK was finished! Each card is special and made individually to work best with the colors and styles of each letter.
There’s not much else to say except playing a game with the CardMYK deck is truly an experience. Instead of using normal colors like red and black, I explored the bold and exciting relm of cyan, magenta yellow and black.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR CARLY RUMPF IS STUDYING GRAPHIC DESIGN AT ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. LEARN MORE AT: ABOUT.ME/CARLYRUMPF