Project: The SWISS deck

The SIWSS deck is a deck of 104 playing cards, wich can be used to play over 14 different games (this includes role-playing card games similar to Avalon and Werewolves, an UNO-type game, and many others). It can also be split up into two regular card decks with different suits, allowing for classic playing card games to be played with up to 8 players, instead of 4.

We first tried to combine and intertwine the iconography for as many games as we could, to maximize the amount of games we could fit on the cards. We also came up with some thematic variations on existing games. (Along the way, the list of games was somewhat amended.) Afterwards, I looked for the best way to fit the imagery onto the limited space of a card, with a focus on legibility and decluttering. When the layout was complete, I designed all the symbols that would be needed around the edges of the cards; Color indicators, UNO symbols, value & number indicators, 4 card suits, and 4 new, different card suits. With all of these, again the focus was on simplicity and legibility.
The extra card suits had to seamlessly blend in with the existing ones, so as to feel natural and in place. They were inspired by previous attempts at multiple-suit card decks like Jim Watson's Deck6. I named the new suits Shields, Cups, Nibs, and Paddles.
Where a regular card deck only has a portrait on the J,Q, and K cards, the SWISS deck has one on every card. I illustrated 58 different characters for the centerpieces of the cards.

We figured out the most logical and efficient arrangements for the cards to be in, and made an Excel-sheet of the result. With a little setup and tweaking, I could link the sheet into Illustrator to batch generate all of the cards. This meant not having to manually select the correct graphic elements (out of over 220) for each card. I did go back to check each card for mistakes, and to correct the kerning where necessary.

After the front of the deck was finished, I started working on the branding and backs of the cards. We came up with the name "SWISS deck" pretty early on in the project, and I worked off of that. Together with the cleanness and simplicity of the card faces, I had a pretty solid base to work from.
I designed the back of the deck, the box art, the rule and explanation sheets, and some branding imagery, all in the same style.

Before print, we wanted to playtest all the games in the deck. Due to Covid, we elected to playtest digitally, using Tabletop Simulator. For this, I learned how to use TTS' tools to build a digital version of the deck, and built a digital evironment to play it in. We playtested with multiple groups and found no issues.
I prepared all documents for print, as the project awaits funding.

Designer and creative lead

Card concept/layout, Card design, Character illustration, Batch processing of cards, Logo, Branding, Box/packaging, Instruction leaflet, Digitization into Tabletop Simulator, Printing

Adobe Illustrator, GIMP, Microsoft Excel, Tabletop Simulator

Freelance, for an individual client