PROJECT 4

National Parks Playing Cards Deck

Objective:
The goal was to create a complex system for a unique set of 54 playing cards. For this project, I picked National/State Parks.

To make the deck work, I had to break the concept down into a category of three (to represent K, Q, and J), and a category of four (to represent the four suits: spade, hearts, diamonds, club). I chose four earthy colors to represent each suit.

To ensure the inclusion of my favorite state and national parks in this project, I categorized my facing cards to represent (1) mountains, (2) canyons, and (3) lakes.

Mountains: Yosemite, Rocky Mountains, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Rainier
Canyons: Grand Canyons, Zion National Park, Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon
Lakes: Great Lakes, Salt Lake Flats, Crater Lake, Lake Tahoe

I took concept photographs of each location and reduced them to a simple outlines. I also knew I wanted my facing cards to be reversible, so the illustrations needed to be detailed enough to be identifiable, but simple enough to be easily reduced. Below, you can see my process.