Polaris Equinox

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davegk
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Polaris Equinox

Unread post by davegk »

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since I launched a new Vanda deck and I've been toying with plenty of options. One idea that I'm very excited about is a new edition of the Polaris deck. Polaris solar and lunar are both sold out and I've gotten lots of very positive feedback on the Polaris designs in general.

Equinox represents the balance between night and day - a semi-annual occurrence when the two are equally represented. This deck takes a literal approach to dividing each card face into day/night and there will be both light and dark versions of the tuck and back designs. I've used a very bold color palette and application to make these cards very usable for game play and gorgeous for cardistry purposes as well.

The tuckboxes will feature embossing and silver foil, a first for any Vanda deck.

I think I've got the design finalized though I'm open to feedback. I'm also curious to hear what you'd like to see in a Kickstarter campaign for this deck -- stretch goals, accessories (if any), etc...

Thanks!
-David
equinox-faces.jpg
equinox-tuck-dark.jpg
equinox-tuck-light.jpg
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by jaytayo2212 »

Wow, I'm a big fan of the Polaris series, so this looks amazing! I'm already excited for it :D

I think the deck is definitely different in respect towards having those split color backgrounds for the numbers and court cards. Some might complain that the cards are no longer two-way like the backs, but I personally love the sharp contrast. It also fits the theme of the series too I believe.

My concern is that the light card backs and light tuck box might be difficult to discern details. Albeit, since the background is white as well, the details are difficult to see on the computer. My point is that once funding is completed, it might be best to double check test prints before production to make sure the light gray can still be seen. In addition, the same can be said about the silver foil on the light tuck. These are just small concerns overall. Otherwise, everything else looks fantastic!
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by davegk »

Thanks, Jaytayo!

Yeah, part of the goal of the solid backgrounds across half of the faces was to create a design that would allow for cool flourishing effects.

I'll definitely be getting proofs to make sure the details look right on both light/dark decks. Same with the tucks.
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by TGunitedcardists »

davegk wrote: I think I've got the design finalized though I'm open to feedback. I'm also curious to hear what you'd like to see in a Kickstarter campaign for this deck -- stretch goals, accessories (if any), etc...
David, unfortunately these decks aren't for me. I'm not a big fan of four color decks, but others are. The part I dislike is the Kings you've shown all look too similar. It looks like a copy/paste to save time while moving the arms around. The color combinations don't really work well either. The green and the black are also similar, the green that you've chosen isn't that pleasing to the eye. It's a gray-green. In addition, the back design would be really difficult to pull off for the printers without errors.

This deck isn't for me, but just honest feedback. I wish you luck if you decide to explore Kickstarter, but I believe you'll have an uphill battle. Just one guys opinion.
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by davegk »

David, unfortunately these decks aren't for me. I'm not a big fan of four color decks, but others are. The part I dislike is the Kings you've shown all look too similar. It looks like a copy/paste to save time while moving the arms around. The color combinations don't really work well either. The green and the black are also similar, the green that you've chosen isn't that pleasing to the eye. It's a gray-green. In addition, the back design would be really difficult to pull off for the printers without errors.

This deck isn't for me, but just honest feedback. I wish you luck if you decide to explore Kickstarter, but I believe you'll have an uphill battle. Just one guys opinion.
Hi TG,

Thanks for the feedback.

Every aspect of this deck has been created based on very specific design-based decisions to do so. The royalty cards intentionally have a very unified look to them and the alterations between them may be subtle but they are certainly not designed that way out of laziness and it's far from copying/pasting - take a closer look.

I have to disagree about the color palette. I spent plenty of time and thought coming up with the exact colors used for the deck. Sorry to hear they don't appeal to you, but that's simply a matter of aesthetic preference. Of note: there is no black in the design, just a dark blue and it doesn't look at all similar to the green as far as I can tell - perhaps your monitor colors are off a bit? Trust me that when printed the color palette will work very well :)

I had no problems printing the back designs before - USPC did a great job at getting them well-registered and they turned out great.

I'm not sure why you think a Kickstarter campaign will be an uphill battle... For your reference, please see the original Polaris Kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/go ... ds-printed... the most successful campaign I've run so far.
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by MagikFingerz »

As someone who loved the first Polaris decks, I can't really get behind these either. While I like the faces (aside from them being one-way, but they can't all be), the backs are way too simple for me to get excited about. What I loved about the originals was the deeply contrasting color palette used; these are pretty much just black and white.

Just another guy's opinion. I wish you good luck regardless.
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by davegk »

Hey Tom,

Thanks for the input! I actually printed some proofs through MPC and just got them the other day. I agree that the back design is lacking contrast and it's much more apparent in printed form. I've been playing around with some different variations and below is my favorite of the designs I've come up with.

Let me know what you guys think of V2.

Thanks!
MagikFingerz wrote:As someone who loved the first Polaris decks, I can't really get behind these either. While I like the faces (aside from them being one-way, but they can't all be), the backs are way too simple for me to get excited about. What I loved about the originals was the deeply contrasting color palette used; these are pretty much just black and white.

Just another guy's opinion. I wish you good luck regardless.
polaris-equinox-backs-v2.jpg
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by MagikFingerz »

That's definitely a step up, David!
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by davegk »

Just got the new MPC prototypes in...man, the quality that MPC is putting out is really top notch and super fast (received prototypes in the mail 1 week after placing order).

I also got tuckbox prototypes. :D Worth noting: I got some proofs with silver foil and some with holographic foil...the latter is shown below (and looks really cool in person)

So...here's a few preliminary photos:
decks-inbox.jpg
tuck-fronts.jpg
tuck-backs.jpg
tuck+decks.jpg
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by shaitani »

Just my two cents.

Tuck box:
  • I think both tucks looks amazing in the photo, particularly the white one.
Backs:
  • I'm a little torn on the design overall, but regarding the colors, I think I prefer the v2 black and the v1 white. I'm not a fan of the orange/red backs for a light themed deck at all personally. I get the connection to the sun, but it feels out of place.
Fronts:
  • I don't know yet how I feel about the one-way aspect of the faces, but I definitely like the design.
In all, I would buy one of each on a KS.
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by MagikFingerz »

shaitani wrote:Just my two cents.

Tuck box:
  • I think both tucks looks amazing in the photo, particularly the white one.
Backs:
  • I'm a little torn on the design overall, but regarding the colors, I think I prefer the v2 black and the v1 white. I'm not a fan of the orange/red backs for a light themed deck at all personally. I get the connection to the sun, but it feels out of place.
Fronts:
  • I don't know yet how I feel about the one-way aspect of the faces, but I definitely like the design.
In all, I would buy one of each on a KS.
I agree, especially about the white deck. I would try to invert the colors on the V1 and V2 black deck and see how they turn out (as a white deck), then maybe work from there if the contrast isn't quite right.
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by Stepchild »

For myself I liked that both the V1 backs had a better visual distance from the original series backs...

What I wonder though is whether it's reading between the lines too much to imagine that there really could be two additional compelling "Solstice" recolor/redesigns to come???
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Re: Polaris Equinox

Unread post by RichK »

MagikFingerz wrote:
shaitani wrote:Just my two cents.

Tuck box:
  • I think both tucks looks amazing in the photo, particularly the white one.
Backs:
  • I'm a little torn on the design overall, but regarding the colors, I think I prefer the v2 black and the v1 white. I'm not a fan of the orange/red backs for a light themed deck at all personally. I get the connection to the sun, but it feels out of place.
Fronts:
  • I don't know yet how I feel about the one-way aspect of the faces, but I definitely like the design.
In all, I would buy one of each on a KS.
I agree, especially about the white deck. I would try to invert the colors on the V1 and V2 black deck and see how they turn out (as a white deck), then maybe work from there if the contrast isn't quite right.
I'm with MagikFingerz about the white back. Try a black star with varying shades of gray or lighter color. The orange and black backs (v2) don't match the amazing tucks if that makes sense.
Move on, nothing to see here.
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