Souvenir of London

Thankfully the people at 'It's not just a shop' are very pleased with the progress of the 'Capital in Chaos' Card game and want to go ahead with pushing the idea forward to possibly be in the shop and for sale. This means we were faced with the difficult choice of finding the best company to print the card game that was sustainable but most importantly money efficient. The comapny we found was reasonable and as researched before; was smarter for the classic card box packaging due to a much cheaper price for mass production. We are looking forward to the first proffesional print to be in our hands and believe we can make this work as a final sellable product... A souvenir.

Dealing with this illustration-heavy product that relies on its engagement with the players of the game, more than a 'souvenir' of london; its about focusing on the longetivity of the card game. We need to keep the design interesting, relevant and not offensive. Like mentioned at the beginning of the project, past versions, specifically ones dated back to the early 20th century could be considered prejudice. The 'characature' aspect of our categories need to be funny and articulate but most importantly illustrate that there is a self awareness in our thinking and decision making. So far we believe we have achieved this. The diversity is honest and resembles modern London and the types of people you find, the alliteration of the names ticks that engagement aspect box too. Humour is present especially in categories like the 'Commuters' and 'Hipsters'.

This is the design mockup that visualises the finished product in a bag. However after researching eco-friendly companies and websites that help scale up prices, it won't be cost-efficient. The traditional box that we will now make a move with is not only much cheaper to produce in large quantities, but it is also more recognisable to a shopper that this is a deck of cards. A bag may be too ambiguous. We also looked at the idea of a tin but we were faced with similar issues like the bag.

 With the back of the cards, we wanted to give an idea of Londons landmarks and have reference to the transport but in a way that hasn't been overdone a million times already. So instead made these icons into a larger kind of pattern. The tower bridge mirrored with the logo/title sprawled in between. The group of us believed the design we finished with is the constant of our overall design and how we should base the packaging around. A mockup of what the final print could look like.

So with this set of characters in our newly named  'Capital in Chaos' card game, I felt like this lot needed to be different and have some references to London right now. Grime as a music category is very London based and retains a very cultural background. This group includes: MC MC2 Fanboy 'Hype' man I'm very pleased with these illustrations and enjoy the subtle playfulness in these drawings (which I feel is becoming a trait of mine in my work) unlike the commuter ones, which is more of a given form of humour.

In the entire pack of cards there will be eight groups of four categories. Two of these groups will share the same illustration style. I have chosen to be the face of the 'commuter' pack and also the 'Grime' category.  With my first set I have included: Tired Tony Spacious Sonia Loud Luke Angry Anne Which all share the same sketched style but all include some aspect of humour. Commonly quite angry and frustrated, I find Commuters in general are quite entertaining outside of the 'Rush Hour' frame of mind. All include little details that will provoke more engagement with the characters and the people playing the card game.