National Park Playing Cards
Industry:Outdoors, Travel
Deliverables:Product Design, Package Design, Marketing
Description:A personal project turned small business, National Park Playing Cards is a product that I created in 2019, driven by my passion for the outdoors and love for the US National Parks. Since its inception, National Park Playing Cards have been sold over 20,000 times, in over 160 retail stores nationwide, including REI and 5 National Park Visitor Centers.
Card Design
Minimal linework is used to depict the 52 most popular US National Parks. The face cards have filled in circles with negative space lines to distinguish them from the other cards.
The back of each card depicts natural elements, including the sunn, the moon, trees, mountains, and leaves.
Each suit represents a different region in the United States. Diamonds represent parks in the Southwest, Spades represent the parks in the Northwest, Clubs represented the East, and Hearts, the South. Additionally, the card values are sorted by park popularity, with ace featuring the most visited parks, and 2 featuring the least visited parks.
The jokers depict two iconic native American animals, the American Black Bear and the American Elk.
Box Design
The box design features the National Park Service arrowhead logo design in a line drawn style, trees, mountains, and patterns. All elements are pressed with silver foil.
Playing Cards in Use
Story
Motivated by my deep passion for the outdoors and my admiration for the US National Parks, I embarked on a journey in 2019 to bring my vision to life by creating a deck of cards. Through a 30-day Kickstarter campaign, I shared this passion with the world. Initially aiming to raise $2500 to manufacture 500 decks, the overwhelming support saw us achieve nearly triple the funding goal, reaching a total of $6341. With the funds raised, we were able to print 1000 decks, and 300 of these were duly distributed to our generous backers.
Kickstarter
After selling out the first batch of decks, a custom website and an Etsy were created to fulfill direct online orders. Ads were placed on Google, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok directing users to the shop.
Product Website
Etsy
Shortly after, National Park Playing Cards reached the wholesale market, including over 160 boutique stores in 49 states. They are also sold at Canyonlands, Arches, Saguaro, Mount Rainier, and Zion National Park visitor centers.
In 2022, I became the youngest vendor at REI, at 18 years old.
By the Numbers
Special Thanks:
Baba, Keaton Wong, Ethan Hosford