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 has sold over 20,000 copies, in over 160 retail stores nationwide, including REI and 6 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 retro line drawn style, trees, mountains, and patterns. All elements are pressed with silver foil onto a matte box.
Playing Cards in Use
Story
Driven by my love for the outdoors and US National Parks, I launched a deck of cards in 2019 through a 30-day Kickstarter campaign. With an initial goal of $2,500 to produce 500 decks, we surpassed expectations, raising $6,341. This allowed us to print 1,000 decks, with 300 sent to our generous backers.
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.
Shortly after, National Park Playing Cards reached the wholesale market, including over 150 boutique stores in 49 states. They are also sold at Canyonlands, Arches, Saguaro, Mount Rainier, Shenandoah Valley, and Zion National Park visitor centers.
In 2022, I became the youngest vendor at REI, at 18 years old.