Oracle Deck Diaries - Episode 1: Product Design (Cards & Guidebook)
Welcome to the first article in the Oracle Deck Diaries-series. In these blog posts, I update you on the recent progress of my indie oracle deck-project.
If you want to learn more about my oracle deck, you can check out this page, read this article or watch this video.
Physical Product Design
The physical product will consist of three elements: the cards, the guidebook and the packaging. This article focuses on the design of the cards and the guidebook.
Let’s start this off with something exciting. Here are the current digital designs for the cover of the guidebook and the backside of the cards:
Please note that the designs are not final and do not represent the finished product.
I have finished most of the initial content of the deck (artwork, text and layouts), and I am now figuring out which physical form the product will take.
I am contemplating the following questions:
What size should the single elements of the deck be printed in? What works best both from a visual and user-friendly perspective?
There is no way to design a product that will satisfy everyone. Still, I want to make the deck as good as it can possibly be.
Hence, I decided to ask for your opinion, after I give you some insight into my current thought process.
The Oracle Cards
What size should the oracle cards be?
Currently, my choice would be to print the cards in a format that is on the larger side. An ideal size would be 100x140mm, which is almost the size of a regular postcard.
Why would I choose this format?
Since the artwork of the deck is full of tiny details it needs a lot of room to work visually. The traditional tarot format (70x120mm) may be too small.
When looking at the market, oracle cards seem to be generally bigger than tarot cards. I want to follow this trend with my deck as well.
However, the cards must still be comfortable to use. This leads me to the next question.
How is an oracle deck used?
In my practice, I use tarot cards in a more casual way than oracles. I generally pick multiple cards in a reading from a tarot deck. Hence, I prefer those cards to be handy.
“The Weaver’s Oracle” is the only oracle deck, I use on a regular basis. I love this deck, even though I can’t hold the cards comfortably. They are simply too huge.
Picking a card from it still works for me. I actually love the big format of the cards, because I mainly use them to display the card of the weaver, I currently work with, on my altar.
How do I envision the cards to be used?
While it is impossible to cater to every individual user, I can focus on how I envision the cards to be used, and choose the design according to this.
The Goddesses and Spirits of European Myth Oracle is designed to be used in a slow and mindful way. Picking one card per reading works best for both the divination and the devotion approach described in the guidebook.
Thus, a big card format should give the reader the chance to really dive into the artwork, use the cards for path working, and display them as a representation of the goddess, they are working with, in their sacred space.
However, this is only my opinion on the card size. I am not designing this deck for myself, but for you.
I would love to know your opinion on the card size.
The Guidebook
The next element to consider is the guidebook. As of right now, the guidebook has 188 pages with a format of 148x210mm. It contains both the information needed to work with the deck, as well as all of the cards’ artworks in an even bigger format. In short, it is designed as both a guidebook and a collector’s art book.
With regards to physical product design, the following questions come to mind:
Does the deck really need a luxurious hardcover guidebook, or is a small glued one without the artworks sufficient?
What is more important: to keep the product price as low as possible or to make the product as beautiful and true to my vision as I can?
Does the deck need a physical guidebook or is a digital version enough?
Let us consider all of our options.
Large Guidebook (Hardcover/ Softcover)
Choosing this option would allow me to display the texts and the artwork in the way I originally envisioned them to be. The book would be a beautiful item in itself, and not just a mere commodity.
However, printing a high quality guidebook is more expensive than the other options.
Making a softcover version instead of a hardcover would cut some of the costs, while still giving space to the artwork and the design of the guidebook.
Small Booklet
Small booklets are a popular option for decks. They are usually the same size as the cards, and glued along the spine.
They can be less expensive to produce, and they allow for less pricey packaging options as well. Their overall quality is lower, and in my personal experience they are mostly flimsy, never stay open when you try to take notes, and threaten to fall apart very easily.
Choosing this option would mean removing all of the artwork from the guidebook and make it text-only.
The small booklet would probably become very thick due to all of the information the guidebook now contains. Even without the artworks, the text would possibly fill up to 300 pages. It is questionable whether it would be comfortable to use a small sized book with that amount of pages.
Digital guidebook
Choosing this option would definitely lower the product price. It is arguably a more ecologically friendly option as well, because nothing needs to be printed or otherwise produced.
A digital guidebook would make the production possibly faster and easier for me.
However, making the guidebook available in digital format does not align with my personal vision for the oracle deck. I strive to make a product that can be used offline, without having to look at yet another screen.
Plus, this option puts the content at a higher risk of being stolen. I have been forced to deal with art theft throughout my whole career, and I know that you can never truly protect your work from this. This is just a personal sentiment though.
With all of the options discussed, I would love to know your opinion on the guidebook.
That’s it for this week’s article! I hope you enjoyed this in depth look behind the scenes, and I would love to hear your feedback about the card size and the guidebook format.
Next time, I will talk about the packaging as the final element of the physical product.
I will be posting regular updates about the process of the deck in the future.
If you want to support my work, you can follow me on Instagram, visit my YouTube-channel or become a Patron.
