Shannon Miwa

Standard American Playing Cards

  • Solo designer
  • Conceptualization
  • Illustration
  • Custom lettering
  • Print production
  • Distribution

American Standard Playing Cards was a two year personal project that allowed me to flex my type, lettering, illustration, and system design skills. I loved putting thoughtful details into every piece of this small object, down to the stickers closing the box.

Team

  • Just me

Product Impact

  • Printed an offset run of 3,000 decks, donated most of them to youth shelters in every state
  • Got some very nice thank you letters
  • Intangible? Immeasurable? Hard to measure what representation means to someone who doesn't often see themselves in other things

The project began as a redesign exercise to make some cool new cards, but ended as a philosophical design exercise that challenged and used all my skills. I struggled with the concept quite a bit, and though I completed them in 2020, the conversation they are involved in feels even more applicable today.

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