Monroe St. Card Room - First Design (1 Viewer)

[HobokenNJ]

I'm not much of a designer, but I really liked the look of the Stardust Mansion chips. With that color scheme in the back of my mind, I downloaded inkscape and started playing around.

This is what I ended up with. The building is the tower at Hoboken Terminal in the great state of New Jersey.

I was thinking of maybe acquiring a small quantity of THC solids (white; red; green; black) as cheaply as possible to build a small cash set for me and my son. Even well worn chips would make my son's day with labels with his name of it.

Do you think what I've done will translate well to labels? Ideas for improvement? (As as aside, I'm not sure I would've believed you if you told me when I signed up for PCF, that one day I'd be up until almost midnight working on designing labels. Thank you?)

 

[Ethan]

Hey Daddy

 

[Ethan]

Is there a reason for the tilted tower? Kinda throwing me off. How about centering it slightly to the left, straight up and down, and put your denom toward the bottom right. Then have the text center wrapped, top and bottom.

Also, is there a way to reduce the grey text without compromising meaning? It outweights the red text a big much.

Just thoughts. Can’t wait to see the final outcome. Best to you and your son!

 

[intjester]

A photograph in negative is a very particular look. Make sure you want that.

The tilt is going to tilt people as already mentioned.

Personally, I would skip the red text. Limiting yourself to black/white makes color clashes between label and chips much less likely.

 

[HobokenNJ]

I was thinking the tiling would let me have the tower be a larger size. It turns out it didn't need to be shrunk when I rotated it.

 

[Ethan]

I was thinking the tiling would let me have the tower be a larger size. It turns out it didn't need to be shrunk when I rotated it.

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100% better already!

Maybe @allforcharity has a lead on some solids?

 

[allforcharity]

100% better already!

Maybe @allforcharity has a lead on some solids?

I can do a full cash set of solids. Up to 700+ chips in great condition, will require milling.

 

[HobokenNJ]

I did a little more work today.

 

[HobokenNJ]

My son wanted a backside of the chips with the denomination. I also wonder if I should talk him into something more generic.... (I think I may be unsuccessful.)

Here's where things currently stand:

 

[allforcharity]

You must be careful with anything that has thin lines, whether on text or graphics, over a black background. It might not look as clean as you want once it is printed.

 

[HobokenNJ]

Messing around with colors. Inkscape is too much fun.

 

[Trihonda]

I’m not a huge fan of the Ethan and Daddy’s name. Ya, you son might be tickled with them for a few months, but will likely grow out of the Calling you daddy phase. Heck, I’d rather see them called Ethan’s room.. but that's just my opinion. These are your chips, so do what you like.

The reason to go with Paulsons is they somewhat hold their value. Personalizing them reduces that value, unless thendesign has universal appeal,

Cool design otherwise, but you might find the text being so small is harder to read. Eliminating “daddy” might allow for a bigger font?

 

[Marhault]

Messing around with colors. Inkscape is too much fun.

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Did you have a blank template to use in inkscape? I tried using it on my tablet the other day and couldn't find a poker chip inlay template.

 

[mrplacey]

Looking promising! I for one love seeing custom Paulsons. Great that you're working on these together.

How about removing the denom from the tower side altogether? I'm with Ethan on the large denom - maybe consider trying a red denom, while removing the thinner ring and aligning the text.

 

[HobokenNJ]

I’m not a huge fan of the Ethan and Daddy’s name. Ya, you son might be tickled with them for a few months, but will likely grow out of the Calling you daddy phase.

Yes -- I agree; I think I've talked him out of the original. Probably should've not shown him that version in the first place.

 

[HobokenNJ]

Did you have a blank template to use in inkscape?

I just started with a drawing a black circle.

EDIT:

1. Learning how to use layers really made things easier for me.
2. The "distribute & align" feature was also helpful.
3. As is the case with (what seems like) almost everything, there's a ton of videos out there on inkscape.

 

[HobokenNJ]

Here's an updated draft.

Continuing my exploration with different colors:

 

[Dodger]

Solid work so far with the updates and being willing to make changes.

Have you tried lowering the tower all the way to the edge so that there is no empty space underneath it? For some reason, I see a floating building upon first glance.

 

[HobokenNJ]

Have you tried lowering the tower all the way to the edge so that there is no empty space underneath it?

I had not; but now I have. I think it's a definite improvement. The denomination was lowered a bit. Thank you!

 

[Dodger]

I had not; but now I have. I think it's a definite improvement. The denomination was lowered a bit. Thank you!

I agree - much better making that small adjustment.

 

[HobokenNJ]

A new slate of chips. @Dodger's insight really made a big big difference.

 

[LinkyBabe]

If you haven't already, print them in real size and hold them at arm's length to see if you need to adjust sizing.

 

[ranger764]

The denom’s on the backside should all be the same size in my opinion

 

[HobokenNJ]

If you haven't already, print them in real size and hold them at arm's length to see if you need to adjust sizing.

I was planning on doing that today.

 

[allforcharity]

Grey text on black background might be a recipe for disaster. My advice would be to try to outline the letters in white or other bright colour to bring in more contrast. Otherwise it might be unreadable. It might look okay on a crisp mock-up on an HD monitor, but remember that the real inlay is less than 1" diameter.

 

[HobokenNJ]

If you haven't already, print them in real size and hold them at arm's length to see if you need to adjust sizing.

The denom’s on the backside should all be the same size in my opinion

Grey text on black background might be a recipe for disaster. My advice would be to try to outline the letters in white or other bright colour to bring in more contrast. Otherwise it might be unreadable.

Thank you for all the feedback. Unfortunately, my day job was in the way of further work on the design, but I do plan to play around with fonts and coloring to increase legibility in the near future.

I really appreciate the comments. PCF is almost certainly the friendliest / most-helpful forum I've been a member of.

 

[HobokenNJ]

Starting to narrow down color choices. I think I prefer the light blue for the $1. I'm having trouble with the green. Initially I was thinking v2, but v1 is starting to grow on me.

EDIT: V1 was selected.

 

[allforcharity]

v1 works nicely because of contrast: brigher-darker-brighter-darker.
v4 is not bad, either (for the same reasons).

 

[HobokenNJ]

Playing around with fonts and sizing and colors. Still needs tweaking, but wanted to see how these print.

 

[allforcharity]

For the denom-only side, make sure you center the number alone. Then add your small dollar sign to the left as a separate element.

Otherwise, I think your text sizing is getting better/more readable.