My Design for Tower and Spear chips (1 Viewer)

[Rush4Rod]

I created this design mock-up for the fun of it to go with Tower and Spear chip blanks (WSOP replicas) made for a group buy at that "other site". The set includes 1 and 100K alternates. I intentionally leave off currency symbols so that the lower denoms can be used in high and low stakes cash or tourney sets. For example, 5 and 25 could be ¢ or $ for lower or higher stakes cash games and 25 and 100 serve double duty ($ or T) for both higher stakes cash game and tourney sets.

I used a coat of arm them on my first attemp for thhese chips, but it was too busy. See that design here: http://www.pokerchipforum.com/showthread.php/3720-Coat-of-Arms-Design-for-C-amp-S-Chips

Here is my new design.



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[Mental Nomad]

I can see what people meant about the other set being too busy, but this one kinda feels like something is lacking. I think I liked a some of the elements over there better than the heater over here. The diamond fields over there made it busy, but they added a nice visual texture. I think I prefer the design idea of putting the coat of arms on the chip, as opposed to butting a shield on the chip.

I definitely appreciate the work you're doing to play off the spot colors; but do you have any concern about the print color not matching the clay well, especially under varying lights?

I'm a fan of your thinking re: leaving off the currency symbol. I like the added flexibility.

Also - a few or the numbers are harder to read because the color doesn't contrast as well. Clearly, you want to keep to the them of doing the denoms in the primary spot color, but would you consider giving the digits a black outline? That might increase the legibility. Or perhaps, for 100,000, outline in the chip's base red, and in the 100, outline in the primary dark blue?

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I like the spear element, but I think it should stay the same color on all chips, along with the "Tower" font. The spear is lost in some colors. "Tower" looks good because the element is the same on all chips; I think the same would be true of the spear, with it.

 

[links_slayer]

A few criticisms:

- the denom is difficult to see on the 5 and 100,000
- need a bit more contrast on the yellow chips - the yellow shield is a tad faint? I know you probably want to color match but that won't do you much good if you can't see it against a white background.
- the spear makes the word "Tower" difficult to read
- the font for "Tower" is brutal. The "w" doesn't look like a "w" at all. Almost looks like a "m" or a fancy infinity sign with a tail? Same for the "T" - looks very much like a "C" to my eyes. It looks like "Tomer" or "Comer"

 

[Poker Zombie]

I agree that the font on tower is awful. to me it reads "Cower and spear" which makes me think "Cower and fear."

I get that you want to color match, but when the whole chip color matches, things get lost. In this case the yellow shields and the blue denoms. I would suggest all black denoms, like you did with tower, or a bold red font for all the denoms, and make the pink shields match the spots colors instead of the base. You would be surprised at how nice color matching really can be, when you get out of the rut of thinking "but my other labels match the base", and start thinking "What looks good on this chip."

 

[Mental Nomad]

I disagree with the font hate, but I suppose I've been exposed to more heraldry. If you really want to see some hard-to-read fonts, open dusty old books.

Anyway, I think the font on "Tower" is an important part of the art in this piece; consider it well before abandoning it in favor of readability. Besides, nobody will need to read the word "Tower" twice. Once you've learned what it means, it's the same on all chips. It's your call.

The other criticisms, however, I generally agree with. The 5, 100, 5000, and 100,000 denoms are all too hard to read because of contrast issues... and, to be honest, the two 1 denoms are hard to read because of the font - my brain doesn't immediately see a "1" there. the first thing I see is an upside-down "i". Bear in mind that these will also be seen upside-down as often as rightside-up; the color-matched spade pip makes it look like a exclamation point one way, and an "i" the other way - and I never see a "1" at a glance; instead, I have to think it through. For that matter, because of the color matched denoms, my brain has to figure out what color to look for on each chip. If the denom color was the same on all - or at least limited to two strong colors - you would alleviate that portion of the work.

 

[BNM]

I like the general idea quite a bit, actually. I think some previous posters have ID'd some legitimate issues relative to the ease of the design on the eyes but I really like the concept. My one observation: for whatever reason, the whole shield thing is just not doing it for me. Not sure why. It's fine, but just doesn't move me.

Again, all that said, I really appreciate the general concept and the effort that's gone into making this design!

 

[Rush4Rod]

I disagree with the font hate, but I suppose I've been exposed to more heraldry. If you really want to see some hard-to-read fonts, open dusty old books.

Anyway, I think the font on "Tower" is an important part of the art in this piece; consider it well before abandoning it in favor of readability. Besides, nobody will need to read the word "Tower" twice. Once you've learned what it means, it's the same on all chips. It's your call.

Thanks Nomad, heraldry was what I had in mind for this design so that the chip label and mold compliment each other. As you stated: "The font on 'Tower' is an important part of the art in this piece.'" I used a font called Old English. The T is similar to the T in the fonts used for the NY and LA Times titles. I agree with your point that nobody will need to read the word "Tower" twice. Who reads the NY or LA Cimes?

Keep the 2¢ coming. It's back to the drawing board to address the other critiques, but since I'm doing this just for kicks, they're not likely to be made.

 

[Rush4Rod]

Again, all that said, I really appreciate the general concept and the effort that's gone into making this design!

Thanks!!