Reid Swafford

Thanks to lockdown, a deck of playing cards is one the trendiest birthday presents. Designing your own customized playing cards to sell online can be a profitable way to use your creativity.

Our custom print runs allow you to advertise single packs or multiple deck designs. This gives you the opportunity to sell custom decks to individuals or branded playing cards to businesses. You can even make individual packs of photo printed personalized playing cards to sell as special gifts. When printing playing cards, high quality card stock is important. Anything less than 16pt card will feel too thin and will get bent easily.

This article will show you:

But first, it’s important to understand how to select the right card stock and the correct dimensions.

Before starting your designs, you need to choose the appropriate card sizes for their intended purpose. Typically, decks are different sizes depending on their use. For example, if you were to design your own tarot cards, the decks are usually 2.75'' x 4.75''. They are an inch long than regular poker cards to show off the intricate design details.

A standard deck size is 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. Most decks are typically this size and it has become known as the standard size for playing cards. Therefore, it’s the best choice for playing cards, unless you are selling them for a specific card game.

Decks of cards for bridge are usually 2.25 inches by 3.5 inches. This smaller card size makes it easier to play bridge when you need to hold 13 cards at once.

Poker cards are normally 2.5 inches x 3.5 inches. That’s 0.3 inches wider than standard playing cards. This is because you usually only hold 5 cards, so they don’t overlap each other much.

We are often asked ‘how thick are playing cards?’ and we usually say 16pt paper. For a high quality print finish, it needs to be at least 16pt to eliminate transparency.

We won’t print playing cards on less than 14pt because you will see your designs on the other side. They will bend easily if you riffle shuffle them.

For premium cards, 18pt card stock feels much higher quality because the paper feels thicker and stronger. We can also print onto 32pt for double thickness or 38pt colour core paper. Thicker cards are sometimes chosen for sturdy card stacking structures.

Once you know which size you want to design and print, you can start designing. Here are 4 steps to designing your deck, followed by 4 tips to maximize your playing card sales.

Choose a design program such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. We recommend these because they have pre-drawn templates. These design programs allow you to design and format your playing card designs all in one place. Gimp is a good free alternative.

Select the pre-drawn suits in the program. It gives you a good starting point for your own design.

If you are making photo printed playing cards, you can import images into the design software. Importing photos of people is a great way to make personalized gifts.

There are many stock websites such as Shutterstock, iStock and Getty Images where you can download professional photography, like the photo of the lion above.

Stock websites make it easy to download professional photography of common holiday resorts and coastal images. Many people play cards while on holiday, so perhaps consider offering a tourist theme or coastal playing cards. If you are feeling more creative, think about using your own photography skills or take photos of your artwork and illustrations.

Scanning the back of a playing card you already own, might save you time. However, they look very generic, even if you add your customer’s initials in the middle. Instead, think about downloading images that you can drag and drop into your design.

There are lots of graphics of the four suits that are available for download. Images can be dragged and dropped into your design for the back of the card. It’s a simple technique but often looks very elegant.

Aura Print is a specialist in custom printing with many years' of experience. We have a few tips and ideas for making your card designs look more luxurious.

Choosing 18pt paper ensures that your cards won’t feel thin and flimsy. No one wants that!

The most popular type of card stock is silk paper, however, we have a range of specialist paper types. Why not order a paper sample pack to see our colour core paper. It has a central colored card which can be seen along the edge of your playing cards.

We offer three types of laminates which will protect your card from dirt and damage. For a matte finish, we offer a matt laminate or soft touch laminate. Neither of them reflect the light, but the soft touch laminate has a smooth velvety finish.

Our gloss laminate is chosen to enhance the designs, it makes the colors more vivid. For an indepth comparison, read our article Laminated business cards types and benefits .

We recommend rounded corners for playing cards. It’s a traditional style and it makes your deck look more professional too.

Did you know, we can print a die cut flyer to the shape of your box. We can also put creases and folds it for you.

Game stores and independent shops may stock your playing card designs. If you are selling to businesses, maybe consider offering a sale or return agreement.

Try generating sales by offering to make a custom playing card design specifically for their shop. For example, tattoo parlors often sell quirky products in their studio. You can offer poker cards with their branding and their shop address on the back. Skull and grunge designs are a particular hit with tattoo lovers. The face cards (king, queen and jack) could have tattoos.

Designing corporate playing cards can be sold as brand merchandise. Companies are always looking for new ways to promote their products, especially at exhibitions. Visitors love corporate merchandise that are light enough to carry around an exhibition hall.

A corporate deck of cards can easily be given to customers at tradeshows. Higher value merchandise is proven to be kept for longer. Rather than pens, which are easily lost or discarded.

Card and board game hobbies are becoming increasingly popular during lockdown. Creating score cards for board games can add more variety to your online shop. It will show your visitors that you can design many different card types.

We work with graphic designers who design score cards for board games like dungeons and dragons. Check out the cards above that we printed for Ramona for her Etsy shop AlderDoodle. Her design is a great way to keep a game of dungeons and dragons in order.

If you are printing lots of cards to sell, you can include your own branding on the cards. Include your website on the back of your card designs.

We can print loyalty cards and flyers to boost your playing card sales. To boost customer loyalty, you could include thank you for your order cards in each shipment to let your customers know that you appreciate their custom.

For more information, read our blog ‘ tips for using thank you for your order cards.

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The Scratch Bar

Address: 8/1 Park Rd, Milton QLD 4064, Australia