Creating icons/ visual images for the facial deck-cards.

Then I chose to design images that are inspired by the traditional costumes of the ethnic minorities living in Vietnam. The characters on this deck are stylized in a cute, funny, and abstract way like cartoon characters.

Vietnam has a total of 54 ethnic minorities. Each ethnic group has traditional costumes imbued with regional cultural identities. The costumes are made from brocade material with many eye-catching colors and patterns.Therefore, I used these visual materials for my design ideas.

Out of these 54 ethnic minorities, I selected 4 ethnic groups to represent the 4 pieces in the deck of cards: spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts. Each ethnic group has its own set of colors to make a difference and as an identication point for each piece. In addition, in order to distinguish the piecesin the same sequence, such as: king, queen, jack, I used the patterns onthe brocade costumes of each ethnic group to serve as the background for
identication. And just like the original version of the deck, each of my cards has a reversal, but it's a reversal of the male and female characters.

I designed this deck of cards for two reasons. Firstly, the deck of cards currently on the market is mainly aimed at adults, so the shapes on the cards are very "mature". Therefore, to design a deck that can be closer to children, I chose eye-catching colors and funny cartoon characters. because I think "Playing deck cards aren't bad. It's a relaxing way of entertainment. It's a way of connecting people. So why can't the kids play cards?" 

The second reason is that I want to spread the beauty of Vietnamese culture to everyone. Vietnamese culture is a harmonious and diverse combination of many different cultures. Although it is a small country, Vietnam has a rich, diverse, and colorful culture.