Abstract
The history of playing cards is a graphic design history. Over more than a thousand years, these two-dimensional designs, combining imagery and typography, have responded to cultural, political, economic, and technological changes and adapted to support card players. A Game of Cards suggests that we can use playing cards as a model for graphic design historiography.
The project is both a microhistory of playing cards and a deck of cards about that history. The Bread, Jam & Flower deck is inspired by the various evolutionary states of playing cards and seeks to restore some of the strangeness of medieval and early modern cards. Why does the jack of hearts have that feather? Why is the ace of spades so fancy? By representing these stories graphically, A Game of Cards makes it easier to see the long and curious history that placed these designs on our card tables.