In the early 1400’s printing using relief carvings from woodblocks as a form of printing made its way from China into Europe as well as the substrate of paper. One of the earliest items we see that began gaining momentum in production because of this technology was playing cards. There was a so-called underground block-printing industry just for this popular pastime. During this time, it was uncommon for anyone except the nobles to even have access to such a thing and even then they weren’t prints on paper, they were carved ivory slats, engraved silver plates, or expensive hand paintings on paper, but not a print. Playing cards were some of the first pieces made accessible to illiterate. This was significant because for once there was something only kings had played before that was now being played by peasants and everyone in between. Early imagery used for these cards had symbols still used on modern playing cards that represented the four classes of medieval society: hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds. Hearts represented the clergy, spades were for nobility, clubs for peasantry, and diamonds were for the burghers. It was because of the creation of paper in China and block printing that we begin to see an emergence of art and accessibility to information once only known by the nobility in everyday life for everyone. Playing cards were once a luxury item only played by those higher up, but because of this shift in technology it suddenly became one of the most popular pastime activities and it still remains that way today.
Although early designs of playing cards were not the most consistent, overtime they have become one of the most identifiable set of icons around the world. According to an article titled, “The History of Playing Cards: The Evolution of the Modern deck” by Will Roya, playing cards maintained a similar theme from country to country, only varying in the specific styles the imagery was created in. Early editions of card sets were a mere stack of 40 cards, which is evidenced by Spanish editions where 8s, 9s, and 10,s were omitted. The Spanish sets also omitted a queen, and instead replaced it with an extra set of knaves. After Spain, Germany adopted their deck but included numbers 2 through 10 coming up only four cards short of the modern day deck. As icons and the number of cards to a deck shifted, it wasn’t until the French had the bright idea of creating a more organized and well-designed set of cards that we see them truly transform. In the early 15th century the French came up with the idea to split the deck of four suits into red and black with a much more minimal design. This allowed for easier and faster production of cards by using stencils and paper rather than woodblock printing. Once this happened, there was an instant gain in popularity and the cards made their way to the English, then the United States. These decks eventually maintained the images of royalty and simple red and black suits we see today.
Although playing cards are a visual the majority of people are familiar with, it is easy to overlook how perfectly they marry aesthetics with usability in their design. According to designshack.net, there are many reasons for this. For one, playing cards are perfectly symmetrical. This is not only visually pleasing, but also makes it so you’re never holding a card upside down. This symmetry extends not only from numbered cards, but even to the classic face cards. Another design element that adds functionality to the cards is the placement of the number or letter representing that card as well as placing the suit right below, featured in both upper left-hand corners of the card. This allows for players to quickly read what they are holding and for them to simply hold more cards at one time.
Citations:
Johnson, Joshua. “Design History: The Art of Playing Cards.” Design Shack, Design Shack, 7 Nov. 2011, designshack.net/articles/layouts/design-history-the-art-of-playing-cards/.
Roya, Will. “The History of Playing Cards: The Evolution of the Modern Deck.” PlayingCardDecks.com, 16 Oct. 2018, playingcarddecks.com/blogs/all-in/history-playing-cards-modern-deck.
Haley Locke 