Help with denomination alignment (1 Viewer)

quintooo

quintooo

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I'm stuck at the inlay. Mostly on the denomination. I've aligned the number and the words to the center, so the cents/dollar symbol is off. I believe this is how it's normally done, but it looks super misaligned to the left. Even though its centered, I think the cents/dollar being off pulls your eyes to think its misaligned to the left.

I've tried aligning the entire text to the middle as well, but the numbers make it seem like its misaligned to the right.

Also, it seems like the L makes it look like there's more negative space on the right than there is on the left (which is technically true, I think), which I think also makes the text seem a little misaligned.

Have I just been staring at this too long? Can I get some feedback?

Mostly looking for feedback on the "inlay" (ceramics, so not really inlays), but I'd also appreciate some thoughts on the actual chip design!
 
This is always difficult (and has been for my custom sets, so I feel your pain!).

The symbol, dollar, cent, pound, euro, whatever, all carry "weight". It's there and for the most part our eye tunes it out, but it will throw the centering of those elements off.

My first suggestion would be to make the size of those smaller. They don't need to be quite that large. That might help offset some of the centering issues you are having.

Second, that looks like a rather bold font. Maybe just scaling that back a bit might help? It definitely has no problems for readability, but that chunkiness might also be impacting how the denomination looks on the inlay. I just went through the "gone but not forgotten" thread looking for a specific example of mine in there, and came across many examples where the denomination is nowhere near that large on the inlay yet is still quite readable. A scroll through there to see what others have done might be useful.

The example I was looking for was my California Club tribute set:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...-with-pr0n-of-over-200-sets.13031/post-218566

I have a large graphic element with text taking up probably 2/3 of the inlay, with smaller but readable denominations. You will see I centered the value and have the roughly 1/3 size dollar or cent sign "hanging off the end". My thinking here, and might be something for you to consider, the denomination doesn't have to be readable from across the table. Odds are, spots and colors will be sufficient for players to know what a chip is, and if they are unsure what the value is, they can always check a chip in their own stack to confirm.


Just a few quick thoughts and things to ponder. Take your time. Put it away for a day then come back "fresh". There's nothing worse than making a custom set and being disappointed in the final product.
 
AlbinoDragon said:
Just a few quick thoughts and things to ponder. Take your time. Put it away for a day then come back "fresh". There's nothing worse than making a custom set and being disappointed in the final product.
Click to expand...
Yea! I was experimenting with making them smaller, but I'm not sure yet what the tolerances are on how BRPro prints their chips. I'll probably just have to ask them how small it can get.

As for the bold font... well that's the "default." I will try adding a stroke around it though to artificially lessen the boldness. Still quite new to Illustrator, so still learning things.

Love those chips, especially those inlays though! I'm gonna try making things smaller, my only concern would be too much negative space... But maybe it will work. The only reason why I made the numbers/text as big as they are was because I didn't want it to look too empty heh.

I will sleep on it though and try things out tomorrow. Thanks for the advice!
 
I don't think it's an issue. I'll usually kinda nit picky on stuff like balance and ratios, and this doesn't bother me a bit.
 
At first glance, it looks fine. I believe you’re overthinking it.
quintooo said:
Also, it seems like the L makes it look like there's more negative space on the right than there is on the left (which is technically true, I think), which I think also makes the text seem a little misaligned.
Click to expand...
If there’s anything to this, I’d guess it’s got as much to do with the L being yellow, and standing out from all the other letters, as it has to do with actual spacing.
 
I’m with you. I shrink the $/¢ point size, elevate the $ and drop the ¢, and then nudge the whole thing a bit to the right ($) or left (¢) so the weight of the denom feels centered. It’s an art and would be nice if programs could align accordingly.
 
I've basically taken all of your guys' advice. Biggest one was to say damn mechanically centering. I shifted some of the numbers and text around. Added some simple details to try and fill the negative space and make the center look more obvious. I also added a white/black border around "mogul" to make it more readable, and spaced the letters more. Overall, I think it I like it. Gonna need to sleep on it a couple more nights.

Also added the $1000 chip :)

Now, I'm mostly having reservations with the designs of chips $500, $1000, and $5000. I intend to keep those colors, because they are symbolic to the overall chip theme, but I'm not super feeling it yet. Might need to change the spot colors or slightly change the base color or something. If you guys have any suggestions, let me know!

chips.PNG
5chip.PNG
 
Looks good. I would lose the black border around the denom…since the stroke is on the inside, it makes parts of the type too thin, especially evident in the dollar sign “$”.

I think it would be best to either make the stroke on the outside of the type, or get rid of the stroke entirely.
 
I agree that these are looking a lot better. The centering looks good and the smaller dollar and cent signs help to not throw things off.

@Colquhoun has the exact advice I was going to give re. the stroke around the type. It does make the smaller details disappear. Definitely play around with inside vs. outside or maybe a different shade (gray???), or just lose it altogether. Black on charcoal doesn't really gain you much, especially once printed 1:1 and on the small surface of a chip rather than a monitor.


Good progress with the newer version. You're definitely getting this revised to a much better and readable state. Keep us updated!
 
Colquhoun said:
Looks good. I would lose the black border around the denom…since the stroke is on the inside, it makes parts of the type too thin, especially evident in the dollar sign “$”.

I think it would be best to either make the stroke on the outside of the type, or get rid of the stroke entirely.
Click to expand...
AlbinoDragon said:
@Colquhoun has the exact advice I was going to give re. the stroke around the type. It does make the smaller details disappear. Definitely play around with inside vs. outside or maybe a different shade (gray???), or just lose it altogether. Black on charcoal doesn't really gain you much, especially once printed 1:1 and on the small surface of a chip rather than a monitor.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback! I'll play around with the black border, it does make the $ and cent look thin. I've been advised that it is necessary around white text because without it, the white tends to bleed out.
 
quintooo said:
View attachment 869981

I'm stuck at the inlay. Mostly on the denomination. I've aligned the number and the words to the center, so the cents/dollar symbol is off. I believe this is how it's normally done, but it looks super misaligned to the left. Even though its centered, I think the cents/dollar being off pulls your eyes to think its misaligned to the left.

I've tried aligning the entire text to the middle as well, but the numbers make it seem like its misaligned to the right.

Also, it seems like the L makes it look like there's more negative space on the right than there is on the left (which is technically true, I think), which I think also makes the text seem a little misaligned.

Have I just been staring at this too long? Can I get some feedback?

Mostly looking for feedback on the "inlay" (ceramics, so not really inlays), but I'd also appreciate some thoughts on the actual chip design!
Click to expand...
How did you create each chip???? Is there a chip editor somewhere???
 
linebacker55 said:
How did you create each chip???? Is there a chip editor somewhere???
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if there's a chip editor for ceramics somewhere. There's one but it's for CPC clay chips.

I made these designs myself in Adobe Illustrator, you can use a free vector program like Inkscape. You'll have to do some learning, but for poker chips, it's not that big of a learning curve.

There are some templates though I think, if you search this forum. I recall seeing an "Aces Card Mold SVG template" or something.

You could also pay a designer on this forum.
 
For the tournament chips have you considered leaving the $ off? Produce 2 100s =D
 

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