Looking for feedback on design (1 Viewer)

[TriforceLegend]

Hey everyone,

I just ordered some Apache bank chips to make a custom set of chips for 18xx and other board games. Was hoping to get some feedback from some poker chip enthusiasts on my label design before I get them printed. I’m mostly happy with the design concept itself, although I would be open to suggestions for changes. I want to make sure these are aesthetically pleasing and readable.

Thanks in advance!

-Johnny

 

[allforcharity]

Looks fine to me. If you turn your $20 into a $25 then you've also got the makings of a reasonable tourney set, too.

 

[kaimat]

I'm not familiar with the 18xx games, but it looks like a very nice clean design.

 

[raynmanas]

Looks fine to me. If you turn your $20 into a $25 then you've also got the makings of a reasonable tourney set, too.

18xx blasphemy right here

 

[Geremie]

I have never thought about a negative denomination......mind blown!

$18 bet ... toss a $20 with two negative 1s

 

[raynmanas]

I think the inlay design is actually quite good as you have it now. I am however curious by the use of the 1-5-10-20-100 progression though instead of 1-5-20-50-100? Maybe that discussion is better for the other thread but I just noticed it here.

Who is making your labels?

 

[FordPickup92]

Is priority deal and the chip to its left with the yellow tracks the same chip both sides showing or 2 different chips?

 

[intjester]

Your label design is good. The spot choices for denominations would normally either be all the same style or else follow a progression as the denoms increase. Your choices are bouncing all over.

 

[raynmanas]

Your label design is good. The spot choices for denominations would normally either be all the same style or else follow a progression as the denoms increase. Your choices are bouncing all over.

https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/bank-18xx-board-games-poker-chips/

 

[TriforceLegend]

I think the inlay design is actually quite good as you have it now. I am however curious by the use of the 1-5-10-20-100 progression though instead of 1-5-20-50-100? Maybe that discussion is better for the other thread but I just noticed it here.

Who is making your labels?

I have a message to Gear Labels to hopefully get my order in with them. There are a couple of reasons for the 1-5-10-20-100 progression. It is very common in 18xx to use 1-5-20-100, but where I’m from the locals like to use lots of denominations (1-2-5-10-20-50-100). I don’t love using so many denominations. I prefer to stick to 4x/5x between denominations. I really dislike denominations that are not all divisible by one another, so 50s are out for me (because we don’t use 25s -otherwise I’d be using 1-5-25-50-100), but 10s are useful enough that they made the cut.

 

[TriforceLegend]

Your label design is good. The spot choices for denominations would normally either be all the same style or else follow a progression as the denoms increase. Your choices are bouncing all over.

For what I consider to be the main elements of the set, 1-5-10-20-100, I stuck with the traditional poker colors (swapping 25s for 20s). Green has often been used instead of grey for 20s because it was what was more readily available. Apache made a grey 20, but our local groups are so used to green 20s that I didn’t want to rock the boat.

For the remainder (-1/411/priority deal/2k) I did go off route a bit. 411 is a special chip that a local guy here developed because it was a common transaction amount and they’ve always used orange so I stuck with that.

Pink is what Apache designated for 50s and since I’m not using those I figured I’d use them for 2k because I’m only throwing a handful into my set as they are rarely used and only during end-game scoring -and I like the color.

The grey made sense for -1 because it was the only color left that’s not really used in most of our play group’s sets so it won’t be confused for some other denomination.

The purple majestic is a weird one and that was determined by a vote from our Patrons (we have a podcast called Train Shuffling about 18xx). That’s more like a dealer chip and it matching the set is unimportant.

I didn’t use yellow because enough people use them for 1k or 2, that I didn’t want to use it for something else. And I don’t particularly like that chip anyway.

Hope that helps understand why it may seem a little random.

 

[TriforceLegend]

Is priority deal and the chip to its left with the yellow tracks the same chip both sides showing or 2 different chips?

Two sides of the same chip. The side with yellow and green tracks is our logo and the other side is meant to be like an imprint of the logo but without all the color and details that would detract from the text.

 

[allforcharity]

18xx blasphemy right here

Fine, fine. Turn the $20 into base Yellow and you've got a great cash set.

 

[RichMahogany]

Great screen name!

 

[raynmanas]

The purple majestic is a weird one and that was determined by a vote from our Patrons (we have a podcast called Train Shuffling about 18xx). That’s more like a dealer chip and it matching the set is unimportant.

You should also consider a custom 60mm dealer button from Gene at @ABC Gifts and Awards. PM him your artwork and ask for a quote, but for the price you really can't go wrong. Also there is no minimum order size, so you could just buy one or a couple for your own games, or you could have a bunch made and use them as Patreon higher tier rewards.

 

[TriforceLegend]

You should also consider a custom 60mm dealer button from Gene at @ABC Gifts and Awards. PM him your artwork and ask for a quote, but for the price you really can't go wrong. Also there is no minimum order size, so you could just buy one for your game, or you could have a bunch made and use them as Patreon tier prizes.

Too late! We already ordered the Majestics so it’s just the labels that can change at this point. We’re pretty happy with them for the backer chips though. And they were voted on by the patrons so they should be as well.

 

[FordPickup92]

Two sides of the same chip. The side with yellow and green tracks is our logo and the other side is meant to be like an imprint of the logo but without all the color and details that would detract from the text.

Okay, carry on! Just wanted to make sure there wasnt 2 different chips of the same color!

 

[Colquhoun]

Like the design, clean and simple. Gradations don’t always work because they make the text harder to read, but that’s not the case here...you’ve executed it perfectly.

 

[TriforceLegend]

Great screen name!

Thanks!

Like the design, clean and simple. Gradations don’t always work because they make the text harder to read, but that’s not the case here...you’ve executed it perfectly.

Thank you! I’ve gotten a lot of comments on the train gamer group on Facebook with suggestions on changes, including getting rid of the gradient. A lot of concern about the numbers potentially being hard to read. It’s nice to hear someone likes it as is. The chips + labels are so expensive I’m very nervous about them being imperfect.

 

[TriforceLegend]

I decided to try removing the gradient, per someone's suggestion on the train games Facebook group. Since this made the background and the stroke the same color, I also darkened the stroke to a deeper blue/grey. Is this an improvement over the previously posted design?

 

[TriforceLegend]

Here are the two "finalists" side-by-side

 

[Colquhoun]

The new version is even easier to read, but I don’t think the original was bad.

 

[raynmanas]

i like the one w/o the gradient, but they both look great. nice job.

 

[allforcharity]

The background with the gradient blurs out the hex/track design. Try a test print with your inlay graphic 7/8" wide, and see if your elements are as distinguishable as you want.

 

[Richard D]

Fine, fine. Turn the $20 into base Yellow and you've got a great cash set.

I tried that with Majestics. Relabelled about a hundred of them. In certain light, it became too hard to distinguish them from $1s. So switched the $20 onto a load of blue chips, and repurposed the yellows elsewhere.

I prefer the ones on the left; easier to see the tile design, without it being distracting. Heck, I never even noticed with the original design on the right that here were 18xx hexes within the design!

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

Nice and clean !

 

[CrazyEddie]

One of my favorite chips has a design with a gradient (Le Noir), but here, I don't think the gradient is doing you any favors. The gradient washes out the artwork and makes it hard to see, which is a shame, because the artwork really plays a central part in the chip's theme and presentation. In the gradient-less version, the artwork is sufficiently in the background so as not to pull focus from the essential function of reading and recognizing the denomination, but it's still clearly visible and strongly present, giving the set its essential character. The gradient softens it too much, making it not so much a background element as merely a background color.

Both versions are great chips, though! Good luck with your project!

 

[TriforceLegend]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I know people spend a lot more on poker chips but I was pretty nervous about getting the labels wrong on a $300 set and I think they came out great (at least digitally). I ended up ordering them (no gradient) and they shipped a couple days ago. They should be here in about a week, so once I get the labels applied I’ll post some pictures of the real thing.

 

[TrainGamer]

Very nice looking set. I agree with the comments about the non-gradient background being better. The TS logo looks good on the labels.

I got some Gear labels last year, and they are top notch. Those labels are for just one denomination in a commercially produced set, and most people can't tell which labels are from Gear.