“Vanishing Animals” TCG
A set of educational trading cards about animal conservation.
Initial Design Concepts
The cards are separated into three categories based on the IUCN Red List status of the animal depicted: Vulnerable, Endangered, and Recently Extinct. The main hurdle to overcome was deciding how to make each category distinct from the rest, while still maintaining a cohesive look for the set as a whole. In the initial concepts, the idea was that each of these categories would have a different layout to differentiate between them.
Initial concepts for this project were done with the assistance of AI, as required by the brief. Compositions for the backgrounds were generated using Adobe Firefly and replaced later with hand-drawn digital illustrations.
Final Layout Design
As the concepts developed, it became clear that having three different layouts was negatively impacting the cohesion of the set. After researching the design of other trading card series, the layouts were standardized and a system of icons was developed to differentiate between the categories instead. Each card features a border with colors that correspond to the type of animal featured, as well as ram icons to represent the rarity of the animal.
The Recently Extinct category is the only one to deviate from the layout standard; these cards feature desaturated illustrations with red accents to set them apart from the and enhance their impact on the viewer. They also feature a red bar on the back of the each card that lists the year that the animal was declared extinct.
Icon System Legend
The icon system is split into two classifications: animal type and animal rarity. Each card is marked with an icon for the type of animal on the card. Each animal icon is also associated with a color that dictates the color of the layout elements on the card (Bird=red, Mammal=orange, Bug=yellow, Reptile=green, Aquatic=blue, and Amphibian=purple). Recently Extinct cards’ animal type icons are grayed out.
The ram head icon represents the rarity/level of abundance of each animal (living ram=Vulnerable animal, half-skull=Endangered animal, full skull=Recently Extinct animal).
Finished Card Set
The “Vanishing Animals” card set was printed and presented at a mock trade show attended by around 100 people. Stickers featuring the Endangered ram icon were given out to each of the visitors while they listened to the pitch. While “Vanishing Animals’s” main goal is to educate about conservation, the eye-catching illustrations and rarity system account for collectability as much as education. They were pitched as an educational resource that would be as at home in a zoo gift shop as they would in a hobby store.
“Vanishing Animals” was well-received by the audience and received multiple compliments on its professional-looking style and clarity of concept. Multiple visitors commented on the effectiveness of the illustration style in getting consumers to care about conservation.
See a full scroll of all 27 cards in the set below.
