Julia Schimautz's Color Index: A Kinetic Card Experience

Austrian designer Julia Schimautz has teamed up with Small Wonder CPH to create a striking deck of playing cards titled Color Index. This innovative project transforms a traditional card deck into an interactive visual experience, with colors and shapes that animate through user interaction.

The deck maintains the recognizable features of a classic playing card set, such as letters, numbers, and familiar suit symbols. However, Schimautz departs from the typical red-and-black aesthetic by assigning each suit a unique saturated color field. This choice enhances the visual dynamism of the cards, as subtle variations become striking when viewed collectively.

Schimautz, who operates the DTAN Studio in Berlin, emphasizes experimentation and the physical properties of printed materials in her work. Her fascination with the imperfections of printmaking is evident in Color Index, where the discrepancies in color and layer registration contribute to the overall design. This approach is particularly effective for a deck that relies on incremental visual change, allowing the cards to form a cohesive animation when riffled.

Printed on FSC-certified black-core paper with vegetable-based inks, the cards feature a linen texture that enhances their tactile quality. The accompanying box showcases the same vibrant gradients, further amplifying the kinetic effect when the cards are viewed in sequence.

Source: www.designboom.com