Over a period of 4 months, graphic designer KC Youm illustrated each of these NBA Western Conference Playing Cards from scratch to up the ante of quality sports related cards on the market.
“I’m a basketball fanatic and an avid Portland Trail Blazers fan. Unfortunately, I was always disappointed with the lack of quality playing cards, and once I left my previous consulting job that required me to travel regularly, I finally found myself with the time needed to start my passion project. I enjoyed my time at the job, I truly did, but the travel took me away from my true passion of design.
This is the first of my passion projects and it’s a project that’s been roughly 4 months in the making. It went through numerous changes, including a complete redesign of several cards.
In addition to creating these cards, I also wanted to pay tribute to the history of basketball. You will find different iconic images of basketball scattered throughout the card designs.”
To help him bring this collection to life, he created a kickstarter campaign to get it off the ground. Check it out here. The notes on each of the pieces below are his.
Damian Lillard, the King of Hearts, also known as the “Suicide King” is shown holding the basketball to his head, similar to how the Suicide King has a sword through his head. The King of Diamonds, Trevor Ariza, is one of the one-eyed royals and is depicted with a sideways view.
I made Dwight Howard the Queen because he’s a prima donna. All other players have no particular reason why they were chosen as the queen.
The Jack of Hearts and the Jack of Spades are also one-eyed royals and depicted with a sideways view.
I know. There’s supposed to be 2 jokers. But I wanted to round out each team.
