Seedling Tarot Cards
The Seedling Tarot Deck was inspired by a love of nature and the wonder of tarot. Although spiritual in nature, one does not need to find themselves spiritual to enjoy the cards. Research has shown that simply interacting with the cards can be a great tool of self-reflection and aid in improving the state of one’s mental health. Plants also carry a healing effect, and studies show that even just thinking about plants can help raise improve one's mood.
There are currently very few botanical tarot decks available for purchase in the metaphysical community, and of the few decks that are available they are immensely popular. I plan to create a new botanical deck that focuses on the historic symbolism of different plants around the world.
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MY ROLE
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Research
User Interviews
Survey
Illustrations
Product Design
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COMPANY
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SFU - IAT 499
Final Project
MENTOR
Process
The process of creating the Seedling Deck consisted of 5 main areas
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Research - To ensure I was creating a tarot deck that was true to the nature of Tarot, I wanted to learn more about the history of Tarot Cards. Where did they originate, what were their main use? And likewise, with plants - there are many nuanced layers of symbolism in nature, I wanted to ensure I was understanding how the meanings of those plants came to be.
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User Testing - Because my goal was ultimately to create a deck I can market and sell one day, I needed to ensure they all the research and assumptions I had about the project would resonate with my intended audience. And speaking of the audience, I needed to confirm the target demographics for the cards and test whether or not this deck was acting on a pain point (or a need) of that demographic. All of this information was added to a research report which is available to read down below.
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The Pairing Process - To find plants that aligned well with the meanings of the cards, I had to sift through hundreds of different flowers, plants, and herbs to find the right matches. From there, I worked on copy that helped to provide a little context around why a certain plant was chosen and how it made sense with the lore of the card.
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Artwork - Once the user testing and pairing were done, I commenced on the artwork. I chose to sketch everything out by hand and experimented with adding colour in a traditional medium, scanning my images to make then digitized and drawing directly in a digital art program. Ultimately I found that taking a photo of my sketch and bring it directly into AI worked best.
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Product Design - Once in AI, I experimented with different effects and elements to help bring these cards to life. Then I worked with a local print shop to print out a physical prototype! From there, the marketing video and photography was done and the project was complete!
