Unlocking the Magic: Alexander Chin's Award-Winning Moroccan-Inspired Deck

2019 National Card Collection Day Deck: An Interactive Journey Through Moroccan Palaces

Alexander Chin's design is inspired by the iconic architecture of Morocco, featuring traditionally decorated gates and exotic geometric patterns. The packaging is designed as an interactive challenge, rewarding users with discovery moments of different magnitudes directly correlated with their effort and investment towards the experience and brand.

The unique properties of this design lie in its interactive packaging, which mimics the exploration of a Moroccan palace. Users are rewarded with escalating stages based on their efforts in the journey, including discovering hidden rooms and opening impossibly-sized corridors through the use of a bespoke two-way mirror system. This focus on creating genuine moments of surprise and delight for customers makes the packaging a bridge for stronger user-brand connections.

Each deck is meticulously handcrafted with exotic intaglio engravings that mimic the stonework of the palace gates. The glossy cards inside are coated in a scodix printing process to create a glossy raised-tiling effect that contrasts with the textured exterior in elegant harmony. A custom 30% opacity two-way mirror was designed for the packaging as a crucial element in creating the illusions of the experience.

The design process involved overcoming several challenges, the largest of which was developing the mirror element of the packaging. Acrylic was found to be the sturdiest material in thin profile, unlike cracking glass, and most stable with reflections, unlike film sheets. The structure evolved from a single tuck into a 2-piece shell as a way to introduce the keyhole element and provide mirror protection. The best-looking illusions were finalized at 30 percent mirror opacity, calibrated for the user’s most likely light source, their phone flashlight.

The main goal of the packaging was to create genuine feelings of surprise and achievement, elements shown in neuroscience to better encode experiences into memory and perceive them at higher value. Designing interaction into the packaging was the best way to accomplish this. Optical illusions were chosen for their ability to amaze and ease of implementation. A puzzle discovery format was used as the framework to generate the effort needed for feeling a sense of earned achievement in the user.

With his 2019 National Card Collection Day Deck, Alexander Chin has not only created a unique set of playing cards but also an immersive experience that takes users on a journey through the palaces of Morocco. This design, which won the Golden A' Packaging Design Award in 2020, is a testament to Chin's innovative approach to design and his ability to create genuine connections between users and brands.