[Wedge Rock]

This one should be real simple...

Austin5String had a Hedgewood Card Club design worked up, but before he got me the five-color mockups, I've had a moment of indecision. Now I'm thinking of a new design. Should be fairly simple, though (all text, no graphics).

I started researching the Seal & Crest chips of the 1930's and found some designs that appealed to me. I'd kinda like to do something along those lines, simple and classic. These are going to go on Nexgen 8000's, but eventually, I'd like to put them on a custom set, maybe TRK's or ASM's. The basic obverse design comes from a 1931 chip from the Geneva Country Club:



I'd simply like to change the G to an H (for HCC or Hedgewood Card Club). I'm not sure how the H will affect the aesthetics of the design -- I hope it comes out okay. I'm thinking the edges of the H would be rounded similar to the "G"...I just don't know if one line running through the middle (as opposed to two lines of the "G") will look too different. I think I'd like the background to be white (or better, an ivory-ish off white), and the lettering color should match the edgespot. Since Nexgens have fairly light edge spots, the lettering would probably have to be outlined in black. The letters could either be overlapped, as in the example above, or all merged togehter to form one shape, that could then be outlined in black...whatever looks better.

I'd like the back to look something like the design for the Empire Club:



I like the use of stars to break the upper text from the lower text, but would prefer something simpler like a dot. The simple font works well, IMHO.

Obviously, the words would be changed to Hedgewood Card Club and the denom would go in the center.

Here's an example with the denom in the middle:



Maybe even a reverse color scheme for the font band:



Could someone mock theseup for me? I lack the skill or the software. Maybe you could hammer out the image on the black Nexgen 8000 chip (100 denom) and once that is finalized, copy the denom the other four denoms. I'd be eternally grateful.

I've seen alot of great chip-design collboration on this board. I'd be willing to compensate for the help, either in cash or chips (a sample from this set or other sample sets I have).

Thanks to Rich Hanover for all the images (used with permission).

[P10bostonian]

lol, it has beena good month, and i still havent gotten mine done yet... too hard to pick somethign i like. GL wedge

[wijwij]

Some Hedgewood ideas with a retro flavor. The font is PMN Caecilia.

[Wedge Rock]

Sharp, wijwij. (I tried to +bump you, but it seems I've given love recently and must spread it around before +ing you again...)

Now that I see it, I think changing the inlay color to match the edge spots would take away from the classic look, so I'm thinking I do like the all black text on the overse (meaning the fronts will all be the same -- which is fine).

I would like the dots separating the text on the reverse, like the Empire Club chip (but dots, not stars). Here's another example:



And I like the font for the lettering, but I'm not real fond of it for denoms -- don't like the "1" or the way the five drops below the other text. I think the font should look like it could be 70 years old, and I think you're on the right track...simple and straight forward. I'd also like the denom inside a circle...possibly two thin circles like this design:



Also, I appreciate the ideas for the obverse, but would really like some sort of interlocking letters, if that's possible. If it's not possible (or too difficult), the green chip looks best, IMHO. What about lengthening the height of the H on the green chip to go to the edges?

...and what about a slightly yellowed ("ivory-ish" or "bone colored") background... did you go with white because it looked better (or ivory/bone looked bad), or just because you didn't get to that part yet? I think the off white color adds to the aged look of the chip.

Sorry for being so demanding while asking for help. I like where you've started, just like to tweak it to the finish line...

Attached is a re-do to your green design with a stretched H and a slight bone background...the bone background might be too slight?

[Wedge Rock]

I messed around with wijwij's design in Chip Forge, and I'm thinking of doing these in solid color H-mold ASM's.

Do they allow different obverse and reverse? The colors from ASM are similar to the traditional crest and seal chips...

[wijwij]

It is possible to do an interlocking design. The problem with doing an HCC pattern like the GCC one you showed earlier
is that the H would be very horizontally stretched, and the C's would not really interact with it.

Here is one idea of a different interlock. It is possible to send any part of the letters to the front or back, as desired.



In this idea, the font is Copperplate Gothic. I don't think this particular idea is as strong as the earlier ones,
because the CCs are too prominent in the design. But it shows what you can do. I think the tall H flanked by smaller Cs is probably better.

I think putting these on solids is the way to go. Here is what the above idea would look like on H mold chips.



The size of an inlay on an ASM chip is not as big as the inlays on the older chips you are using as models,
so everything will be a bit smaller, as seen above. However the simplicity of this with the solid chip
still looks quite interesting.

On the other side: I can easily add dots as requested, and I
could use standard lining digits instead of the oldstyle digits I used
that you did not like.

Putting the denominations inside a thin circle might make them too small
given the ASM inlay dimensions, but I could try.

[Wedge Rock]

Originally Posted by wijwij

It is possible to do an interlocking design. The problem with doing an HCC pattern like the GCC one you showed earlier
is that the H would be very horizontally stretched, and the C's would not really interact with it.

That's kind of what I wanted... but now that I am visualizing what you are saying, I think I see where you are coming from...that the C's won't have a bottom and top to grab on to like they do with the G...Just one line running through the middle of the H.

I like the interlocking design you've done, but two comments/questions: 1.) do you think it would look better with the same overlap on both C's? If so, I like the first C better... sort of looks like its hooked on and held in place rather than floating there; 2.) Is it possible to use a different font? That one's just not doing it for me. Something with a little more funk that still looks old. I'm looking for one... I'm thinking those fonts that flair out along the midline.... Maybe this won't work...What's your opinion?

As for stretching the letters out, I think that's why I liked the Geneva scan... It works as a whole, but in parts, the G and the C's would look weird standing alone. That's what I'm trying to do... which is probably why the tall H appealed to me...

As for the denoms...I've always thought Wooden Nickel would make a good denom font. As for the double-circle, do you think you'll have the same problem with just a single circle?

[Wedge Rock]

Check out these fonts from http://www.dafont.com under Fancy -> Retro (I'm at work, otherwise, I'd post up examples)

Big Top -- has the midline flair I was talking about
Cast Iron -- Maybe only for the H and the C's would have to be done in a different font.
JF Ringmaster -- Similar to Cast Iron, might only work for the H.
Masquerade -- Maybe?
Toskanische Egyptienne Initialen -- Similar to Big Top but just the outline
Tropicana -- too fancy? Might not work on a small scale, but interesting font.

If nothing else, that gives you an idea of what I had in mind for fonts...

[Wedge Rock]

What of the idea of tying the H in the H mold into the H of the inlay? You know how casinos have custom molds with their name?

Is that possible? Or on the other hand, do you think the H mold actually pulls away from the H design in the inlay?

I'm also considering TRK's, so I could get away from the H-mold (though it is my favorite ASM mold). I could also live with the Roman ASM mold.

[wijwij]

Time to bring this thread to e-mail, I think. Further work really depends on nailing down
the size of the inlay, format of the file needed by the manufacturer, color scheme (if not
just black), and so on.

I can certainly look for different fonts for the HCC design. One idea I had was to flip the
left C to make it a mirror image of the right C and then use have them interlock with
the H in rotational symmetric ways. I also think a single circle around the denoms
may be feasible, but the problem will be how to handle a 1000 chip if you need one.
Maybe its denom can break out of the circle.

The fonts you pointed me to are all very ornamental fonts, which is a direction very
different from the interlocked initials idea, which requires a nonornamental font. I would
be leery of going with a circus-like or English vaudeville 1870s look. It's a completely
different angle. However, the PMN Caecilia font I used earlier is a rather modern font; I
could look for a slightly older Egyptian slab serif font or rough-hewn Goudy or Cooper
Black look.

Please e-mail or PM me. I'd suggest deciding on manufacturer (I like the subtle link
between the ASM H mold and a big H on the design), then finding out requirements for
size and color and files. Then I'd mock up some font suggestions for the back side and
denominations. Then I'd mock up some interlock initial suggestions using the same or
different font, and we'd work from there. Also, you need to let me know if these are
really going to be just for labels, or for inlays, or both.

It's a lot of work, so I want to make sure I understand the direction you want to go in
before I commit myself to doing it. There is a lot of subtlety involved in adjusting the
initials and in letterspacing the type along the curved edge on the other side, and in
sizing the denoms correctly.

=will