Scodix Customer Story - MPC
MPC, a subsidiary of its parent company, has produced retail tabletop games for more than 30 years. Their Impressions Playing Cards range was built around a deliberately unconventional idea: rather than an ordinary deck meant only for play, they wanted cards that could be touched, felt, and admired as objects in their own right. To make that possible, MPC invested heavily in new, state-of-the-art printing and production machinery over the past several years.
The Solution
MPC uses a large-scale secondary process to apply selective UV enhancement to specific areas of each playing card, producing a raised, glossy effect. The technology is capable of embossing heights up to 250 microns, equivalent to braille, making it well suited not just for tactile design appeal but for products aimed at visually impaired users. For their Kickstarter project, MPC redrew the designs on three special decks, adapting variations of the original, public-domain playing card artwork, with a gold foil box seal planned as a stretch-goal addition.
The Result
Applying dramatic tactile and visual effects to a casino-grade card stock made the deck strikingly attractive, but MPC’s real challenge was preserving the cards’ core function: playability. Balancing an enhanced sense of touch and feel against the practical requirements of a usable deck of cards became the defining test of the project, and the result is a deck designed to hold up to both admiration and actual play.
The Result: A Deck You Can See, Touch, and Play
MPC proved that a playing card can be a tactile object and a fully functional deck at the same time.
“We wanted to produce a deck of cards that can be touched, felt, and admired.”
FAQs
Can Scodix embellishment be used on small, handheld products like playing cards?
Yes. MPC applied selective UV enhancement to individual playing cards, producing a raised, glossy tactile effect on a small-format product, showing that digital embellishment scales down to detailed, handheld items.
How high can Scodix-style embossing effects reach?
MPC’s process is capable of embossing heights up to 250 microns, equivalent to braille height, making it suitable for tactile design as well as products intended for visually impaired users.
Does adding tactile embellishment affect a product's usability?
It can, if not carefully managed. MPC’s biggest challenge in this project was ensuring their enhanced, tactile playing cards remained fully playable and true to their original function, not just visually and texturally impressive.
Can digital embellishment be combined with foil finishing on the same product?
Yes. MPC’s project includes a planned gold foil box seal in addition to the raised, glossy card enhancement, showing how multiple embellishment techniques can layer onto a single product.