TAROT – Maru Ceballos

This product is a deck of tarot cards that I have personally illustrated and designed in 2018. Unlike traditional tarot decks that are usually filled with colors, this tarot is presented with black and white illustrations, focusing on symbology as its primary means of communication.

The concept behind the packaging design aims to evoke the sensation of immersing oneself in a halo of mystery, as if entering a black hole where answers are not clear until the product, in this case, the tarot, is used to clarify them. This approach is reinforced by including a quote from Dante Alighieri on the back cover of the box: “Oh you who enter, abandon all hope” along with a simplification of the Death tarot card.

The proposal was to provide an enveloping, exquisite and mysterious experience from the moment the product is found until it is opened and used. The packaging is intended not only to protect the contents but also as an intriguing precursor to the tarot experience. The packaging is part of the tarot deck. To reinforce this and ensure coherence with the visual system, the pattern from the back of the cards, which must not reveal if the card is upright or reversed, was incorporated into the packaging. The only tactile indicator on the embossing is the word TAROT, providing an impersonal description of the product; in this way, the user knows it have in their hands a product that doesn’t shout, but rather invites discovery.
All this visual stripping conceptualizes the enigmas of life, which, once the product is opened, become more complex through the decoding of the symbolism of the tarot cards.

Why black as the main color? Primarily because the illustrations are in intense plain black and white. Secondly, and adhering to the concept of tarot itself, because black is the sum of all colors (in this case, the box, containing the sum of the concepts of each of the arcana) and it represents darkness, which symbolizes doubt, the question that is clarified once the product itself is in operation.

The technique used to design the packaging is based on a play of contrasts. I opted to use matte black cardboard with a spot UV print. This approach plays with the duality between light and darkness, emphasizing the enigmatic nature of tarot and creating an intense sensory and visual experience.

This packaging has the ability to convey the essence of black and white tarot through aesthetics and conceptual experience. The combination of intricate symbolism expressed in simple line illustrations, the evocative quote from Dante Alighieri and the use of high-quality materials and techniques contribute to creating a presentation that captures the imagination and arouses the curiosity of the consumer.