Cards Against Insanity – how we turned a list of instructions on scrap bits of paper, into a cool little product. (Part 2)

Let’s go again!

The first challenge we faced was “where the hell we will print these cards” as we had in our head, already worked out a pricing point.

I know.

I know

Rookie error.

We didn’t anticipate making money to buy a home in Toorak or Mini-Brighton. But we wanted to make enough to make the whole process worthwhile and prove to ourselves that we could do it.

As anyone would do, I reached to people I knew in Melbourne who might know a printer.

I found one in ten mins!

That’s the power of networking 😊

I explained our requirements, sent some pictures of cards we liked (like the School of Life), and waited for the costs.

The printer asked for an arm and a leg for printing – around $25 per set only for the printing with no packaging box.

Aarrrgh.

So the dilemma was “where then hell am I going to find packaging supplier for such a small quantity?”

I googled away.

I found suppliers in Melbourne and sent them the dimensions.

But none of them had exactly what we wanted.

Our requirement was 110mm X 70 / 80mm X 40mm.

I still ordered samples to check these out.

One turned out to be like this

Someone said check out boxes on Alibaba.

Which I did, but unfortunately all the suppliers were asking for minimum 1000 pieces.

This was going to be harder than we thought.  

During our collaboration sessions, I explained to KB the frustrations of packaging.

She said, “Anita has gifted me her amazing confidence cards and they are in a tin box. Check it out.”

The penny dropped again!

I started to think that an aluminum tix box is an AWESOME idea.

It would enhance the whole product look.

I started my hunt for aluminum tin box suppliers. 

The ones available in Australia were around $5 to $ 6 a piece.

Again, it was going beyond our intended pricing point.

So, back to the drawing board.

Being an Indian, I could not resist the urge to search for suppliers in India.

Bingo! I found one and checked out the tin box size.

It was perfect. It fitted like hand in a glove!

The whole exercise took me around 15-days.

While this expedition was on, KB was finalizing the content of the cards.

The next step was to design the cards.

Being an amateur doodler, I proposed to design doodles for each of the cards – but I did not recognise the mammoth effort required.

These were some initial sketches.

Soon I realised this will delay the product.

I turned to a trusted designer who had worked with me previously. He immediately understood the concept and got to work.

We loved the images he picked up.

They were quirky, distinct, and striking.

I was multitasking by this time - speaking with tin box supplier, printer, and designer.

One of the biggest fears we had was – what if this does not turn out to be what we expect? The whole exercise will be a disaster. 

People are intrigued about the name of the cards – Cards Against Insanity.

This is the genius of KB.

We brainstormed couple of hours about the name.

We came up with names like this

Catalyst

Activator

Job Search Cards

They lacked punch.

They are not memorable.

No one notices it.

KB ran the idea of Catalyst cards by her good (and honest) friend James – who told her not only would that be the most boring name in history, but most people do not know what Catalyst means.

Slightly miffed KB shot back “what would you suggest James?”

James said we should take inspiration from a podcast he was listening to “Game of Drones” – designed to cure insomnia – to come up with something that was funny and invoke curiosity.

Atter much scribbling and searching for card games – KB came up with Cards Against Insanity as a nod to Cards Against Humanity.

She had visions of a bright yellow box with black and white writing, standing out on a bookshelf in Dymocks beckoning a frustrated job seeker (or their parent or partner) to pick it up.

Let’s go back to the tin box chapter.

The supplier sent 3 sample boxes to the printer where we planned to print the packaging box stickers.

Despite asking him to send yellow boxes, he sent pink boxes as samples.

NOT HAPPY ☹

The printer told us that it is possible to put a sticker on the tin box.

HURRAY!

By this time, we also decided to get the whole thing printed and packaged in India.

After 10 design iterations, changes, and long discussions about what to include and what not, we zeroed in with the content and design.

It was mid-July by then.

We were getting too close to reality.

We decided a lunch date – 13th August.

Being an Engineer, I worked out backwards – by which date what needs to happen. We were fully energised and pumped for the product launch.

By this time, we started to talk about the product on LinkedIn Lives.

The printer produced first prototype of the cards. It looks great on What’s app chat.

However, due to the curved edges, some of the text was cut. It didn’t look right.

Karalyn went back to the content to weave her magic.

She made the content bit more concise.

At this juncture, I like to introduce Marian – KB’s Mum. She has played a cameo in this.

Here is how.

KB asked Marian to proofread the cards.

When she’s done this in the past they’ve argued over KB’s lack of commas – so she was going out on a limb here.

But Marian not only proofread the cards, but also gave her thumbs of approval.

She said that the cards are amazing, and the activities are easy to understand and do it.

Thank you, Marian, for your contribution.

The designs were finalised by then.

Oops..I forgot to talk about the most unique feature of the cards – QR Codes.

That’s correct. BUT we don’t want you to check-in when you read the cards.

However, we want to have some interactivity, so we integrated QR codes in the cards.

We invested in a yearly subscription services where the QR code design does not change – but the information scanned can be altered.

To add more quirk, we got our caricatures done.

Back to the printer.

Everything was set for the print run.

We were on track to launch on 13th August.

The printer produced first set of cards with the box. It was Friday – 23rd July. We wanted to make sure we were happy with the product.

My younger brother in India picked up the box from the printer to show us over a Zoom call.

It turned out to be exactly how we imagined – BRILLIANT!

Some pictures of the first prototype.

Within 7-days all 120 boxes were ready for shipping.

We were simply overjoyed.

While the products were in air, we started to work on marketing and promotions. We wanted to launch it on LinkedIn Live with a guest.

Please meet Noor Shaik.

She recently found full-time job as a Project Manager after many months of struggle. She has demonstrated how being positive and proactive, helped her land a great job.

We could not have asked for someone better than her to come on LinkedIn Live.

She graciously agreed!

Back to the boxes.

They arrived on Tuesday, 10th August.

Phew!

I sent 3-boxes to KB. She received on 11th August.

We were now all set for the Friday, 13th August launch.

Here’s the LinkedIn Live where we first time showed Cards Against Insanity.

Since the launch, we have sent the card boxes to a few guests who came on as a guest on our LinkedIn Live show.

We sold enough to encourage us that with the right marketing we are on to a great thing.

The initial response from everyone who received them is: Creative, very useful to job-seekers, love them, and more.

This is the story of how we turned a list of instructions on scrap bits of paper, into a cool little product.

We believe anyone can make their ideas a reality! 

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