Portfolio
Field Deck: Australian Birds
Illustration, Packaging
Award Wining Design
This design won first place in the TAFE NSW Digital Design Prize 2026 in the graphic design category.
Brief:
Design a complete set of playing cards, featuring a unique illustration on each card. The designs should combine engaging visuals with informative content, creating an illustrative and visually appealing deck that is both interactive and educational.
Solution:
This illustrated playing card set features Australian birds, with each card showcasing individual bird species and details about the species’ endangered status. Designed to be both engaging and educational, the deck raises awareness about wildlife conservation while celebrating Australia’s unique bird life.
How it’s made:
This project involved extensive research. Each bird’s conservation status was sourced from the all Australian state governments threatened species lists, while distribution maps were obtained from BirdLife Australia. The range illustrations and conservation status icons were created in Adobe Illustrator, and the backgrounds and card backs were designed in Adobe Photoshop.
The bird illustrations were drawn in Adobe Photoshop using reference photographs taken at zoos and bird sanctuaries, including Feathered Friends Bird Sanctuary and Featherdale Wildlife Park.
The cards were assembled in Adobe InDesign using Master pages that could be duplicated and adapted for each card while maintaining a consistent design.
Credits:
Reference Images:
All reference images used were taken by Rae Artistry.
Mockups:
‘Mock-up playing card’ from Mock-up Free
‘Free playing cards mock-up’ from Mock-ups Design