I was introduced to Hanafuda in 2018. The deck is comprised of twelve suits, each having four cards. The twelve suits follow the months of the year and have their own flower or plant. There aren't any numbers or even suit icons, aside from the artwork. In a traditional Hanafuda deck, each suit forms a complete scene when lined up next to each other. 

For my deck, I decided to take each flower or plant and try to find the simplest way of making it, while still being able to recognize it. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to make the flowers and plants in black and white. I then replicated the other elements of the cards in a similar style, introducing color to the deck.

The back of the cards was actually a bit of a challenge for me. I knew it needed to fit with a minimalist style, but I wanted to also have it reflect the Japanese heritage of the cards. I found my inspiration for the back of the card in older Japanese paintings of kimonos and I saw that many of them had stripes. I knew a single stripe wasn't going to work, so I added a few and gave a decent bit of space in the middle.

This is a close-up of the helper card. Some modern Hanafuda decks include these as a way to help newer players recognize the cards as well as keep track of game play. Here I show each suit icon with the month, plant, and the ranks of the cards.