How SMLXL and Principi created a collectible identity for Magenta

In retail environments where game packaging competes for attention through increasingly elaborate designs, SMLXL and Principi chose to do something counterintuitive for Magenta, a card game publisher launched by CMYK. They stripped the slipcase down to a single element: fluorescent magenta and a card-shaped die-cut window. No title, no description, no game information. Just colour and negative space. This restraint wasn’t an aesthetic exercise. CMYK’s portfolio includes Wavelength (over a million copies sold) and Monikers (dubbed the perfect party game by The New York Times), but their catalogue consisted of standalone titles, each with its own format and visual identity. With Magenta, they wanted the opposite – a unified collection that could establish card game nights as a recurring ritual rather than one-off purchases. The packaging needed to signal this shift immediately. The challenge was creating coherence without sacrificing the distinct personality each game needed. The solution lies in those two packaging layers. The magenta slipcase creates instant shelf recognition and collectability. Slide it off, and the inner box reveals each game’s full visual identity – bold geometric patterns for one title, gradient blurs for another, minimalist typography for a third. The die-cut does more than look distinctive. “The artwork revealed through the die-cut always corresponds to the back of the cards inside,” SMLXL Partner & Creative Director Javier Arizu explains. “If you place one of the cards on the box, it aligns perfectly.” This detail transforms packaging from container to preview, offering a glimpse of the game’s visual language before you’ve even opened it. The spine carries the same card-shaped die-cut, making the collection readable when shelved while also serving a functional purpose – it’s what allows you to open the slipcase without an additional pull tab. Beneath this external system sits an intricate structural challenge. The team collaborated with industrial designer Jonas Lagerstedt to develop custom paper pulp bento box moulds that could accommodate different game components – some titles include tokens, others feature multiple decks, some need space for larger card stacks. “What seemed simple turned into eight months of back-and-forth to get right,” notes Arizu. The commercial constraint became a design parameter: they needed to reduce the entire line to just three moulds, as each one carries substantial production costs. Typography plays a quieter but equally considered role. Supreme by Lineto, a contemporary take on Futura, carries references to early 20th-century board and card game design, when typefaces like Futura, Kabel and Gill Sans dominated packaging, often featuring the double-storey ‘a.’ “Supreme works beautifully at large sizes and equally well in small print, which was crucial for rulebooks,” says Arizu. The decision to use a single weight – Book – across every application creates consistency without monotony. Instructions, packaging and website all use the same weight, establishing hierarchy through scale and spacing rather than varied type weights.