ShuffleKit projects can hold more than cards. A collection is a named set of one component type, with the physical size and faces that type needs. Use collections to keep a card deck, a main board, token sheets, custom dice, a GM screen, and packaging in the same project without mixing their data or layouts.
Create a collection
Click New collection at the right end of the collection rail. The What are you making? catalog is the starting point:
- Choose a component type.
- Choose the size it will be printed at, or choose Custom size.
- Give the collection a useful name.
- Click Next to choose a starter design when ShuffleKit offers one, then Create.
The first selected size is a real production choice, not just a canvas preference. ShuffleKit uses it to create the right layout dimensions and to match the collection to a Print & Ship product. You can change it later, but changing a finished canvas size does not reflow the design.
The component types in the catalog
| Type | Use it for | Default workspace view |
|---|---|---|
| Cards | Draw piles, hands, decks and player cards | Data grid |
| Boards | Shared play areas, including folding boards | Gallery |
| Mats | Player mats and place mats | Gallery |
| Score Pads | Tear-off score and tracking pads | Gallery |
| Tokens | Chits, tiles and standees | Data grid |
| Dice | Custom D4, D6 and D8 faces | Gallery |
| Meeples | Printed worker figures | Gallery |
| Screens | Two-sided folding player or GM screens | Gallery |
| Boxes | Flat tuck-box and packaging dielines | Gallery |
The catalog only shows types ready to create. A project can retain other existing component data without making an unfinished authoring flow look available.
Starter designs, gallery actions, and changes later
After choosing a type and size, ShuffleKit can offer a starter design. Pick one when you want a useful first canvas rather than a blank page: it puts the type's normal landmarks in the right places, then you bind and style it like any other layout. This is especially useful for dice and box dielines, whose faces and printable panels are not interchangeable with a card.
Gallery-first collections are built for visual review. Click a tile to select it and open its live preview. Hold ⌘ (Ctrl on Windows) to add or remove tiles from the selection; hold Shift to select a range. A checkbox appears when you hover a tile and remains visible while it is selected. Right-click a tile for Duplicate and Delete. Delete asks whether to remove the item from this collection or delete it from the project, so use the collection-only option when you are only revising one component set.
You can revisit a collection's physical specification from its tab menu: open Details to choose another catalog size. ShuffleKit warns when the type's existing layouts use a different canvas size, because changing a collection size does not resize or reflow those designs.
The same Details panel can offer Change type for compatible flat components. Read its transfer summary before confirming: it says which items, layouts, and properties move or are copied, and whether the target keeps the existing size as a custom, export-only size. Dice and boxes are deliberately excluded from type changes because their face or dieline geometry is measured differently.
Collections keep work separate
Each collection has its own items, properties, layouts, and print scope. A board's Region property is not added as a column in your card deck, and a token layout cannot accidentally become the fallback layout for cards.
For cards, the project-wide card library remains available through All cards. A card collection is the familiar deck-like subset, with per-collection quantities. For a board, mat, die, meeple, screen, score pad, or box, the collection is the component set itself.
Faces are type-aware
The Design tab only shows layouts for the active component type and its valid faces:
- Cards, boards, mats, tokens, and meeples can have a front and back.
- Screens use Outside and Inside.
- A die uses numbered faces; a D8 has eight.
- A score pad and a box use one printable surface.
- Folding board sizes can be one-sided when that is how the physical product prints.
That means a six-face die is six coordinated designs, while one board front remains one design. The layout picker, preview, export and Print & Ship all follow the same model.
Physical previews and guides
The gallery is not always a rectangle. Circle, hex, triangle, standee, and meeple collections preview through their final cut shape. Dice render as dice and boxes stand up as boxes in the gallery, while the Design canvas remains flat because that is where you position the printable artwork.
Fold guides appear on folding boards and screens in the Design editor. They are placement guides, not printable artwork: keep important text and logos away from a crease, but do not try to draw the crease into your layout. A box canvas likewise includes the full dieline while its gallery preview hides the surrounding waste; design the flat sheet, then use the physical preview to check the result.
A practical project setup
Start with the pieces players interact with most:
- Make a Cards collection for the draw deck and add its card data.
- Add the Board or Mat collection players need to orient themselves.
- Add Tokens, Meeples, or Dice only once their labels and counts are known.
- Add a Screen or Box near the publishing stage, once its finished size is decided.
Use meaningful collection names—Core Deck, Main Board, Damage Counters—rather than their default names. That makes the collection rail and Print & Ship selection much easier to scan later.
Next, learn how card collections handle quantities in Card Collections & Quantities, or move straight to Layouts & the Design Editor to design the active component.
