Hello everyone,

I am new on this forum, but I would need some help from you guys.
My team and I are currently working on a card game and need to design an icon to illustrate a rule in simple visual expression.

We need to explain when to play a card, there are three option:

- Before a turn
- During the turn
- After a turn.

I need it to be as simple as possible, for the game will be children friendly.
Do you guys have any idea?

Thank you very much!

How about using something like this for "before the turn": https://material.io/tools/icons/static/icons/baseline-reply-24px.svg (https://material.io/tools/icons/?icon=reply&style=baseline)

Using a horizontally mirrored version of that for the "after turn".

Using a vertically mirrored version of this one for the "on this turn": https://material.io/tools/icons/static/icons/baseline-publish-24px.svg (https://material.io/tools/icons/?icon=publish&style=baseline)

Can you play a card only at one time? For example, if a card can be played "before the turn", does that mean that it can't be played during the turn or after?

I guess if you are playing a card game, it makes sense that you play cards during the turn. So you only need explanations for the other two rules. If you don't want icons on the cards (and I assume this is a video game and not a game with real cards), you could have the cards that can be played at the moment be brighter, have an outline or shine. Similarly, you could make cards that can't be played at the moment dimmed or dark. For example, before the turn only cards that can be played before the turn are shining. When the turn starts, the cards that can be played during the turn start shining, and so on.

@1024 That's so simple and effective, very cool.

And it gives me another idea: the OP could also separate those cards in three groups. The group on the left is for "before the turn", the group on the center is for "during the turn" and the group on the right is for "after". No icons needed then.

Thank you guys for your answer,
First of all, sorry if I mislead you guys but it is, indeed, a physical card game. Therefore I can't play with animation, but it is a cleaver idea.

The choice of icon is pretty good and simple, I like it. I'll have to include them into the cards and ask people what they think of it to see if it is clear enough.

Once again, thank you very much,
if you guys have any other idea, don't hesitate!

Have a good one!