Friday, April 17, 2009

Designing A Winner

I have said on many occasions that the design of the card can make or break a product, more-so to me than any other element of the card. To me, it could be a 1/1 NFL logo Adrian Peterson autograph, and I would pass if it looked like a piece of shit. Personally, I think card design has become a lost art, and that companies, especially Topps, have focused more on how they will pack more autos into a set than more well designed cards.

Look at Triple Threads, my all time most hated product. It is packed with cards literally packed with jerseys and autos, and I think it is the worst possible thing you can invest in. I have not bought a single Triple Threads single in the last few years, and most of it stems from the ridiculous designs and color schemes. To me, the sole purpose of the set is to give us as many low numbered cards with as many pieces of jerseys and autos as humanly possible. This means that things like design and photos of the players take a back seat to make the douchebags who don’t know any better jizz in their pants. Because of the jam packed set up of the cards, the product HAS to be considered high end, despite the fact that none of these cards are appealing to 90% of privileged portion of collectors who take pride in the way they look at the hobby. Those other 10% are die hard player collectors who live by a different creedo.

If it was up to me, I would always want better designs over more content. I love awesome looking cards, regardless of what company makes them. There are certain criteria I need to be true, like how I hate college jersey in the picture cards, but most of the time I base my want on how the card is put together. If a company uses sticker autos, but they are well done and well placed, it doesn’t matter to me. Look at SP Rookie Threads from this year, another set designed to pack as much into a product as possible. The difference between Triple Threads 2008 and SP Rookie Threads 2008 is that one set is well put together, nicely done with a cool theme, while the other focuses on all the wrong things, including printing plates with no player names and tiny player pictures.

SP Rookie Threads was designed around the look of a jersey. All the cards look like they have been sewn together like the numbers and tackle twill on a normal jersey, and I really appreciate the cool theme and idea for the set. Hell, they even made a set based on the NFL logo part of the jersey, which I thought was awesome. I bought the Peterson.

Look at Exquisite for this year, its done in an ornate and almost regal design, and the whole set follows suit in its picturesque glory. Exquisite also features more Jersey than Triple Threads in their RC Autos, and they still managed to fit in a large picture and a signature. Hell, the duals and triples were even done in a way that makes the Triple Threads ones look shameful. Large player picures and no die cut swatches to confusingly spell shit out. I love it.

If you want less high end examples, look at the way DLP did Classics the last few years, or even better, the way UD does SP Authentic EVERY year. For 100 dollars a box, UD has made Triple Threads and other poorly designed sets irrelevant. One other thing about sets like Classics and SP Rookie Threads is that they use sticker autos, but use them in a way that makes them not as noticible. Topps thinks they need to destroy the look of every card with GIANT foil stickers, or even the transparent, but not transparent foil stickers. Yes, they still stick out even when they are supposed to be clear.

Recently, Topps has put out a product that was solely designed to dump their entire store room of basketball stickers into a set before Panini takes over. This means that the set was actually somewhat necessary to utilize thousands of ugly foil stickers in the stockroom, but it is no excuse for the result. Now, we all know how much I fucking despise Topps' design moves over the last few years, and this set is no exception. Because it was so quickly put together, you can expect that the design would suffer, but jesus, the set is fugly as hell. Add in the fact that each card is numbered to 9000, and you have a donkey turd on your hands.

The one thing that the nostalgic focused modern haters have right is that design used to be better. I agree 100%. However, I do think you can have the content that each product MUST have to survive and also the design to appease the people like me. I have seen the custom card designs out there, so I know it isnt impossible to design a nice set. Hopefully the manufacturers wont save the good stuff for the expensive sets exclusively, and will let it trickle down to the low end stuff too. When cards are designed with care, everyone wins. Take notice quickly, Topps.

8 comments:

  1. Agree 100%. The only thing I consider when deciding whether or not to do a set or buy a card is the design. Nothing else matters...if the card is ugly, I don't want it...period.

    As to the design itself, I think that part of the problem is that the card manufacturers consider the design of the card to be relatively unimportant. Looks at Steve's description of the card production process at the Sports Card File...design is not even mentioned. And I bet that if you look at Topps/UD's internal budgets, card design gets very little $$$.

    These days it's all about hit ratios, relics, and autographs, not about good-looking cards. That's one of the main reason that the retro sets have done so well...their cards are better-looking than almost anything else being released these days.

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  2. As to the design itself, I think that part of the problem is that the card manufacturers consider the design of the card to be relatively unimportant. Looks at Steve's description of the card production process at the Sports Card File...design is not even mentioned. And I bet that if you look at Topps/UD's internal budgets, card design gets very little $$$.
    This is kind of what inspired this post.

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  3. "Recently, Topps has put out a product that was solely designed to dump their entire store room of basketball stickers into a set before Panini takes over."

    I really hope you're not referring to 2009 Topps Signature Basketball. It's actually a really nice product if you're after auto cards, and no, the design does not suck. The cards look really sharp. I picked up a box the other day and pulled autos of Mayo, Rodman, Rondo, and Elgin Baylor out of the 8 autos. Plus there were some good refractors and base rookies. I can't complain for $145.


    Beelzebub69 -

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  4. I have to disagree with you completely, the cards look awful to me. Its just autos for the sake of autos to get them out before they cant anymore.

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  5. I think the entire problem with the topps signature basketball is that they numbered the autos.....the card design is blah....and the numbering is a kick in the nuts basically....just dont number the damn things topps....

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  6. I don't have a huge problem with Topps Signature. You can snag a box for $120 or possibly less on ebay, and get 8 autos, one quite good. Granted, there are marginal players, but hell, I'll take an Otis Birdsong or Buck Williams over the latest RC stiff any day. That's what keeps me from buying BKB wax, usually.
    The design isn't horrendous (see: Triple Threads), but I'll bet the quality of stock is (see: Treasury). And I agree with Everett when he says they just shouldn't have numbered the cards. At the very least, they got the autos out the door without spreading them across five half-assed quickie releases, just one half-assed release.

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  7. I guess im the only guy on the planet that actually likes the triple threads this year, i guess i could be biased cause its the first pack i bought after i 11 year hiatus and hit a really nice 1/1 though...... To your point however, i completely agree. UD exquisite blows TTT out of the water design wise, my only problem with UD is they cant seem to solve their collation issues. Seems like no one can get it all right these days.

    Topps Signature is a whole differant ball of wax if you will. My lcs owner yesterday was trying to talk me into a pack or 2 (i collect football but dabble in roundball from time to time) thank god while I was debating it a kid came in and bought 3 packs so i could get a look at the stuff... He pulls the box hit (Jerry West) and its numbered to 6000??? I couldnt put 2 and 2 together until you mentioned it, but the back log of sticker autos is the only possible explanation, everything about this product screams rush job, glad i avoided it.

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  8. I agree that the high numbering for the Topps Signature autos is pointless and ridiculous, but I highly doubt the Jerry West was numbered to 6000. The ones I've seen on eBay have all been numbered out of 649. The "A Level" autos are numbered fairly low compared to some of the junk autos, and trust me, there are plenty of junk autos. I pulled a Thaddeus Young auto numbered to 5775! Why even bother?! Howeveer, the Mayo auto I pulled was numbered to 599 as well as the Vince Carter auto I pulled a few days later. The design won't suit everyone, but I like it.

    More important to me is box value, and this product has it. This is one of the few products that offers 8 autos per box gauranteed for $125 on Ebay or $150 in a card shop. I have bought two boxes and have not been shorted on an auto, nor have I received redemption cards. This product delivers, unlike many of the other Topps, DLP, and Upper Deck products that have shorted me on hits numerous times this past year.

    Beelzebub69 -

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