When it comes to card design, I talk a lot about the things I don’t like. In fact, in most cases when I talk about card design, its about something I completely despise. It just has to do with the different trends in card production these days, because there are a lot of practices that boggle my mind as to their use. I just cannot understand how some of the ugly cards make it into production. So, this obviously begs an answer to the question of what I would like to see more of, and that is where I have quite a few things.

Team Word Logos

I love the NFL team word logos, and to tell you the truth, the baseball and basketball ones are just as good. Each team has an insignia, a logo, a secondary logo, and a word logo. It’s the basis of their branding on all licensed items. Some teams have whole packages of stuff to use, and personally, the word logos are the best. Because so many cards have to tell you what team the player is a part of, the word logos need to be used more. Instead of just writing Brett Favre and Vikings on the card, use the word logo. 2010 Topps and Chrome did it PERFECTLY, and even 2009 Limited made it a die cut for their phenoms patch cards. I want more.

Full Game Photos, With Autographs

Nine times out of ten, when a card is produced, we get some photoshop background instead of the background of the actual picture itself. It leaves the player as the only part of the card that is not factory, and that needs to change. 2009 Philidelphia was the first set in a long time to have on card autographs signed onto game photos with no photoshop background. It looked great. Think about all those Topps and Upper Deck cards that have that tremendous photography. How cool would it be to have those signed? That is what we need more of. Im getting awfully tired of not being able to see the field, especially in Panini’s cards, which seem to feature the most hideous and absurd looking stock backgrounds.

Great Use of White or Solid Color Space

If you are not going to use a full game photo, at least err on the side of simplicity. That means no paint splatters, no weird lines, nothing that causes an ultimate distraction from the actual design of the card. SP Authentic was always known for its fantastic use of this tactic, and I think the card designers should take notice. There is no reason to have abstract shapes and jetting lines cluttering a card. Im looking at you Panini designers.

Action Photos

I am sick and tired of the normal poses. Quarterback mid drop back. Running back turning the corner. Wide receiver mid catch. Give me something different. Not to the degree of Topps and their ridiculous rookie photos this year, but how about something more than just the normal shit. Chris Johnson is one of the most intense runners in the league. Get me a shot of a good spin move. I have seen game photos from photographers like my man Matt Lange, and why shots like he gets arent used, make no sense to me.

Simply Named Subsets

This is one thing that has gotten exponetially worse over the last few years, and it needs to go the hell away. I want more (SET NAME) Autographs, not product full of FIRST DOWN Autographs or SUNDAY LEADERS Autographs. Its beyond lame and I avoid cards like that at all costs. Unless the name is a guaranteed winner, forget it. Keep the names simple, and use the product’s theme to get creative. Hell, you don’t even need to name the subsets, just make the design that much better.

Jersey Motifs

If there is one type of theme for a set, patches on a jersey is vastly underused. For something that is so widely used in sets, im surprised how little it is used as a motif in any product or subset. Upper Deck SP Rookie Threads used it for 2008 and it was great looking, but other than that, its been shelved. Even the Panini Threads set that is NAMED for this motif doesn’t use it. I remember Fleer Patchworks. It was basically these cards every year and I loved it.

Signed Base Cards

I dedicated a whole post to this a while ago, and it needs to be said again. Signed base cards are done a lot by Panini and most of the time they are the most successful parts of their products. More products need to have signed base cards because they are usually the part of the product that the designers focus on the most. Previous incarnations of Upper Deck Masterpieces were begging for signed base cards, and because the industry is so focused on subset autographs, it never happened. Instead we got the unfortunately named “Stroke of Genius” cards.

Retro Signed Cards

This is where Topps has started to go lately, but there are a lot of existing iconic cards that would be great if reproduced and signed on card. Its incredibly too bad that UD lost their license because they have a backlog of unused designs that should be brought back. Holoview cards from SP? Ridiculously awesome. 1991 Upper Deck Football? Same thing. We need more iconic designs and cards brought back into the collective consciousness like that.

Tin Based Products

You know why 2009 Exquisite Football was awesome outside of just the cards themselves? It came in a tin that was completely awesome. People collect that stuff because we all need more boxes for our cards, and it is cool to have a reminder of the products you broke other than just cellophane on the floor. I think if more products came in tins, we would have something to have as a cool reminder. I still have the tins and boxes from past Exquisite and National Treasures breaks because the boxes are part of the fun.

Super Short Printed Variations

I dedicated a post to this a few days ago because it is a completely underused idea, especially in low end products. Im actually curious to see how it would turn out if used in higher end products too. It would truly be pretty interesting to see how a variation patch auto from SPA would do on the secondary market. Topps has already made this a part of their flagship and chrome sets, but we need to see it in any base card driven product out there. Base cards in football are boring and worthless. Football is not a set collectors sport because it is more rookie driven. Time to captialize on the hit chaser population.

Subsets With No Autograph Parallels

Im talking more about just designing the card to be a jersey card without worrying where the sticker is going to go. The 2009 Absolute Patches were a great example of it. Despite the fact they were printed on everyone’s favorite princess and ponies worthy rainbow foilboard, the subset worked better than anyother card in the entire product because it was simply named, and because Panini had no parallels to fuck up.

I think if more companies adopted a standard operating procedure that promoted good design tactics, the hobby would be much better off. I stand here and shout from my soapbox all day long, but its rare that anyone actually does anything about it. That is where the collecting base needs to speak with their wallets. As long as products like Absolute and Triple Threads sell, they will continued to be produced the way they are. Its terribly unfortunate that the companies can be completely lazy and not have to produce good looking cards for them to sell well. That is how the industry ends up the way it is. Hopefully that changes sooner rather than later.