A New Way of Making Autograph Cards

So are these 3 piece cards where the middle piece is signed and sandwiched between the front and back of the card?
 
Looks that way to me. I think I like it over stickers for sure. Is it the same as hard sign? Not quite since it still limits the players signature to a set area. I still really like the look and great work.
 
Burner said:
So are these 3 piece cards where the middle piece is signed and sandwiched between the front and back of the card?
Click to expand...

Maybe it means ITG can just quickly print the middle autograph layer and send it to the players way ahead of time, maybe even before the rest of the card is designed and printed, thus reducing the lead-up time needed for a traditional hard-signed card? From a logistical standpoint I could see that cutting down on production times because instead of designing, printing, and sending finished cards to players months and months ahead of time you can just send the middle layer in advance and take your time finishing the rest of the card, putting all the layers together once the player returns his autographs - which should be well ahead of the release date since the player got the autograph layer earlier in the process. That would be a similar approach to a sticker autograph except you're getting a signed piece of cardboard that is designed to fit into the finished card instead of a clear plastic label with no aesthetic connection to the card it's applied to.

Would I call it a hard signed card? Probably not, I consider a card hard signed when the players holds and signs a finished product. It's absolutely an improvement over a sticker however.

I'll need to see one in person to really see the effect ITG is going for. I'm glad to see Brian and his team are always trying to come up with an innovative way to give collectors what they want.
 
Wow… agreed with Frozen Inferno, it's not as good as hard auto on finished product, but a big HATS OFF to ITG for taking sticker autos one step closer to hard signed. Great idea, and very happy to see ITG continuing to innovate and not just for the sake of innovation.

Kudos!
 
A great idea!

One of the drawbacks/problems of having a "window"-type auto card has always been the framing of the auto within the window, like in this Signs of Greatness card:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/02-03-UD-Fo...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I am assuming that the new way of making the card will have a two-layer middle - one base layer the full size of the card and a second layer on top with the auto, so that when the top piece is overlaid there will be one smooth surface.

This seems like it might be a bit of a challenge to produce, but if you can work out the technical details and deliver consistent results (no gaps/misalignments, smooth top surfaces) then you will have a winner! Not quite as good as true hard-signed, but MUCH better than a sticker, IMO.

So, what do we call these types of autos? Level-window? Raised-window? Notched? Three-piece?
 
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if i read this correctly, and by looking at the picture

think of this as a puzzle, front of the card with a empty window, back of the card as always, and a "autographed block", used to be sticker, and placed on the empty window

i think thats a good idea
 
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That is still a "window" auto...These look like they have a raised layer which will "slot" into the window, creating an unbroken, smooth surface.
 
Great idea.

I never understood the fuss over sticker autos. I get it. But if you can have an autograph AND a card instead of simply a base card then I was happy. Even happier when ITG integrated the sticker into the design of the cards. I know I appreciated it. But then again it's hard to argue against a customer base who pays handsomely these days for these products.

Whether it can be considered hard signed or not, I think it blurs the lines in a good way where it becomes less of an issue and more of a matter of, well, are you happy with the auto'd card you pulled regardless of thinking too much about what category of autographed card it might be referenced to.

It reminds me of a cut auto and no one is ever disappointed about pulling one of those. This just happens to be proactive.
 
Unless I'm missing something, hasn't this been done multiple times by multiple manufacturers in many sets already? Not sure about "innovative" as it's been done plenty before, but it's a step above stickers for sure unless you end up with part of the auto hidden under the top layer (see 05/06 Upper Deck Rookie Update).
 
MMarch said:
Unless I'm missing something, hasn't this been done multiple times by multiple manufacturers in many sets already? Not sure about "innovative" as it's been done plenty before, but it's a step above stickers for sure unless you end up with part of the auto hidden under the top layer (see 05/06 Upper Deck Rookie Update).
Click to expand...

Like said above, its not like those at all. Rookie Update are sunken. This is basically a puzzle piece put flush back into the card, even across and not sunken. Basically like making a card, punching out that piece, sending them for signing and throwing it back in
 
Well it's obviously not as good as a hard signed card but it's definitely better than 90% of most stickers autos so thumbs up to ITG!
 
So the hangup with the old windows is that they were sunken? I thought it was that looking at them made one realize that the athlete was sitting in front of a sheet of stickers, cards, paper etc that would then be parceled off and turned into a million different kinds of cards taking away the personal aspect of the signature.

To me this is really nothing different than what has been done in older ITG Ultimate products, the aforementioned Rookie Update, Scratching the Surface or some of the old offerings from Sweet Shot.

It may be marginally better than a sticker but I would prefer a company to just do their best to conceal the sticker and call it a day. The best execution in my memory is the Puck Signatures from Sweet Shots - at least off the top of my head anyway.

At best, it's a little cleaner - at worst, it leaves ITG with the problem of having autos on the exact same background to use in the future which is just going to mean more products that look exactly the same year in and year out.
 
timber09 said:
So the hangup with the old windows is that they were sunken? I thought it was that looking at them made one realize that the athlete was sitting in front of a sheet of stickers, cards, paper etc that would then be parceled off and turned into a million different kinds of cards taking away the personal aspect of the signature.

To me this is really nothing different than what has been done in older ITG Ultimate products, the aforementioned Rookie Update, Scratching the Surface or some of the old offerings from Sweet Shot.

It may be marginally better than a sticker but I would prefer a company to just do their best to conceal the sticker and call it a day. The best execution in my memory is the Puck Signatures from Sweet Shots - at least off the top of my head anyway.

At best, it's a little cleaner - at worst, it leaves ITG with the problem of having autos on the exact same background to use in the future which is just going to mean more products that look exactly the same year in and year out.
Click to expand...

This is probably exactly like Sweet Shot Puck Signatures... the only thing is about those Puck Signatures is that I am 99% sure I have seen autos slide off the puck and onto the card itself, so I'm guessing these cards were built with the rubber puck section and sent off to be signed that way.

Regardless, it seems what ITG is doing is piecing the cards together as mentioned above and slotting them back into place. I'd prefer that than the typical sticker, but I'd take a hard signed card over any of the other options.
 
Burner said:
This is probably exactly like Sweet Shot Puck Signatures... the only thing is about those Puck Signatures is that I am 99% sure I have seen autos slide off the puck and onto the card itself, so I'm guessing these cards were built with the rubber puck section and sent off to be signed that way.

Regardless, it seems what ITG is doing is piecing the cards together as mentioned above and slotting them back into place. I'd prefer that than the typical sticker, but I'd take a hard signed card over any of the other options.
Click to expand...

I came one or two cards short of completing that set and yes, I had multiple cards where the silver ink ran into the side of the puck "window" and left a tiny ink spot on the face of the card. Those cards were made layered but the player hard signed the final product.
 
andrewconnors9 said:
Like said above, its not like those at all. Rookie Update are sunken. This is basically a puzzle piece put flush back into the card, even across and not sunken. Basically like making a card, punching out that piece, sending them for signing and throwing it back in
Click to expand...

Ah, gotcha, missed that. Interesting, would like to see how this gets executed and how they look. Stickers seem to throw a lot of collectors off, but as Joe said, if done right they can work (Enforcers). If the stickers were layered possible, underneath the top layer of the actual card so they can't peel up or be peeled off by someone, that would be even better IMO.
 
You would still run into the problem of overrun on the signature, as there's just no way to ensure everyone signs inside the box unless you are willing to discard the sloppy ones.

The problem for me with stickers has always been multifold:

1) Sticker appearance detracts from overall card
2) Autos sometimes overrun the borders
3) There is no connection between the card and the person signing the autograph; it was never held in hand, touched by the player, etc. They merely signed a sheet of stickers.
4) There is no transparency as to how many stickers are signed at once, so we don't know if there's going to be a "sticker dump" a la World of Sports in the future or when a manufacturer goes belly-up.

Therefore, just about ANYthing in my book is better than a sticker auto - even redemptions, if they have a strict timeline for redemption and a guaranteed replacement piece of equivalent value. I'll put up with it if something is first to market (e.g. Trilogy) or if I like the rest of the concept a lot (Prizm), but if there's nothing else to differentiate then stickers are a mess (Select). Panini, take note!!
 
They look like a neat idea to me. Have to see some of these cards in hand, but I like the idea of it.

Granted, I didn't really have a big problem with how ITG used stickers before. Working the stickers into the card design, rather than just slapping them on, made for a better looking product already.
 


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