From the Pedro Binder

1999 UD MVP

OK. Your turn to play along. What do you think I’m going to say about this card?

I’ll wait.

Got it? 

Yup. What is this mess? Seriously. I have no idea what Upper Deck was going for here. It makes me wonder if this was the real reason Upper Deck no longer has a license. They don’t have any more layout ideas since they used about five of them on this one card alone. They had to stop making them.

It’s like when a grade schooler makes their first PowerPoint presentation. They think it’s fun to try out all the toys, and want to use them all on every slide. Have some text dissolve, or slide to the right. Have the pictures spin into place. Have them bounce into position. 

On every slide.

This is what Upper Deck is doing here. Hey, we can use foil to put out logo in the corner. Hey we can use foil to make out brand name outlines and computer-ish looking. Hey we can use foil to add circles to the front. Hey we can use foil to add these weird circles to the side of the card. We can use color too! Don’t forget color! How about red shading? Oh, and blue shading! We should probably add the player’s name, number, team, and position as well. There. Perfect.

But, much like that grade schooler, they didn’t realize that doing EVERYTHING at once is way too distracting. If a viewer has to keep following bouncing balls or sliding text he’ll lose track of the information you’re presenting. 

The same thing happens with this card. I have trouble finding Pedro’s name in the chaos. Heck, I have trouble finding Pedro’s picture. What a mess.

Sometimes it’s OK to hold an idea back for next time.