1. Rounded bottom corners – Currently sleeves are rectangles and while this
works fine I think it could be improved if the bottom two corners were rounded.
This would help reduce the scratching sleeves get while shuffling and it would
make shuffling easier. Why leave the top corners at 90 degrees? Because cards
would fit in the sleeve more comfortably and there would be no awkward opening.
2. Rounded sides – I am no engineer nor have I worked with any card sleeve manufacturing technology, so I have no idea whether or not this is possible. Currently sleeves appear to have the clear plastic front “stamped” onto the sleeve and then cut. What if there was a way for sleeves to have no “seam.” Instead sleeves would go from the rough back to the transparent front seamlessly. This would help provide a nicer feel for sleeves, a stronger design and sleeves would be less likely to cut each other while shuffling (not that this is a common problem). The potential problems I see here is the how and whether or not sleeves would not hold the cards firmly enough. Obviously we do not want our cards falling out of the sleeves.
3. Gun metal back – I think it would be nice to have more variety with the types of sleeves that are currently made. Immediately when I think of what I would want with the “ideal” sleeve is to have a nice gun-metal color for the back of the card. The problem here would be uniformity to prevent players from cheating. Another potential problem would be figuring out how to do this (problems with material).
Those are the innovations I would like to discuss regarding current trading card game sleeves. Please discuss here on my blog so that I can see what other people think!
2. Rounded sides – I am no engineer nor have I worked with any card sleeve manufacturing technology, so I have no idea whether or not this is possible. Currently sleeves appear to have the clear plastic front “stamped” onto the sleeve and then cut. What if there was a way for sleeves to have no “seam.” Instead sleeves would go from the rough back to the transparent front seamlessly. This would help provide a nicer feel for sleeves, a stronger design and sleeves would be less likely to cut each other while shuffling (not that this is a common problem). The potential problems I see here is the how and whether or not sleeves would not hold the cards firmly enough. Obviously we do not want our cards falling out of the sleeves.
3. Gun metal back – I think it would be nice to have more variety with the types of sleeves that are currently made. Immediately when I think of what I would want with the “ideal” sleeve is to have a nice gun-metal color for the back of the card. The problem here would be uniformity to prevent players from cheating. Another potential problem would be figuring out how to do this (problems with material).
Those are the innovations I would like to discuss regarding current trading card game sleeves. Please discuss here on my blog so that I can see what other people think!
1. Rounded corners would be an interesting change to current sleeve design. I think it's a convincing argument. Conventional sleeves that are played with long enough tend to have their corners bent over anyways, so why not round them off and create a more contoured fit?
ReplyDeleteIt's worth considering too how this unique feature might affect the feel of the sleeve. Perhaps these rounded corners become part of the branding of the product?
2. Seams are structurally the weakest part of almost any device or product. In this case, they also may be the hardest to avoid. Since the card sleeves are generally made with one clear side and one color/graphics side, the two plastics are processed separately, and it would be challenging (not necessarily impossible though) to create something without a seamed connection.
However, there are a few exceptions. Take a look at those super-cheap clear plastic sleeves. Because the plastic doesn't differentiate from the front to the back, it creates a homogeneous connection. Try tearing one apart. The plastic will plasticize before the seam ever comes apart. Maybe there's a way to take the strength of these clear sleeves but still add graphics to the back?
3. From what I'm reading, I'm inferring that you're considering a real metal back for the sleeves? Or is it just the color? In any case, if your concern is to create uniformity you should consider how the color or finish is being created/applied.
Your intuition is correct, metals can have a hard time achieving uniformity of appearance on their own, but look at automobiles. Thousands of identical cars are punched out each day and it all has to do with the coatings/paints that are applied to the metal. Another advantage of applying coatings is that you can control the texture or finish more easily (rough/smooth/matte/glossy).
Good luck,
- Joe