During the pandemic, trading cards have experienced unprecedented growth, but did you know they originated as cigarette cards in the 1800s? What did you know about the Victorian-era sentimentality and fascination with color printing that led to the development of card collecting?
Compared to the humble beginnings of The Hobby, today's obsession with Pokémon cards, sports cards, and even digital cards seem unimaginable.
What is a Trading Card?
Trading cards are pieces of thin cardboard decorated with pictures relating to certain themes, such as baseball or football. The cards are either bought or traded by collectors.
An image card usually contains a short description of a specific person, place, or thing (fictional or real) along with other text (attacks, statistics, trivia) on a small piece of paper. Cards come in a wide variety of types.
Sports trading cards (baseball cards, for example) are traditional, but other subjects, such as Pokémon, can also be included. Cartoons, comic books, television shows, and film stills are often included in these publications.
Collectible card games emerged in the 1990s as a distinct category of cards designed specifically for playing games. There is a lot of fantasy in these games. Trading cards that focus on artwork are called fantasy art cards.
Origin of Trading Cards
For stiffening the packaging, the original trading cards were used as advertising cards for cigarettes. Baseball cards were first printed in the 1860s, shortly after the sport became a professional one.
The use of color lithography or multicolor printing in the 1870s and early 1900s led to an increase in the popularity of the trade card. Companies of all kinds inserted these cards into product packaging as prizes.
Cards often featured humorous or beautiful designs, depending on the consumer's perceived tastes, rather than product-related designs.
The public began collecting these cards, storing them in scrapbooks and albums because of their vibrant, full-color images.
To obtain a complete set, people traded with each other. Color printing made these cards less popular, but collecting trading cards became popular.
What is the Purpose of a Trading Card Template?
It is important to determine why you need the template before choosing the type of trading card template to download or create. Trading cards can be created for a variety of reasons. Reasons for this include:
Creating your trading card game
Pokemon, Magic the Gathering, and other trading card games are available. Children and adults all over the world have taken to playing these games because they have become so popular. Consider creating your own game instead of purchasing these trading cards.
Make up your own rules by thinking of characters, giving them superpowers, and giving them abilities. In addition to exercising your creativity, making your own game is a lot of fun!
Creating your sports cards
Football card templates, baseball card templates, and other sports card templates are available for download. Even if you can't afford or can't find these cards in your city, trading these cards can be fun and popular.
You and your friends can create your own sports cards in such cases. Players' names, statistics, their team history, and a few fun facts should be contained on these types of trading cards.
Make your trading cards for your family and friends
Personalized trading cards can also be made for loved ones. You can give them creative gifts for special occasions and connect with them in this way. The trading card template can be customized with photos of the people you love.
Any information you wish to include can be included on these kinds of trading cards. However, in most cases, the cards should include the name of the recipient, their major or occupation, their favorite color or food, and a few fun facts about them. Make sure to have fun while creating these cards, don't take them too seriously.
Tips on Creating Trading Cards
1. Get inspired
You're never starting from scratch with our professionally designed templates. Take advantage of fresh inspiration by searching by platform, task, aesthetic, mood, or color. Open the document in the editor once you've found a graphic to start with.
2. Put your spin on it
Trading card templates can be customized in many ways. Copy and font should be changed. With Adobe Express, you can add your images or browse thousands of free images.
You can spend as much or as little time making the graphic your own as you like. Your brand logo, colors, and fonts can even be auto-applied with a premium plan.
3. Turn up the glam
Exclusive design assets from Adobe Express make your projects stand out. Short-form graphic videos can be animated with animated stickers from GIPHY.
You can focus on your message and style while we take care of all the technical stuff. In addition, you can invite collaborators to work on your trading cards project.
4. Maximize your content's reach by resizing
Every platform no longer requires you to memorize image dimensions. With the handy, auto-magical resize feature, you can easily modify a design to fit any social network.
Our AI will adapt your project for the platform you select, by duplicating the project, resizing it, and selecting the platform. That's it. In a fraction of the time, you can create content for all your channels.
5. Share and save your trading card designs
When you have finished designing your trading cards, click the publish button. Download your card as a digital file and send it via email or social media.
For a sleek and stunning trading card, print out your design at home, at school, or work. Whenever you want to update or repurpose your trading card design, Adobe Express saves your creations.
Trading Card Templates
1. Google Slides
His Fahrenheit 451 trading card template was created when he was teaching the book. For each of the novel's main characters, students were asked to make a character card. Using Google Slides or Google Classroom is ideal if you want to make this a group activity.
2. Canva
Trading cards work very well with the flyer template. There is more space for information about the character or historical figure in this design because it is a bit larger.
3. PokeCard
Students who are Pokemon fans can create Pokemon-like character cards using this free website. If you want to use stat categories for your cards (Hit, weakness, retreat, etc), then you'll need to spend a bit more time discussing them. Your students will probably suggest ways to relate these stats to historical or literary figures, so don't worry!
Making Trading Card Templates by Hand
Trading card templates are available everywhere in the world. There are many types of cards available, such as football cards, baseball cards, character cards, game cards, and more.
You can make trading card templates by hand if you wish. The following steps will guide you:
Materials should be prepared
A pencil, a pair of scissors, and thick paper are all you need to make your trading cards. Other materials can also be used, such as photos, stickers, and glitter. It is up to you to decide what to do for this step.
It is important to choose a paper with a good thickness, such as construction paper, thick card stock, or index cards. You should do this to prevent your cards from getting torn, folded, or destroyed.
Make cutouts of the cards
A typical trading card measures 3.5 inches high by 2.5 inches wide. You may change the size if you wish. Make sure all of your cards have the same size so you can put them together in one deck, no matter what size you choose.
Use a ruler to draw lines on a large sheet of thick paper. The cards are easier to cut this way. Make sure all the cards have straight and even edges by cutting them out carefully.
Garnish your cards
Your trading card template is now ready to be decorated. Depending on the type of card you are creating, the design will vary. You need photos of the players for a sports card template. Drawings and illustrations of your characters are required for game card templates. Your trading card deck needs photos of the people you want to include.
Each card should have a unique character. In other words, unless you're creating game cards and want some of them to appear more than once. A few of the designs of the cards can be replicated in such a case.
Sketch your characters with a pencil if you plan to draw them. Use a marker to trace over the character sketch once you are satisfied with it. Coloring materials such as crayons, markers, or other coloring materials can then be used to color the characters.
The details of the people or characters should appear at the top and bottom of all trading cards, regardless of what type they are.
Give your cards the important details
You must give each character a name and a few details about them. Be sure to include all of the relevant information about the players on sports card templates. You can choose what information to include on the other kinds of cards as long as it's interesting.
At the top of the card, write the names of the characters or people, and at the bottom, write the details about them. You can write all of this information yourself if your handwriting is legible, clear, and readable. If you are unable to write these details, you may ask someone else to do so.
Finalize your work
Your cards will be stronger if you do this step, even though it is optional. Laminating your cards can help preserve them and make them last longer. Laminate your cards at a specialty shop or with a laminating machine if you have one.
Trading Cards of Today
Card collectors refer to card collecting as the hobby, and trading cards of all kinds are called the baseball card industry.
To gain the most value, trading cards should be graded, with 1 being poor and 10 being gem mint. Beckett and PSA provide the most popular grading services.
The Hobby has recently experienced a resurgence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased its value. Millions more trading card submissions were made during lockdown than usual, as many people took an interest in trading cards again. To keep things under control, PSA temporarily raised its prices in response to increased demand. There has been an enormous demand for Pokémon cards, resulting in many stores running out. After a fight broke out over Pokémon cards in a parking lot, Target stopped carrying the cards.
The Future of Trading Cards
Do trading cards have a bright future? Basketball fans have recently embraced virtual basketball cards. A player's video highlight is featured on these floating digital cubes or moments.
Blockchain technology makes them possible by assigning each clip a certificate of ownership that cannot be copied or deleted. The price of these moments ranges from $10 to $20.
Are digital clips going to remain popular for a long time? Are the novelty and tactile experience of paper trading cards enough to keep them from fading away? We'll have to wait and see!
Conclusion
Several factors can contribute to the rarity of trading cards. These cards are highly sought after by collectors for various reasons, including their age, condition, and the series number.
Trading cards are a unique hobby that can be rewarding if you have a rare enough card, or you can keep them as keepsakes. Is there a collection of ultra-rare trading cards we missed? Please let us know if we missed anything so we can highlight it.
No matter why you collect sports cards now is the perfect time to get started. The sports card collecting industry is growing rapidly. People are becoming more interested in the hobby as a result of the interest being generated.
Wherever you want to find enthusiasts, you can find everything from the rarest sports cards to diamonds in the rough.
Please contact us if you know which iconic sports cards you wish to purchase. If you are looking for sports cards today, we probably have what you are looking for; just download the WPS Office.
