3 Years of SPA (13/14,14/15,15/16) - Visual and Design

[atruong317]

Now that 15-16 SPA has been out for awhile, I was curious to know what everybody's opinion are of the designs.

Here are the last 3 years of design

2013/14 on the Left
2014/15 in the center
2015/16 on the right

Base Set, Authentic Moments, and Retro Subsets

I really do like this years design for the base cards and the retro subset.
I liked the 2 previous years' of Authentic moments compared to the latest one.
I'm not a fan of the grey border, that being said, the autograph versions look sharp with the gold border from what I've seen online.




Future Watch Auto

Probably 2016, 2014 and then 2015 for me.
2016 because it incorporates the primary and secondary colors of the teams. Some other nice additions, the Black Future Watch Autos, and the inscriptions.
2015 gets dropped because of the flaking/cutting issues on the bottom of the card being noticeable because of the colored bordered.



Sign of the Times

2014, 2015, and then 2016 for me. I liked the team logo placement for the 2014 SOTT cards, 2015 added the team color as a nice touch.

I'm really not a fan of the 2016 SOTT cards. Blue background for the veterans, red/orange for the rookies.
Another significant change that I've seen are the Triple SOTT cards for 2016 are now sticker autos. 2014 and 2015 were still hard signed for the Triple Cards.
It does appear that the 2016 Dual SOTT cards are still hard signed.



Chirography

2014 and 2015, they split the Chirography set into Regular Chirography (Veterans) and Premiere Chirography (Rookies). This year, they made the Chirography set into Global Chirography.
Canada players are represented by the Great White North Set (not pictured). And my guess is, they made the SOTT Rookie set to replace the Premiere Chirography.

I'm a fan of the 2016 Global chirography cards, they incorporate where the player is from and you get to see more of the player compared to 2015.
I personally think having Canada in the Chirography set with their respective teams would have been better than the Great White North set.



Not shown

Marks of Distinction
Immortal Inks - 2015 was an great year for the Immortal Inks, I thought those were some of the best looking cards I've seen.
Limited Autos
Patch Cards

New Subsets for 2016

Scripted Stoppers
Great White North
Authentic Moments Booklets
Franchise Icons
Black Future Watch Autographs
Limited Future Watch Autographs (Patch size thickness, SN to /100)
Inscribed Future Watch Autographs
Inscribed SOTT

[creasecollector]

Awesome analysis of each. For their auto'd subsets, I really like it when UD incorporates a lot of white into the design. For me, it really is what SPA is all about from a design perspective, and it makes the cards look really clean.

[Sharky94]

I am kind of partial to the 14-15 set myself. Can't really explain why. The designs are just slightly more appealing to me, that's all.

[dudical]

I really dig 14-15. Great design and I like the solid border.

[Cunnuc]

15-16 for FWA.
13-14 for base.
14-15 or 15-16 for Authentic Moments
13-14 for SoTT
13-14 for Retro (I like the photography in these cards, otherwise 15-16 for design)
15-16 for Chirography
10-11 for Marks of Distinction (Love the look of these cards)

[LaundryRoomTradingCo]

Sweet thread! I think I like this years the most, although 13/14 is really nice aswell

[30ranfordfan]

I think I prefer the 13-14 look for everything except the retro cards (I'd give the nod to the 15-16s) and the Future Watch Autos, I'd give it to the 14-15s.

[RGM81]

@atruong317 Great thread for discussion!

SP Authentic is always a popular release and while they keep a lot of elements and subsets, the variation each year keeps things looking fresh. I just saw the first copy of this year's Carey Price Marks of Distinction and it's a really great shot. Always a beauty of a subset and this year is no exception. I like how this year's design incorporates team colours a little better, really like that accenting.

[atruong317]

I'll try and upload more pictures from the other subsets tonight.

It's interesting to see everybody's opinions on this.

The 13/14 set is probably the cleanest design with the most white, while the 14/15 set added a bit of color and a lot of lines. Then the 15/16 set added a lot of color.

[FrankToronto]

Always love the sharp crisp design of SPA!

Shameless plug: there will be TONS of it at the www.TorontoCardShow.com on July 24th... shameless because I happen to know first hand the plethora selection!