* * * The full-color front and back 2009 card design is ready to order!!! * * *

About this Year's Design...

This year I teamed up with the original Cabbage Catching Kid - "Mike Wood" for the creation of this year's design. Why team up with Mike? Well, Mike has a very particular eye when it comes to what he likes and doesn't like in a trading card espeically vintage hockey cards and has gone so far as to semi-jokingly create the Mike Wood Hockey Card Rules (MWHCR). When I decided to go for a more vintage look to this year's card, he seemed like the right guy to team up with. This is what Mike had to say about this year's design -

This year's card is a modern update of the classic sports trading cards of yore. Think late-70s hockey card. They've got everything but the chewing gum stain. They're a little asymmetrical for one thing, which was a trick that helped those old timers hide the fact that their donkey-powered machinery often cut entire sheets of cards completely askew. To keep the whole thing looking like a set, the base colour scheme is white, with navy blue for the details (text, pin stripes etc.). For the accent colour, any shade within the spectrum of visible light is up to the individual player performer to decide. Back in the day I used to love when O-Pee-Chee used a colour in this way to highlight something other than team affiliation. One year, all the defensemen got a green outline, and the rookies all got pink. Good times...

Parties involved in this process...

There are actually three different people involved in the trading card process -

• The performer ordering the cards - You
• The person who maintains the web site, looks after the designs and answers questions - Me
• The guy at the company East Van Graphics who looks after the printing - Jeff

EAST VAN GRAPHICS
(East Van Graphics is also a great place to go for all of your
printing needsclick on this text to go directly to their website)

I do my best to make everything work well between all concerned, but once your order has been placed, all questions about your order should be directed to Jeff at: eastvangraphics@shaw.ca. Also, it should be noted that I receive no money when you place an order. What I do get is samples of your card to keep in the archives, but I don't actually receive any sort of payment. This keeps the cost of the cards to you the performer as low as possible. So what's in it for me? Well, I continue to enjoy the dream that these cards will one day become super valuable... Once they do, I'll make a bundle selling them on ebay! So, what's next?

Customizing your card's layout...

For the Front of the cards, choose a landscape or portrait orientation and pick the a colour for the border... If your not sure about colors Jeff at East Van Graphics will make a choice based on the picture(s) that you send in and may crop your pictures a bit so that they fit with in the design.

The back of the cards this year are once again in Full Color!!! The back is where you get to put in all of your 'Stats', Trivia and perhaps a short quote. These back areas are completely customizable. For example, there's room for a potential 5 lines of statistics (Ideally between 30 and 40 characters per line) in the which could potentially include some of the following:

• Height
• Weight
• Shoe Size
• Shoots (right/left):
• First Pro Season (where):
• Born (date/place):
• Web Site Address:
• Email Address:
• Phone Number:
• Countries Performed in:
• Home Town:
• Other

Have fun making up your own stats, and consider combining more than one stat per line (for example short stats like: Height, Weight and Shoe Size could all go on one of the five lines). Also have fun with a mini bio or trivia and consider a short quote at the bottom.

Notes about Picture(s)...

There is space in the design for two pictures, one on the front of your cards and one on the back. If you only send in only one picture it will be used on both the front and the back and sized to fit accordingly.

• Tiff files (300dpi* min 1200dpi max.) *dpi stands for "Dots Per Inch"
• JPEG files (300dpi min 1200dpi max.)
• Maximum image size - 4 x 6 (inches), Minimum Image size - 2 x 3 (Inches) All images will be sized to fit the space available.
• Files for offset printing must be sent at 300 dpi minimum with 400 dpi resolution preferred
• Images should be converted into the CMYK Color Space if possible. (If you don't know what this means, don't worry about it, Jeff can do it for you)

Jeff at East Van Graphics will crop your image(s) to fit into the space available. Also, Jeff requests that you compress your files before sending using either "STUFFIT" or "WINZIP". Files up to 4 mb can be emailed directly to eastvangraphics@shaw.ca. Files between 4 mb and 50 mb should be uploaded to at the East Van Graphics website. If you have any questions feel free to email Jeff to make sure your images arrive correctly.

Or, if you prefer, you can send a hard copy image directly to Jeff at:

East Van Graphics
Attention: Jeff Grayston
356 East 6th Ave., Unit 301
Vancouver, BC V5T 1K1
Canada

Jeff will scan your photo(s) and place them into the art work so that you don't have to resize or deal with any of this. Photo scanning, close-cropping and special logo work adds slightly extra to the cost, to be quoted when order placed, but not usually more than $30.

How to Order...

I've tried to make this as simple as possible. All you need to do is email (or send by regular mail - see address above) all of the information for the front and back of the cards to Jeff at:

eastvangraphics@shaw.ca

Your email should include:

• Card Orientation (either Landscape or Portrait)
• Name/Tag line for the Font of the cards (ex: The Checkerboard Guy/Comic Daredevil)
• Two lines of header information for the back (ex: Name/Web address)
• Up to 5 different statistics
• A short Bio or trivia section
• A quote
• The image(s)/photo(s) you want to include for the card.

Again all of this information is completely customizable, so have fun with it and include what every information you like. (Note: If the content becomes too long it may be edited to fit the available space.) Once Jeff receives this information, he will put your stats and other information into the lay out and then email you a PDF file so you can make sure everything looks good before your cards go to print. East Van Graphics won't proceed with your order until they've received your approval. Once your approval is received East Van Graphics will place your card on the next available print run.

So How Much? (Prices are listed in Canadian Dollars)

Shipping Costs (In Canadian Dollars for Canadian Orders, US Dollars for US order, International orders, will vary depending on where cards are being shipped):

Payment Information...

Once your order has been received and processed, Jeff, from East Van Graphics will send you a detailed statement of charges and include a link to a paypal invoice. For anyone unfamiliar with Paypal, you receive a secure payment link from Paypal showing the amount due in US or CDN dollars (your choice) this invoice includes all taxes and shipping charges as detailed by Jeff in his email to you, and allows several credit card options for payment. If this method of payment is not acceptable, other arrangements can be made directly with Jeff.

***Please note that it can take 4 - 6 weeks for the cards to be shipped to you once the final artwork has been approved***

So there you go... If you have any other questions that weren't answered by this page, feel free to email me, otherwise, what are you waiting for?

Cheers,

David Aiken
The Checkerboard Guy

P.S. If you ARE ordering, please send 10 cards to me at:

David Aiken - The Checkerboard Guy
1226 Brantwood Road
North Vancouver, BC, V7R 1G5
Canada

5 cards should be autographed, the other five not. I'm maintaining the SuperStarPerformers.com web site, and will need copies of your card so it can include it in the card index.