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Welcome to the Stacking Slabs, a podcast for sports cards collectors. There's been a tremendous amount of change to our Hobby over the last few years and the one constant has been the passion from the collecting community. Stacking Slabs is built by the collector and lives to tell stories for the collector.
What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Stacking Slabs, your hobby content alternative. Thursday spot, we're getting a little crazy.
'Tis the season. We're in the home stretch right now. The holidays, man, they're, they're great, but they're challenging, especially you got little kids. Got the the elements outside, two hour delays.
You got the sickness. I'm trying to record podcasts about sports cards while also being a dad at the same time. And with another child on the way here in the matter of moments, it's a crazy time, but I wouldn't give it up for anything.
I love these chats where there's there's some structure, but it mostly is centered around a topic that I've been thinking about for a while and get an opportunity to talk about.
So in today's conversation, I wanna talk about familiar aesthetics and familiar aesthetics in collector behavior, how we respond to aesthetics that we have seen previously.
There is a long running list, and I'm not going to cover them all today, but there's a long running list of aesthetics on cards that I truly love and appreciate and admire and questioned the why behind my love of these aesthetics.
And in almost all of those instances, it is because there was a card before the card that I love that used those aesthetics, and so it was burned into my brain, which makes that look familiar and comforting.
We're going to talk about something today that every collector feels, but you might not fully realize.
Familiarity, for me, drives what I chase. There is something interesting about familiar patterns or designs and how our brains process them and why we end up liking those things.
Familiar things are comforting. Familiar things add fuel to our collector experience. When we see something that we know and love, it is appealing. It can be a classic pattern, the way a card refracts, a design elements.
It's built to make us feel emotionally familiar and comfortable. So what I wanna do in this episode, and we can do whatever we want because it is wild card Thursday.
I know it would be better if it was wild card Wednesday. The alliteration would be there, but unfortunately, Wednesday is reserved for the flagship, the longest running show here on Stacking Slabs.
So Wildcard Thursday, will have to be it. But today, we're gonna unpack the psychology of why familiar visuals make us wanna collect and why, and and we'll also, in this episode, look at some of those examples.
Like I mentioned, we're not gonna run through the exhaustive list of examples because it's endless, but just the one the top ones that come to my brain.
We'll see how colors, the foil patterns, graphics from past eras keep resurfacing in modern sets.
This won't be exclusive to any sports. We'll kinda dig into basketball, baseball, and football. And along the way, we'll learn how things like pattern recognition, memory, and emotion play a role in what we buy.
I think my goal for this is for everyone listening to see how these familiar designs really become a part of our hobbies d m DNA passed from one generation of collectors to the next.
I want to start perhaps with my earliest memory back back into the hobby where this played a pivotal role in familiarity.
And I I can draw the example, and I remember the moment clear as day. And that's why I think this topic is important. It's this feeling that this memory gave me that was responsible for this episode.
And I think that's cool when something so deeply burned into our memories, presents itself and I feel so compelled to say, you know what? Let's unpack that.
But here we go. I remember vividly finding my footing on hobby Instagram, following accounts, connecting with people. And I had recently I don't even think we had a chat yet, but I had recently followed Kevin to captain thirty seven.
And it's almost funny to think about a world where we haven't, we had hadn't spoken yet because we've shared so many of our conversations we've had publicly with all of you.
But I remember Kevin, and I've I've I've told him that he needs to bring this back.
But I remember on Fridays, he'd do, like, a happy hour Friday, and he'd pour a drink, and he would just show off his cards to Hobby Instagram and talk about why he bought these cards and, you know, different things.
And I thought it was so cool. Very few people at the time were using Instagram live. And if they were, they were trying to sell RASes or break spots or something else.
Like, Kevin was, you know, just trying to build his brand and talk about cards, which I found awesome. And so I'd always be excited for these moments where he did this and I tune in.
But it was one one in particular case, and it's funny for as, burned into my memory as this is. I I am not quite sure on the exact parallel, but I think I know.
I remember Kevin showing off some Patrick Mahomes rookies. And I'll also say this was at a period of time where I I don't even know if maybe maybe Mahomes had won us won Super Bowl.
Maybe? It's it his Mahomes' legend wasn't to where it is today. But I remember Kevin showing on this live, showing twenty seventeen prism rookies of Mahomes, and it wasn't just the base which is the silver. It he had parallels.
And I'll never forget, I think it was the green scope that Kevin was showing. And all I remember him sharing the card and me looking at the card being absolutely stunned and mesmerized by the aesthetic, the scope view.
You see the the the circles that are overlapping, and when you move it back and forth, there is this unmistakable, undeniable glow and shine to these cards.
And we all know how challenging it is to get our cards to resonate online. Right? When we're doing videos, it's impossible to really get the full effect of why these cards are beautiful and why these cards, are highly collectible.
But in that moment, I don't know if the the right the light was right or whatever, but I remember Kevin sharing those that card and me being like, wow.
And then I remember going back and watching that video, and I remember looking at the card and slowing it down and, like, thinking about it. And I said, this is the exact same aesthetic as ninety seven PMG championship.
And I did the compare and contrast, found videos on YouTube clips, and I was, like, playing them back together. And I was like, that is so interesting. And at that point, I wasn't thinking about, wow, this is interesting.
This is something that I'm gonna eventually do a piece of content on. But I just thought I was very fascinated by the aesthetic carrying over from one manufacturer to the other in a twenty year or so twenty year period, essentially.
'97 championship to 2017 prism. Like, to me that was remarkable. And since that moment, there has been several other moments where I have seen a card and been like, that card kicks ass.
It's beautiful. The the design or the aesthetics are are gripping. Then I'll take a step back and be like, why do I think that? And usually, it's because that is not net new.
It is familiar. And so let's start with perhaps kind of the the our brain makeup and science around this. I think it's very evident, especially as collectors, we recognize that our brains are pattern machines.
Designs with repeated shapes or known layouts are processed faster and feel more pleasing. It is easier to perceive an object that the more positively people respond to it.
It's like a mental shortcut. If a card's design is easy or familiar, you automatically give it more credit. This is an exposure effect. We tend to develop a preference for things simply because we've seen them.
It can be a design that feels familiar or clear, which is easier for our brain to interpret. The processing that our brain goes through generates a positive this is good.
For example, symmetrical patterns or classic color layouts mean our visual system doesn't have to work as hard. We just get it. I think the more we often see a particular visual style, the more we tend to like it.
This isn't about conscious taste. It's a subconscious trick of the mind. When a new card styles echoes something we remember, we instantly feel affinity.
And I think that's what we're all really seeking in cards, is we're seeking affinity and connection with those cards, and the way that transpires is typically through aesthetics.
Think alongside these cognitive effects comes the emotional side. We can think about things like nostalgia, which is a powerful emotional anchor.
I have been a marketer my entire career, so I often think about nostalgia's place nostalgia's placement in certain elements in order to evoke sentimental value or personal memories, which usually lasts if you're able to do it right, which it it can turn design elements from just something you look at to something that has long lasting appeal.
And when I think about this from a card perspective, a card uses colors or patterns from the good old days.
It transports us as collectors back. And for collectors, that might mean recalling childhood packs, remembering, a favorite team.
Cards symbolize those childhood passions and friendships, tying them back to these powerful memories. And I remember the scope or the same aesthetic in the PMG championships because of magazines like Beckett.
And although I may not have owned those cards, I remember reading about them, and I remember seeing them. And those connection points made me look at Kevin's card in a brand new light.
The nostalgia that we see can trigger a chain reaction in our mind. It can be encountering a vintage or familiar visual cue, which activates emotions like comfort and trust.
It's capturing our attention. It's transferring positive memories to new items. So a card that looks like a classic doesn't just look cool. It feels safe and meaningful, which influences, in a lot of cases, the value of cards.
An emotional memory can boost our willingness to invest more or spend more money on these cards because the way a card presents and the way a card makes us feel is comforting.
We wanna spend our money on stuff that's comfortable. We don't wanna spend our money on stuff that makes us uncomfortable or we're unsure about.
That familiarity brings a connection point and helps us build and develop a layer or level of trust with a specific card a lot quicker than just some new technology that's hitting packs today.
I think nostalgia turns design into a shortcut, and it helps us make feel really good about cards. I think about cards sometimes as echoes of the past, and I'll see the card and instantly think about it's the card that came before it.
You can we can look at a lot of different examples from familiar designs across the hobby, across sports eras, card makers. They recycle these aesthetics, and they reimagine visual motifs that collectors love.
And what I like about this as a marketing nerd is the messaging and the positioning. It's like we've got the same aesthetic, but one's called this and the other's called that.
It's all just marketing. It's all to make us feel a certain way. Consider Topps atomic refractors, from Bowman. There is a metallic frame pattern that instantly recalls the nineties era of refractors.
In fact, collectors note that Tops literally named this parallel after the old atomic refractor effect. And even the gold trim on these designs send flashbacks. Think about this.
We have atomics from old that translate into atomics that are new and coming out of packs, alongside a whole another element or a whole another parallel, which is from a whole another manufacturer, which is the cracked ice out of contenders or that would be a part of the Prism catalog too.
They have this look of mosaic nature to it and color shards that shimmer in the light. They're stunning and very popular, but they only work because the cracked ice ice motif was already formed in older products.
Think about the power of that. Think about why did we get well, how did we get here where the cracked ice parallel has become one of the number one rookie cards that we can buy of a specific football player?
Well, it's probably because we, as collectors, are used to the atomic for for refractors and have seen those cards steadily increase in popularity and values over the years.
There are so many examples that we see across the hobby where this happens again and again. I mean, maybe the most jarring or jarring is maybe the worst word to use, but maybe the most appetizing maybe, I guess, is a better word.
Who knows? But I I just think about the the the super fracture and how valuable and esteemed the super fracture is.
And then you've got the gold vinyl. In on the panini side, whether it's gold vinyl out of five, out of prism, or it's the, optic gold vinyl or contenders gold vinyl one of ones, I just think about that.
And we love those gold swirls, and we know based on the history of the hobby, there's something to the those gold swirls.
And so we accept the fact that the cards that happen or produce later mean something. Think about all of the different parallels out of Prism that nobody cares about. It wasn't like Gold Vinyl started from the jump.
It started in 2015, but we act like the gold vinyl. It helps that it's out of five, which are some rarity and scarcity, but we instantly accepted the gold vinyl as a premium parallel within Prism.
This happens again and again across the hobby. Familiar color palettes, foil patterns, textures are reused with new players, and they could just create brand new looks, but instead they lean into the ones that already resonate.
The visual lineage builds trust. Brands use consistent visual frameworks because every time a customer sees those cues, their brain flies to the interaction into into that same mental folder.
Repeating design cues from card companies ensures that collectors will immediately say, ah, this is part of the family, or it feels connected into some in some way.
There's a big lesson. I think designers are using familiarity as a tool. On the micro level, an atomic refractor or cracked dice card is just pretty foil, but psychologically, it's doing a lot more.
It's sparking a memory and making us trust and crave that card more than a completely new looking one. At the macro level, the takeaway is the visual continuity has become a part of the culture of our hobby.
When card companies revive an old finish or an iconic color mix, they are, in fact, embedding a piece of hobby history in the product.
We can apply that to cards. If I open a pack and see my favorite team's classic colors or throwback frame, I feel trust, and there's no pause.
My subconscious just says, I like this. This is what I think collectors are getting to when they're talking about brand DNA of cards.
You often hear collectors call the Jordan Red PMG a work of art. The listing we might see of this card, if it hit the auction house, might make us feel something comparatively if we saw Van Gogh's Starry Night.
The card's design itself stands out because it's reminiscent of a historical style yet fresh. Fans love PMGs partly because they feel connected to older design elements.
I think about the etching that Panini used from the PMGs on products like the 24 karat or excuse me, the twenty fourteen MiR platinums out of Totally Certified. We see a pattern.
The visual style of one era is referenced in the next. These echoes are like DNA markers passed down, and for collectors they mean that each generation recognizes their parents perhaps, grandparents, or idols favorites in a new form.
A father might have chased metal universe gyms when the kid swoons over nebulas using the same aesthetics. And they share this moment of recognition.
That continuity creates cross generational bonds, which makes things collectible. It's fitting that marketing psychology calls this process familiarity to comfort, to trust, because that's exactly what's happening in the hobby.
As we wrap this up, I want you all just to think about this further, because I think it's cool and interesting, and it's I don't know. It's more fun to dig into than just referring talking about values and money all the time.
If familiarity is so powerful, then today's new looks would will be tomorrow's nostalgia. Think about that. What current designs do you think will become classic cues in the future?
Is there something that currently exists that's brand new that you think has the ability or opportunity to cross over manufacturers and cross over eras of sports cards?
When companies introduce fresh aesthetics that resonate with us, they're effectively sending the next generation old school design.
Every time you see a new card, whether it's online ripping packs yourself, buying inner breaks, you can ask yourself, what does this remind me of? And for that sake of the hobby, consider what future collectors might feel.
Are we passing along a visual legacy? We love what feels familiar. Design cues that echo the past make us feel safe and happy, so we chase them. Manufacturers know this and keep weaving the past into the new.
These familiar visuals become the DNA for our hobby, passed on as a kind of unspoken element of trust with collectors. Next time you see a retro inspired card, know it's more than just a cool card or a pretty picture.
It's a link in our hobbies chain. I think topics like this are fun. I think topics like this are important for the discourse around sports cards.
Cards are much more than just values. Cards are art, and cards are memory machines. Cards transport us to specific time and place, and it takes us to stop and recognize what's happening around us.
If we don't stop, reflect, and recognize what's around us, we're just lemmings getting ready to fall off the cliff as we follow the collector who's about to fall off the cliff right in front of us.
Thanks for tuning in to Stacking Slabs, your hobby content alternative. We'll talk to you soon.