Custom Cards: Paul McIntosh

Paul_Card_front Paul McIntosh is a former NHL defenseman. He played 48 regular season games and 2 playoff games between 1974-75 and 1975-76 for the Buffalo Sabres.

But he never got an NHL trading card.

I don’t know Mr. McIntosh personally, but we share a mutual acquaintance who volunteered my graphic design skills to create a card for him. The only pictures Mr. McIntosh had were two black-and-white team issue photos.

paul_headshot paul_skatingSince cards from the 1970s used color photos, I decided to not use an old Topps design. It just wouldn’t have looked right to use a black-and-white picture. (Had that portrait photo been in color, then it would have looked perfect on a 1974-75 Topps design.)

Instead, I decided to tint the photos, pulling a shade of blue from the Buffalo Sabres logo. Since color borders always look odd on black-and-white pictures, I opted for no borders, and used a simple “hockey stick” design for the player’s name.

Paul_Card_front

While I could have used a color photo found on the internet, our intentions were to have this card printed out professionally for Mr. McIntosh to give to his family and friends.

The back of the card has Mr. McIntosh’s biographical information and his NHL stats.

Paul_Card_back

After designing the card, I had copies of it printed by a company called My Custom Hockey Trading Cards. For $59, plus shipping, you can get 150 cards printed that are as good as Upper Deck in quality. Cards are printed full-bleed, full color and have glossy UV coating on both sides. (True, I am an advertising partner with My Custom Hockey Trading Cards, but only because they do great work.)

After having the cards printed, my friend gave the cards to Mr. McIntosh, who lives in Buffalo but works as a scout for the Dallas Stars. He was happy to finally get a trading card showing him with the Sabres.