Shadow Box Trading Card With Spaced Substrates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional trading cards lack uniqueness and fail to effectively depict depth or dimension, resulting in a lackluster visual experience for collectors.
Innovation Solution
A trading card design featuring multiple substrates with card images spaced apart by spacers, creating a layered effect that enhances depth and dimension, allowing for a full card image to be formed from individual images that can be similar or different, and housed in a pivotable box for assembly and packaging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If multiple substrates are used to create depth and dimension, then visual appeal and dimensionality are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The trading card is divided into multiple substrates (first substrate, second substrate, third substrate) spaced apart by spacers to create depth and dimension. Each substrate can contain different card images that cooperate to form a full card image, allowing the complex visual effect to be achieved through segmented layers rather than a single complex structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple substrates and spacers are nested within a box structure that contains a base, first side, second side, first end, and second end. The substrates and spacers are contained substantially within the box, creating a nested arrangement where smaller components are housed within a larger protective structure, managing complexity through hierarchical organization.
2Shape
If multiple substrates with spacers are used, then depth and dimension are improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The manufacturing process is segmented into assembling individual substrates with spacers between them, rather than attempting to create the entire depth structure in one piece. This allows each substrate to be prepared separately and then combined within the box structure, simplifying the overall manufacturing process despite the complex final product.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from traditional two-dimensional trading cards to a three-dimensional structure by adding the depth dimension through spacers and multiple substrates. This dimensional change allows card images to be arranged in layers that cooperate to form full card images, creating enhanced visual appeal while maintaining manufacturability through systematic assembly.
3Shape
If substrates are spaced apart by spacers, then visual depth is improved, but loss of substance increases
Solution Approach 1:
Spacers are positioned substantially between the substrates to maintain spacing only where needed for visual depth, rather than uniformly spacing all components. The spacers can be frame-shaped with outer edges substantially similar in size and shape to the substrates, concentrating material usage in specific locations that provide the necessary depth effect while minimizing overall material consumption.
4Ease of operation
If a pivotable box is used for assembly, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The box structure incorporates pivotable sides that can move between an unassembled configuration and an assembled configuration. This dynamic feature allows the box to be easily assembled and disassembled by pivoting the sides into place, improving ease of operation while the pivotable mechanism itself adds a controlled amount of structural complexity that enables the beneficial assembly characteristics.
Data Source
AI summary
A trading card (10) comprises a first substrate (14A), a second substrate (14B) and a spacer (16A). The first substrate (14A) includes a first card image (18). The second substrate (14B) includes a second card image (20). The second substrate (14B) is spaced apart from the first substrate (14A). The spacer (16A) is positioned substantially between the first substrate (14A) and the second substrate (14B) to maintain the first card image (18) spaced apart from the second card image (20). The trading card (10) can further comprise a third substrate (14C) and a second spacer (16B). The third substrate (14C) includes a third card image (22). The third substrate (14C) is spaced apart from the first substrate (14A) and the second substrate (14B). The second spacer (16B) is positioned substantially between the second substrate (14B) and the third substrate (14C) to maintain the second card image (20) spaced apart from the third card image (22). The first card image (18), the second card image (20) and the third card image (22) can cooperate to form a full card image (12).