Topps' premium Formula 1 trading card product. The 2025 edition was the first release from the Topps UK e-commerce team to generate £5 million in revenue. I led the creative system from concept to print-ready delivery across 300 cards over two months.
Project Details
Topps' premium Formula 1 trading card product, positioned at the luxury end of the market
Full creative system led from concept to print-ready delivery across 300+ individual cards
Original 3D backgrounds built in Blender, including a mosaic system rendered under light and adapted per subset
White-masking applied progressively across rarity tiers, letting the alabaster stock's natural shimmer pull through the artwork
Navigated a licensing approval chain spanning Topps, F1, and individual teams within a two-month timeline
The 2025 edition launched at £170 per box and became the first Topps UK e-commerce product to generate £5 million in revenue
client
Fanatics Collectibles / Topps
year
'25
timeframe
2 Months
COLLECTIBLES
SYSTEM
Problem
Topps F1 Eccellenza is an established product, with yearly editions since 2023. The question for the 2025 iteration wasn't how to build it, but instead how to progress the design forward without losing what made the brand work. Base cards are the most common pull in any set and the easiest to treat like an afterthought, focusing more on the rarer headline-grabbing cards. The brief required a cohesive visual system that felt considered at every tier of rarity, not just at the top. There was further complexity, with subjects spanning the current grid as well as legends. This meant that every card required careful management of sponsor visibility and other commercial sensitivities across a tight deadline.
Solution
The system came first. With 300 cards across seven rarity tiers, consistency had to be built into the process, not managed card by card. I developed a Blender-based workflow that gave me creative control stock imagery couldn't. A PSD template fed directly into Blender, using geometry nodes to generate rendered backgrounds that could be adapted per subset and applied consistently across the set. It took time to establish. It saved significantly more in production, and has carried into the 2026 edition. The flexibility unlocked better creative decisions. The Essenza subset embedded DNA strand structures into the mosaic, making the driver's essence literal. The Esordienti subset used the F1 rookie logo as the repeating motif, rendered in 3D and carried through into the packaging. The aesthetic was deliberately restrained but more colourful than previous editions. Base cards drew from team colours. Parallels shifted to mono, with white-masking applied progressively across rarity tiers. Minimal on base, increasing toward the rarest pulls, letting the alabaster stock's shimmer do the work. Every subset had its own visual idea. Supremo cards caught drivers mid-celebration, backed by a 3D wreath mosaic. Veterano cards immortalised legends at their peak against a chequered flag mosaic. The stripped-back compositions made image selection critical, finding shots that matched the directional logic of each card across the full set.
