How should it "scream" Star Wars more than having it say "Star Wars" and have a large picture of the character?
Okay let's explore that.
Successes:
ROTS card had a large Vader head-easily recognizable as SW
TSC (The Saga Collection) cards were slightly reminescent to the vintage cards and with a large background photo behind the figure to make them pop out more and you knew from what scene the character was in.
TAC cards were emblazoned with several different aspects of SW: 20th anniversary, 77 (eluding to 1977 when the original came out), plus of course the logo and character pic
Legacy/Clone Wars cards both with iconic helmet designs specific to that era that are undeniably SW.
Marginal to successful:
POTFII-The return of SW figs to the toy market it had a big Vader head in the corner. Arguably the most iconic character from the whole Saga to date. It was unmistakeable what the toys were fashioned after.
EPI-Following along in a similar design scheme. Shifting to red and giving us one of the most popular characters from EPI-Darth Maul in the upper corner.
Duds:
SAGA (AOTC era)-too simple of design. basically a square card with a blue background. Of course it didn't help that many of those figures sucked by standards even then.
So this new design has the logo and a pic of the character on it, big deal. It looks cheap and oh so simple. It may work for those carded collectors in that it should fit in cases easier, but that remains to be seen. It does look like it will stack easier for transport to the cashier of your local retailer and eventual storage for some collectors.
So if anything it's practical with a simple design. But that just says, "Meh" to me. Hasbro is going to have two very big competing lines for SW in GIJoe and Transformers with those movies coming out, not to mention OTHER toy company lines. In today's economy, I'd think Hasbro would want a flashier package design than this red striped one.
I think it's a big mistake to just have the logo and then a character specific pic without something flashier to draw attention to it. Personally I think the Clone/Storm trooper helmets were good and have only been in use for a few months. To change the package design in a year, yet again...seems wasteful to me.
Now before it's asked, yes, I definitely feel I can design better than what this newest cardback looks like. Yes, I'm in Marketing and Advertising and have two different degrees (Industrial and Graphic design) to back that up. Yes, I'm an Art Director and utilize Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign (the industry standard, print design software programs) on a daily basis.
So beyond being a fan, I feel I am fully qualified to make the initial and above comments I posted.