The Art of Credit Cards: How Designs Evolved

Posted on March 7, 2008
Filed Under Finance

In recent years, in an effort to lure customers into signing up for a credit card, lending companies have turned to the actual design of the card in addition to offering lower interest rates and higher credit limits.

When credit cards first appeared on the market, the appearance of the card was simple; a monochrome design, featuring the cardholder’s details and the company’s logo. However, credit cards have now grown massively popular and nowadays, there are thousands of designs on offer that reflect the interests of the customer, ranging from favourite football clubs to charities.

Jordan, the busty British glamour model is even rumoured to be launching her own “pink and girlie” credit card, which will be aimed at young women. But using celebrities to endorse a card is an old trick - MasterCard at one point issued prepaid Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash cards which would obviously have been popular with diehard fans. Credit cards that have been owned by celebrities are also hot property in the collectors market, and auctioneers Butterfield and Butterfield sold one of Elvis Presley’s American Express cards from the 1970s for a massive $41,000.

Some credit card companies have sought to make certain cards prestigious and therefore desirable, such as the Gold and Platinum cards, or the mysterious Amex Black card (officially called the Centurion Card) which has an annual fee of US$ 2500 + a sign fee of $5000! The card is obviously aimed at wealthy individuals and offers benefits such as a dedicated travel agent, complimentary companion airline tickets on certain international flights, and as if to seal its exclusivity, the card itself is made of titanium, although an unfortunate side effect of this is that it’s slightly thicker and therefore cannot be used in some card readers.

Special credit cards are also created to celebrate certain high profile events, such as the Olympics or the World Cup football tournament. It’s even possible to select cards with famous artwork such as Monet, Van Gogh and Seurat; while budding artists can even design their own credit cards by selecting from a pool of various “skins” and choosing different colour schemes and graphics.

In light of the diversity of credit card art, small groups of enthusiasts have begun to collect and trade old cards, although security concerns mean that most people destroy them when they’ve expired, so despite the massive number of credit cards produced, few survive for more than a couple of years.

With credit card companies desperate to attract more customers, it will be interesting to see how the design of cards changes in the coming years.