The Creative Corner - Guest Blog #2: Dave Pert

What? A Glamorous Life blog post on a Monday??

Yes friends!

After I put out a call for guest blog posts a couple weeks ago I got some lovely responses, which I would like to share with you all as Monday post bonuses! I figured we could all use a little more entertainment and education during our time of isolation and quarantine.

When Dave approached me and asked what the topic specifications were, all I told him was that it had to be somehow related to making or creating - I mean, this is The Glamorous Life after all!

But - as I say on this blog all the time - since art, artistry, and creativity are so engrained in the world around us in ways we don’t even think about, I had no idea where his topic choice would take us. And I must say, this is one of those bits of creative utility that I had never given a second thought to before now.

So, without further ado, The Creative Corner #2: Dave Pert - Black is the New Gold, or The Blog Post No One Asked for About Credit Card Design.

Black is the New Gold,

or The Blog Post No One Asked for About Credit Card Design

The American Express black card is probably the most well-known and elusive luxury credit card on the market; a brilliant mix of both status and design. Funny story -- it doesn't even exist… yet.

Credit card marketing, like most marketing, is a fickle mistress. Everyone seemingly wants to stand out among the competition, yet is reluctant to think outside the design box in the interest of tradition, or, "well that's how we've always done it" mentality. Then, someone, somewhere in a design meeting (usually at American Express) has the gumption to step out of tradition's line and rise above the fray. Their change is simple, but powerful, because Americans are status hungry consumers and are willing to pay a premium for it. It is then, over a year or two, copied by every competitor and the cycle repeats, waiting for that next break with monotony; the next design-driven status symbol.

How We Got Here

The first credit card was offered by Diners Club in 1950. It allowed patrons to settle restaurant bills with a line of credit instead of experiencing the daunting task of having to worry about cash post-meal consumption. It was made of cardstock and cost $5 per year. Have you heard of Diners Club? Ever seen a Diners Club credit card? No. That's because inventing the credit card is the first and last moment of design genius that Diners Club had. 

Shortly thereafter, in 1958 to be exact, American Express jumped on the scene with a more travel-oriented product. They, too, went with a cardstock design but decided to one-up Diners Club by charging $6 per year. This played into the "if it costs more it must be better" mentality that has served Amex well ever since. Proving that money could be made by appealing to the status hungry American, Amex signed up a quarter-million cardholders before the card even launched. Just a year later, Amex one-upped themselves by launching the standard, embossed plastic design that remained largely unchanged until the 2010s.

It then took Amex seven years to break with their newly established norms and offer tiered products within their line. If one-upping Diners Club worked so well, then surely one-upping themselves would work too -- and in 1966, the Amex Gold Card was born. Gold used to be, well, the gold standard. It was synonymous with first place, number one, the top of any tier-based rank and order. It was the cornerstone of competitive tradition. As such, the most prestigious credit cards in this widely growing market became branded "gold" for the Americans demanding status within status. Then chemistry went mainstream and everyone started talking about platinum. While platinum never caught on as the 1st place medal in the Olympics, it did at American Express. Thus, the next break from tradition was born, the American Express Platinum Card.

The Amex Plat launched one fateful day in 1984 as the elusive tier above gold. It was an invite-only product costing $250 per year for those that Amex deemed worthy. It was so successful that the Amex Plat has firmly seated itself as the new gold standard in travel card products to this day, offering a plethora of travel perks and status to its holders. However, a curious phenomenon took place in the mid to late '80s. Rumors started popping up about a mysterious invite-only card that Amex offered to only its most wealthy and elite customers. It was a tier above platinum, so elusive, so secretive, that its card design was regressive from the flashy elemental medals and awards. It was simply the black card.

In a genius stroke of branding excellence, the Amex black card told the world that it didn't need to be flashy. Its status did not rest on card design gimmicks, simply possession. It said "my owner is so elite that their status doesn't need to be flaunted" and that is the ultimate status to achieve. The only problem was, this card did not exist. Amex never produced a black card. Americans simply invented the idea themselves in a need to achieve that next rung of social existence. That is until, as the story goes, Jerry Seinfeld was passed this black card rumor while shooting an Amex commercial. He called up the Amex CEO to inquire about getting one for himself. The CEO confirmed it was a myth but that it might be time to capitalize on it. 'Merica.

In 1999, the Amex Centurion Card was born. It was everything the rumored black card could be, and to this day remains the pinnacle of credit card ownership. The Platinum card has since moved from invite-only to an application, making way for the Centurion to be the only card that finds you, instead of the other way around. Qualifications and even the card benefits are unpublished and shrouded in mystery. This glorious combination of marketing reluctance, arbitrarily defined qualification tier, and the insatiable lust for status in American consumerism has made profitable a credit card that owners pay $5,000 per year to own. I desperately want one.

Now What?

Arguably, the pinnacle of credit cards has been established. The extremely affluent tend to regress down the card tiers to something that doesn't cost so much, as status tends to become less and less important when contrasted with frugality. So, the uncharted territory in card design occurs within the tiers, appealing to both superficial shock and awe and the mainlined vanity vessel of our time: social media.

The earliest mid-tier break from traditional embossed plastic was the Chase Sapphire Preferred in 2011 (the first was the Centurion Card at launch with anodized titanium). Its "sapphire" branding also broke from the traditional metallic hierarchy, but still fell in line with the theme of the precious materials. This launch hit two home runs at the same time and arguably started the designer card revolution we see today with metal cards and numbers on the back.

Metal Cards

Metal cards are fantastic for in-the-hand feel and bring a sense of sophistication and status to the credit card transaction. It is the most powerful tool in the shock and awe space. When you hand a metal card to a cashier after decades of flimsy plastic, the difference in weight produces noticeable reactions. 9 times out of 10 you get a comment on how impressive your choice for monetary transactions is. It's the in-person equivalence of a "like" on social media. Not to mention the audible result of dropping metal cards on a table. More of a novelty than anything (dropping your card on a counter for a cashier is the peak of dick moves), the difference in clang between cards is something appreciated by the nerdiest of credit card nerds. That is a card our status-driven society will flock towards, all other things being equal. 

The issue with metal cards is that embossing (raising the pertinent information from the surface like braille) is difficult (costly) to do en masse, so card numbers had to be anodized or etched into the card surface. This meant that the old credit card imprinting machines used at retailers that refused to jump on the internet revolution would no longer work. Luckily for us, this number of retailers has dropped significantly by 2011 and the advent of Square. 

Chase Metal Cards

Chase chose a middle ground for all of their mid to high tier (annual fees of $95 and up) card products in this metallic revolution. Their metal is sandwiched between two thinner layers of plastic. It creates a weightier card with the plastic feel and easier to mass produce unique number/name characteristics by embossing a plastic layer. The table clang is eliminated by the plastic laminate. Their one notable exception is the granddaddy of all metal cards: the Ritz Carlton Card. Now discontinued from application due to the Marriott Bonvoy merger, the original Ritz card was essentially cut and refined from sheet metal and was known as the heaviest card on the market. It had no plastic, incredible weight, and unmatched table clang. It was too niche to catch on in the mainstream, but hand that Ritz card to anyone unfamiliar and their reaction was priceless. It is still possible to obtain by upgrading the new Bonvoy Boundless card to a Ritz after a year of account ownership, but the new Ritz card has unfortunately been reduced to a metal sandwich. 

While on the topic of Chase and their metal sandwich (also used by Citi in their top-tiered cards) I wanted to at least give a mention to the 2016 Sapphire Reserve launch. This was possibly the most hyped launch of a credit card since Amex took a rumor and made it a reality. The sign-up bonus alone was worth over twice the annual fee ($1000 SUB vs $450 AF), which made it a no brainer to apply for and keep at least 1 year. Yet, despite this obvious ploy for high initial sign-up numbers, Chase supposedly ran out of the metal used in their metal sandwich design shortly after launch because demand was SO GREAT. This singular fact has been mentioned by every single news article, blog post, and ad piece written about the Sapphire Reserve, ad nauseam. It was so proliferated that from my vantage point of credit card nerd-ism, I cannot believe this happened by accident. A bank as big as Chase would have known initial interest, known supply chain requirements, and known how to launch a credit card. This now overexploited occurrence, I believe, was an engineered phenomenon to promote the explosive popularity of the Sapphire Reserve. Don't get me wrong, I love the Sapphire Reserve, I love what it did to the high tier card market by forcing competitors to raise their perks, but I am exhausted with reading about how cHaSe RaN oUt Of ThEiR sApPhIrE rEsErVe MeTaL.

Amex Metal Cards

Amex jumped on the metallic train for high tiered cards with the release of their metal Platinum card in 2017. They did it right, albeit late, with a laminated metal front and plastic back. The hand feel is far superior to the sandwich design with the metallic side providing a noticeable temperature gradient from plastic. The additional metal to make up thickness improves the weight. I am a huge fan. This design was implemented into the new high tiered Bonvoy Brilliant card, Gold card, and, most recently, the Platinum and Reserve Delta Airlines cards. Their hand feel is equally as exceptional. The last card holding out at the $450/year fee level is the Hilton Aspire. I look forward to this card's inevitable rise from the plastic ashes.

Card Numbers On The Back

Let me tell you, the pain of blurring out account numbers from the face of credit cards for social media pictures is not conducive to easy posting and sharing. The Sapphire Preferred was ahead of its time by taking all that personal information and moving it to the back. I'm surprised at how long it took other banks to catch on. What better way to promote your card product in a sea of card products than to have your users do it for you in the name of vain "influencing?" 

This shift in paradigm allowed for card designers to focus on excellent card facades, unobstructed by essential information. Chase quickly followed its lead with the majority of its products, notably with each plastic sandwich conversion. Amex, noticing the success of the Sapphire lineup with millennial consumers, seemed to reluctantly follow suit. Although, the Hilton lineup is currently, once again, the Alamo of traditional design. I have not seen a numbers-on-the-back card that didn't look exponentially better than its predecessor design. The front of cards now say "Check me out, I am edgy, unique, all about this card brand, and oh, here is the name of my owner, prominently displayed next to our bank. This owner is a fan. This owner is special." It also makes for much easier blog posting and I am first in line to request design replacements.

Apple

The notable exception to all of this comes from the only company that "thinks different." Apple launched its special credit card with the intent to eliminate the physical card altogether. I could say a lot about this card and did over at my blog, but the highlights are that Apple just flat out removed its numbers altogether and bucked the black card mystique by going all white. Outstanding move. Then, paradoxically, made an all-metal card like the Ritz, but did it with titanium. Titanium is one of the lightest metals per unit volume and thus Apple's card is surprisingly rigid but only as heavy as the metal sandwich cards. It's surprising in a different kind of way.

The Future Of Credit Cards

After all is said and done, I am thoroughly nerded out on the current card offerings in the American market. I am not imaginative enough to predict the next break from tradition, I only hope that Apple fails in its quest to make the physical credit card a thing of the past. As the quintessential American these companies market their products towards, I love having that physical representation of account ownership. I love being able to appreciate the nuance in card marketing and design characteristics. I eagerly look forward to the next big card launch, which, rumor has it, is an Amex Black Card.

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Dave Pert

Dave Pert is a Nuclear and Counterproliferation Officer with the US Army. He is not creative in the slightest but is passionate about the creative history and evolution of nuclear weapon design. Dave also enjoys the creation of adrenaline through his hobbies in skydiving, SCUBA diving, fine bourbons, firearms, and of course churning credit cards for free travel. He currently creates more technical blog posts at www.TDWise.com to help military members get creative in the travel hacking game.