Cool credit cards part of the look-good craze

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Cool credit cards part of the look-good craze

테스트

Oh Young-sik By Cheong Chi-ho

In Korea, a person’s appearance is important, even if it’s just superficial sophistication. Whether it’s cars or clothes, eyewear or shoes, people like brand names that send a message ― whatever that means.
So do companies.
Cell phones have been a fashion accessory for a while now, what with Prada and Formula I versions on the market.
Others like to show off their latest electronic gadgets, such as the coolest, smallest iPod. But cool-looking credit cards? Is that someting to flash in front of your friends?
Oh Young-sik thinks so.
Designer credit cards are something Oh envisioned when in 2003 he joined Hyundai Card Co., Korea’s fourth largest credit card issuer.
He has become something of a cool new kid in the old conservative clan of Korean credit card companies.
Oh is managing director of Total Identity Seoul, the Korean unit of Dutch design house.
He is a major architect of Hyundai Card’s credit card designs that stunned the local market with designs that broke all unspoken rules in the credit card industry.
Since its market debut in 2001, the firm has rolled out transparent cards, car-shaped cards, mini cards nearly half the size of an ordinary credit card, non-coated credit cards and even cards with printed paintings of Matisse, Botticelli and Kandinsky. The cards also used bold colors such as mint green, purple, orange and pink.
The radical new look stunned other credit card issuers, who had been loyal to the traditional old color schemes of gray, black, gold, silver or red.
The firm even hired world-renowned designers like Karim Rashid to create its credit cards, a move later followed by some other credit card issuers that had spent 2 million won ($2,166) to 3 million won ($3,249) at the most on credit card design in the past.
“Before Hyundai Card, no one cared much about what credit cards look like,” Oh said.
Many people were skeptical when Oh first came up with the idea of a mini card.
“People kept saying credit cards are used as a replacement for money. Who’s going to use cards that lookso frivolous?” he said.
But his instinct turned out to be right.
More than 500,000 mini cards have been sold since their debut in the market in 2003, making it one of the most well-known credit cards among local consumers.
Meanwhile the M card, the firm’s signature card, has sold more than 5 million units so far, becoming the biggest-selling credit card in Korea.
“Our motto is to try something new, think outside the box, and remain modern and edgy,” Oh said.
That viewpoint is not easy to accept for some Korean companies with a long history of corporate bureaucracy that is not ready to step into bold new territory without careful consideration.
“When a designer suggests blue for a new corporate symbol, a junior manager orders it changed to green. Then a senior manager orders it to red, and by the time the suggestion arrives on the CEO’s desk it usually turns into a something completely different, say, black,” Oh said.
“Many business people keep talking about design management in theory, but few senior managers in local firms seem to have the taste or the eye to understand the role of design in management, because it’s not something you can learn overnight,” Oh said. Oh has impressed at his company.
Chief executive Chung Tae-young gave Oh a larger role than just designing new credit cards.
As a visual coordinator for the firm, Oh oversees all the firm’s visual-related projects, including designing credit cards and catalogues, reports, the corporate symbol, retail shops and creating the firm’s own corporate typography.
He also monitors all images published under the Hyundai Card name.
Even all printed words at the Hyundai Card’s headquarters in central Seoul are written according to the company’s own typography made by Oh.
That includes signage in the cafeteria and the parking lot.
“Now Korean companies really need a CDO [chief design officer] who can oversee and maintain a company’s overall visual image with consistency,” Oh said.
The efforts in design has not gone unnoticed.
Hyundai Card’s annual report design garnered design awards here and abroad. Oh hopes to use his experience for bigger projects in the future. “If you look at Apple, which I think has the best visual branding strategies, all the packages, stores and visual images and installations related to the firm have a consistent image and quality,” he said.
“I wish I could do similar things for Korean companies like Hyundai Motor and Samsung Electronics, helping them have a more sophisticated product image and eventually sell more cars and cell phones internationally.”

테스트

From top: An island-shaped credit card, A purple card and another featuring the painting, Birth of Venus by Botticelli. Provided by the company

By Jung Ha-won Staff Writer [hawon@joongang.co.kr]
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