In November 2012 I wrote about how I’d re-design a credit card. The overarching premise:

• Rearrange a few card elements to better suit actual card use cases
• Remove clutter as much as possible
• Physical and visual design which feels unique and stands out

My mockups:

A year and a half later, I saw that Visa launched its own Black Card.

Many of the similarities are uncanny.

1. Visa’s Black Card is highly minimalist in design
2. Making the card stand out from a visual and physical perspective is a huge selling point. The implementation differed slightly. My design offered punched-out numbers. Visa’s (ahem, “patent pending”) offering is made of stainless steel
3. Getting the name “Black Card” right was kind of easy and straightforward. The Visa logo was a little more of a gambit, and the similarities here were a pleasant surprise
4. I correctly pointed out that the “24-hour” label is superfluous on the 24-hour service number — if you don’t tell me when I can’t call, I’m just going to call whenever. Accordingly, Visa’s 24-hour Concierge number makes no mention on the card of the fact that it’s an all-hours line. I’m not sure why Visa’s card also lists Cardmember Care and International Collect numbers — I’d think there would really be no reason for a cardholder to want to call anyone besides their super-premium concierge…but maybe this is a regulatory thing

A few notable differences:

1. Visa’s card isn’t really optimized for new use cases like mine was. Again: I moved the Credit Card Number, Expiration Date, and CV2/Pin to one side so it’s easy for you to reference all three at once when you’re filling out an online checkout form, and I moved the Name and Signature to the same side so that the cashier at a brick & mortar store could reference both at once when he was checking your identity. In Visa’s version, you’d still need to flip the card and reference both sides, adding a step in each use case
2. I’m disappointed that Visa’s design says “BLACK CARD” in bold on the front. I made the point last time that truly great minimalist design should speak for itself, noting that the iPhone doesn’t need to say “Apple iPhone” on the front anywhere and you still know what it is. The Visa logo is also still on the front, though perhaps this is a regulatory thing which can’t be fought
3. I’m also disappointed that on Visa’s card you’re still required to have a manual signature. This grey box takes up a ton of space and is kind of clunky. Again, perhaps a regulatory thing
4. I really didn’t put much thought into the auxiliary benefits of the card — whereas Visa touts things like a members-only magazine, VIP airport lounge visits, the aforementioned 24-hour concierge service, and so on. I’m not really bothered by this — that’s all more service design than product design, and as such wasn’t really the point of my exercise back in ’12