The floppy disk credit card

Lansey brothers followers will know that we love our credit card designs. My newest one has been particularly fun.

The date and name on the card comes from the "Michelangelo" computer virus which would only be active on that date.

Note the magnetic strip is completely toasted, but there are enough places now that don't require magnetic strips so it still works.

Since everybody loves gifs, here is a gif of the card:

The cutest credit card

Regular blog readers will know I have a thing for personalized credit card design (and Eli too). I've made credit cards with gunshots through them, chunks cut out, and a few that I actually drew on by hand. But this time I wanted to go all out cut an entire shape.

Help me name the seal by leaving a comment!

Note the card isn't valid until signed, so there you have my signature. Also note that the magnetic strip is totally fine.

The best part is how cute the little guy (girl?) fits tucked away inside my wallet.

Actually swiping the card is also super fun, both for the person swiping, and for the little one too.

When I first decided to cut out a shape - I wanted it to be a clothes iron - I would cut out the handle. But alas the strict capitalone censors forbade it due to possible trademark infringement, even after I blurred out the company's logo. I'm glad though because ironing is naturally boring and seals are naturally awesome!

Below is what the card looked like before I cut it out. Note that the text is upside-down so the magnetic strip can end up on the bottom.

Sadly I haven't been able to find the original source of the image, it is one of those that appears a million places online though Google correctly identifies it as "animals doing yoga poses"

Help me name the seal in a comment!

PS: To see my former credit card designs follow this link:
http://lanseybrothers.blogspot.com/search/label/credit%20card%20design

Deer crossing credit card design

Regular blog readers will know that I have this thing with credit cards. My last pizza card was a great success ... until they send me a new card with a fancy 'chip' right where I would have cut out the slice!

I used a non-mutilated version of the pizza card for a month or two (and surprisingly continued to get nice reactions from folks – just for having a pizza on the card) but I got tired of having the card without any physical damage so I created  a new one.

After doing a few tests on the old card with drills etc, the best method was to melt the holes in was to press quickly with a fire-heated nail. The card has really satisfying crater-like impressions in the back of the card which you can feel when you handle it.

So far reactions from my friends have been nice - but no stranger has commented. This is a huge difference from the pizza card where almost everybody comments. My guess now is that they notice, but because of the implication of guns they are afraid to say anything. Also note that I mis-positioned one of the holes to be over the magnetic strip and had to just scratch it on the surface instead of punching it all the way through.

As always, appreciate feedback in the comments!

Pizza credit card with a bite

After many rejected custom credit card images and a few successes painting my own credit card design with a marker – I found that the marker paint would wear off too fast. Inspired by my previous pacman design, I was finally able to slip a card design past the capitalone censors, and have some fun with it too.

The pizza card arrived yesterday and I haven't had a chance to use it yet. If asked "did it come that way" as people always ask about the pacman card – my plan is to say "no, it came as a full pizza pie but this one time I was really hungry ..."

Pacman Credit Card

Well I finally have a new credit card design. I colored it in last night - have yet to see if it will get rejected when I try to use it ...

My last credit card design seems to have made a few rounds:

It was on Tumblr:

http://miltnr.tumblr.com/post/29890586416/jonathan-lansey-is-awesome

9gag (this is a very prestigious website JKLOL):

http://9gag.com/gag/aAYdg9p

and it got like a million comments when this facebook page shared it:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=574399525914760

Buy all the things Credit Card Design

Below is an image of my freshly markered credit card, from one of my favorite memes, the X all the Y meme based on a graphic by Hyperbole and a Half.

I had previously tried several times to submit my own image for my card but they consistently rejected my designs without explanation, even when I drew them myself. Finally I submitted a completely white "photo" which was accepted - giving me the canvas upon which I drew the above.

Below you can see my attempted designs which were all rejected by Captialone. Special thanks to my brothers and Nathan for helping me come up with and tweak some of these.

How to get past Capitalone Image Censors

tl;dr; Leave the image blank.

I have previously failed to get my custom credit card designs through the strict Capitalone censors, see tries one, two and three-four. I honestly thought my fourth try was not the least objectionable because I used an image clearly in the public domain without any text at all.

But when I called, he said that they cannot accept any images from the public domain - because they never know if it is has secretly been copyrighted. You are required to have drawn, or taken the photograph yourself. He then suggested that the image:

"... should not appear in a Google image search."

Aha! I thought I had discovered their secret method for doing these screens. My previous example was easily found all over the web by Google's image recognition software, but now the task became simple:

Create an image with the following:

1. Will not be recognized by Google image search
2. Will be recognized by a human as the meme you want.

Behold: My "Buy all the things" credit card picture.

Google image search cannot find it, I thought it was different enough from the inspirational meme the X all the Y meme.

And to top things off, I left the reviewer a note:

I drew this picture of a cute monster myself in MS Paint 1/21/2012 -

 It was REJECTED.

There was only one thing left to do, submit untitled.png below:

SUCCESS! Pretty soon I will be receiving my blank canvas of a credit card on which I plan to draw whatever I choose.

Credit Card Image Designs part 3-4/?

I've been trying for a while now to get a ridiculous image on my credit card. See tries one and two. Each time they seem to reject it for one reason or another.

I think they rejected this one because of this clause:

Any photo that might result in non-acceptance or other problems at the point of sale

My plan was to tell the cashier "no, its the center oval that turns blue if stolen" or "it is only starting to turn blue because you are holding it"  and then mutter something about how low-tech it is not to tell the difference between another person just holding it and actually having stole it.

Anyway - I have high hopes for the card below that still has a chance to make it past the capitalone sensors!

Edit: Card rejected ... an appeal has been submitted.

Edit: Appeal rejected

Credit Card Image Designs

I have previously attempted to make a controversial credit card design ... only to have it rejected. I have tried once again:

For every $1 spent ¢3 will be donated
to the Gilbert- Syndrome Foundation.

That particular disease has no harmful symptoms at all (but there is a decreased risk for heart disease!) Unfortunately this image was initially rejected ...

Sorry, we were unable to approve the image you submitted
Sorry the image you submitted for your Capital One® Image CardSM has been rejected. We will not approve any images that contain the following: 
Commercial solicitation or promotional material 
If you believe that you have been declined in error, please call us at 1-866-381-0451. 
This is an automated message.

I called them though and now have an appeal in progress ...

In case this fails I may try to make a meme-based credit card image ... any ideas?

Exclusive Credit Card Image Designs

I have a "Platinum" credit card ... don't ask me what this rare metal has to do with my credit, I think its kind of funny how these companies try to make their cards sound appealing. Capitalone was nice enough to let us put our own image on our card (Eli has already taken advantage of this) and so I decided to create my own exclusive club. The invitation only "GOLDEN SAPPHIRE ROYAL BLACK CARD" with not one, but two AmEx Centurions. It also sports a gold encrusted wooden frame. The use of a competitor's logo is blatantly against the policy - but I'm hoping that my image will slip through the sensors (you will be sure to find out if it does).

Once I get my card, I plan to try to get into luxury airport lounges, and act incredibly surprised at any business notaccepting credit cards even though I have a Golden Sapphire Royal Black Card.

I would also be glad to receive any suggestions for more antics to pull off with this incredible card.

~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE: The censors have rejected my request

Sorry the image you submitted for your Capital One® Image CardSM has been rejected. We will not approve any images that contain the following: Material that could infringe on the copyright or trademark rights of another party, including branded products, marks, or business names.

Can anyone think of a good, exclusive-posh-sounding bank name? Maybe even a recommendation for an obnoxiously swanky looking logo not under copyright?

Contenders:

• American Epxerss
• Wells Fargone
• Goaldman Sax Group
• Organ Stanley
• American Regal Bank
• US Imperial Bank

And some possible icons

Personalized credit card backgrounds

I recently got a new Capital One credit card where I can personalize the image on the credit card.  So, I went with a cool microscope image of a cracked sol-gel taken by another person in my lab:

It's hard to see, but directly to the left of the "VISA" logo is a small yellow scale bar of 20μm.  Not sure what I'm going to go with for my next one. I have some really nice SEM images, but I'm not sure that DARPA really wants me putting 'em on my credit card. But, I could always submit a "public release" form for those images, I suppose.