Hyundai Card Sublimated into a Work of Art presents new possibilities for credit cards in the mobile era!
Jul 21, 2025
As smartphones became more common, many substances disappeared. The landscape of opening a paper newspaper has disappeared, and instead of turning over the bookshelf, I swipe the tablet screen. Both the camera and the music player went into the smartphone. The same goes for credit cards. Without having to put it in and out of your wallet, you can now pay anytime, anywhere with a single tap.
Advances in technology give us convenience, but on the other hand, it gives us a feeling of 'digital fatigue'. Then, the desire to feel the five senses and analog sensibility given by the object itself grew. Musicians also release new records as vinyl records, but rather, there is a shortage. Camera companies such as Leica, Nikon, and Pentax continue to produce film cameras or rather release new products. Even digital devices such as tablet PCs are also popular with protective films that allow users to feel the sensitivity of paper that is squirting. The industry creates a space offline instead of online so that customers can see and touch products directly.
In this way, the phenomenon of pursuing the attractiveness of the nature of an object is referred to as 'analog revolution'rematerialization'embodied enchantment'. Although most of everyday life is solved non-face-to-face in smartphones and artificial intelligence takes over the role of humans, people still want practical experiences to see, touch, hear and feel as they live in the material world.
If so, can this paradox of physical properties work in the credit card industry that sells formless finance? Here's an example of Hyundai Card's plate design that will be the answer. Hyundai Card is Korea's leading credit card company and is a top tier card company with annual credit sales in 2024. In particular, it is globally recognized for its branding capabilities such as design, culture marketing, and advertising, and has strong partnerships with global premium card company American Express, MoMA, a representative contemporary art museum in New York, as well as Apple, The New York Times, and Disney Plus.
Early on, Hyundai Card paid attention to card plate design and physical properties and continued provocative experiments. Recently, Tom Sachs, an icon of contemporary art, and an experimental attempt to make 'hole(hole detail)' on the card plate have raised credit card design to the level of art. It is the 'Hyundai Card Tom Sachs Credit Card'. It has given it a new property as a toy that turns fingers on a credit card or an accessory that expresses individuality by hanging a string. On the other hand, in addition to plastic, bronze was used as a material or a design reminiscent of plywood was introduced, and it is said to be a material that symbolizes currency such as coins and bills.
The sensational attempt was followed by a heated response from consumers in Korea. Until now, there have often been credit cards that have transcribed famous works to the plate, but there have been very few cases where the card plate itself has been made into a work of art like this Tom Sachs credit card. But rather than a new and unconventional attempt, experts are paying more attention to the fact that the Tom Sachs credit card is also based on the plate design philosophy that Hyundai Card has consistently followed over the past two decades or so.
Moreover, in this Tom Sachs credit card, Dongeun's unique weight and rough texture give the card different physical properties, but it is not easy to implement the design, and Hyundai Card combined duralumin in Dong to implement an unconventional design like a hole. Processing that can feel the texture of wood is added to plastic, creating the illusion of being made of plywood. This is possible because Hyundai Card has been exploring various materials and accumulating know-how.
Over the past 20 years, Hyundai Card has led the trend of the Korean credit card industry by presenting a provocative card plate design that breaks stereotypes. In particular, Hyundai Card is widely known for attractively melting product and user identity into card design. "Good design projects a persona." is the philosophy of Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young, so-called "Persona Management".
In the early 2000s, Hyundai Card released 'Transparent Card' and 'Mini Card', half the size of regular cards, proving that credit cards can be a medium of taste, not just a means of payment. Since then, in 2017, it has introduced a design that implements a corner close to a right angle with 'ColorCore', which is colored to the side of the card, in 2011. This obsession with detail stems from the philosophy that the credit card must reveal its identity from the time it is plugged into the wallet. In 2017, the public created a 'Vertical Card' based on the fact that they are familiar with the vertical screen of smartphones, and the 'MultiPlate' system, which allows customers to choose according to their preferences by creating various designs on one card, has also continued since 2020.
In addition, Hyundai Card launched 'the Black' as a titanium plate in 2009, ushering in the era of 'metal plate'. Since then, various materials have been discovered and utilized, including 'Liquid Metal' with a water-like texture, 'Corpal' and 'Duralumin' of aircraft materials. Recently, the number of cards that can be issued with metal plates has been expanded from premium products to general products. It is a fresh concept that allows you to keep your credit card as a metal plate for an additional 100,000 won.
Hyundai Card's design philosophy for card plates paradoxically shows new possibilities for credit cards. Hyundai Card reconstructs credit cards as items that reveal individuals' aesthetic and artistic sensibilities and lifestyles, not just payment methods. Furthermore, Hyundai Card proved that credit cards can be a work of art through Tom Sachs credit cards. Beyond making users enjoy the moment they take a credit card out of their wallet, they want to keep the card plate itself.
Here, Hyundai Card presents a new paradigm of 'buy card design'. The Tom Sachs credit card is not a separate credit card product, but a special design plate, or design itself. You can apply additionally while receiving a new card, or if you are already using the card, you can apply additionally to hold the basic plate and the special design plate at the same time. Industry sources predict that `a new trend will soon be opened in which card plates will change according to mood and preference, just like smartphone cases.'
Advances in technology give us convenience, but on the other hand, it gives us a feeling of 'digital fatigue'. Then, the desire to feel the five senses and analog sensibility given by the object itself grew. Musicians also release new records as vinyl records, but rather, there is a shortage. Camera companies such as Leica, Nikon, and Pentax continue to produce film cameras or rather release new products. Even digital devices such as tablet PCs are also popular with protective films that allow users to feel the sensitivity of paper that is squirting. The industry creates a space offline instead of online so that customers can see and touch products directly.
In this way, the phenomenon of pursuing the attractiveness of the nature of an object is referred to as 'analog revolution'rematerialization'embodied enchantment'. Although most of everyday life is solved non-face-to-face in smartphones and artificial intelligence takes over the role of humans, people still want practical experiences to see, touch, hear and feel as they live in the material world.
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Early on, Hyundai Card paid attention to card plate design and physical properties and continued provocative experiments. Recently, Tom Sachs, an icon of contemporary art, and an experimental attempt to make 'hole(hole detail)' on the card plate have raised credit card design to the level of art. It is the 'Hyundai Card Tom Sachs Credit Card'. It has given it a new property as a toy that turns fingers on a credit card or an accessory that expresses individuality by hanging a string. On the other hand, in addition to plastic, bronze was used as a material or a design reminiscent of plywood was introduced, and it is said to be a material that symbolizes currency such as coins and bills.
The sensational attempt was followed by a heated response from consumers in Korea. Until now, there have often been credit cards that have transcribed famous works to the plate, but there have been very few cases where the card plate itself has been made into a work of art like this Tom Sachs credit card. But rather than a new and unconventional attempt, experts are paying more attention to the fact that the Tom Sachs credit card is also based on the plate design philosophy that Hyundai Card has consistently followed over the past two decades or so.
Moreover, in this Tom Sachs credit card, Dongeun's unique weight and rough texture give the card different physical properties, but it is not easy to implement the design, and Hyundai Card combined duralumin in Dong to implement an unconventional design like a hole. Processing that can feel the texture of wood is added to plastic, creating the illusion of being made of plywood. This is possible because Hyundai Card has been exploring various materials and accumulating know-how.
Over the past 20 years, Hyundai Card has led the trend of the Korean credit card industry by presenting a provocative card plate design that breaks stereotypes. In particular, Hyundai Card is widely known for attractively melting product and user identity into card design. "Good design projects a persona." is the philosophy of Hyundai Card Vice Chairman Chung Tae-young, so-called "Persona Management".
In the early 2000s, Hyundai Card released 'Transparent Card' and 'Mini Card', half the size of regular cards, proving that credit cards can be a medium of taste, not just a means of payment. Since then, in 2017, it has introduced a design that implements a corner close to a right angle with 'ColorCore', which is colored to the side of the card, in 2011. This obsession with detail stems from the philosophy that the credit card must reveal its identity from the time it is plugged into the wallet. In 2017, the public created a 'Vertical Card' based on the fact that they are familiar with the vertical screen of smartphones, and the 'MultiPlate' system, which allows customers to choose according to their preferences by creating various designs on one card, has also continued since 2020.
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Hyundai Card's design philosophy for card plates paradoxically shows new possibilities for credit cards. Hyundai Card reconstructs credit cards as items that reveal individuals' aesthetic and artistic sensibilities and lifestyles, not just payment methods. Furthermore, Hyundai Card proved that credit cards can be a work of art through Tom Sachs credit cards. Beyond making users enjoy the moment they take a credit card out of their wallet, they want to keep the card plate itself.
Here, Hyundai Card presents a new paradigm of 'buy card design'. The Tom Sachs credit card is not a separate credit card product, but a special design plate, or design itself. You can apply additionally while receiving a new card, or if you are already using the card, you can apply additionally to hold the basic plate and the special design plate at the same time. Industry sources predict that `a new trend will soon be opened in which card plates will change according to mood and preference, just like smartphone cases.'
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
