TRACKS

WEEK 1

For years i didn't have a credit card, even as a young girl i only had ATM cards to withdraw money. only when i traveled abroad my parents would give me a credit card to use in case of an emergency. when i went to university, far from home i decided that i should order a DEBIT card. I couldn't understand why people are choosing CREDIT cards, how come people don't want to know their balance in any given moment? why not pay for something today? only if you have money for it?

Brief history:

It start in Bellamy's novel "Looking backward", he is mentioning the term "credit card" 12 times. he isn't referring to the actual credit card that we know. >> The first actual physical representation of the idea came in 1928, "cargha-plate", the idea was to provide the best/usual/regular costumers

a faster way to buy and deal with the payments that they were doing in the end of the month/week/etc.. it was an in-house "membership".

Even after reading about the history of the credit card and the "pure" idea behind it. The perks of being a recurring costumer still involved paying the actual money. and this where i was always lost - if you do something there are consequences.

if you move your leg forward - you take a step

if you wash your face - your face get moist and wet

if you misbehave to a another person - he might get hurt

if you purchase something - you give money to the person right away.

(of course that there are moments when the impact isn't direct, but still there is an effect in the moment of the action being made)

When we were kids i think most of us had the railway tracks game, plastic railways in different shape, a train, 2 batteries and you can build your own track and drive your own train. my brother had one, i had one, everyone had one. it still in a way stayed a classic "must have" toy.

If you think about it, this is a very repetitive toy, once you turn the train on, there is only one way it can go - on and on and on. just like credit cards. Once you have a bank account, you have money, an income, you order a credit card, set your credit ceiling, and off you go.

swipe - pay - consume

swipe - consume - pay

swipe - consume - never pay - debts

etc....

We wanted to give people the option to train themselves, practice and have a moment to think about this action a second before they are starting to use their credit cards. we made a package inspired by kids board games and members luxurious packages.

Inside the package we thought to put:

The new credit card, Instruction and 10 pieces for building your own Tracks layout.

When the person will open the box, they will see the credit card and the instruction.

The second part will contain the tracks after opening the second part of the box, adults would actually sit down on the floor, return to this childish faze, put the layout together, the tracks has a little slip that you can insert your credit card and start to swipe / ride in an endless loop.

About The process:

Some sketches and brain storming about:

- looks and feel

- size

- how many of the tracks do we need to actually make a statement

- should we use a ready made?

- do we need a depot?

- should we use swipe or insert?

sketching:

using a foam board was easier to get the curves that wen wanted, after the cutting we sanded the edges of our tracks and we got a nice smooth edges.

Connecting all parts with dowels.

Making a box for our tracks and credit card

Designing a visual language for the package:

Final Box: