493: Undecipherable

Credit card: Visualize your money

Some time ago I had a discussion about (dis-)advantages of physical against non-physical stuff. She argued that non-physical is mostly too abstract for the user and thus not that easy to use in daily life. We argued about “real” money as physical and credit cards as non-physical example. The advantages of real money are that you see what you have and you can only spend that. The advantages of the credit card are that the payment is easier and payment via internet is possible.

The main disadvantage is that you as user can’t see how much money you spend or you have available. The card looks always the same.

Assume that materials are available that could either shrink or change it’s color. Using this the credit card will get smaller if you pay with it and slowly reach your limit. Or the card could get orange if are in reaching line of credit and red if your are in. Thus you as user would “feel” how much money is available and it is much easier to cope with the abstraction from real money.

PS: Only an experiment in mind.