Wells Fargo Credit Card Branding

This Wells Fargo Credit Card branding was done by Jennifer Morla in 1990. She claims that adding photos to credit cards was not the usual at the time and that this was an “industry first.” The three variants of cards all picture horse drawn carriages in different settings. Horses are a classic symbol of Wells Fargo branding, so the inclusion of horses on the cards was only appropriate. Morla revealed that she added the “Wells Fargo Bank/Express” text on the top of the cards so that it could serve as a label while peeking out of a card pocket in a wallet.

I am a fan of maximalism and think that it can be achieved very successfully with the use of patterned backgrounds, photos, etc. I personally really enjoy when credit/debit/gift cards feature photographic backgrounds, as they are actually what I tend to search for more. I think that Morla took a successful approach to this theme, while keeping the balance between maximalism and legibility.