The art of Adaptation

A year ago we illustrated the coolest ways to spend your credit card rewards. Then, everything changed.

A year or so back we were asked to create a website design for CardWiz, a service that lets you get a hyper-personalized credit card recommendation with incredible ease. We thought it was a neat, smart, and helpful product, and we were happy to oblige. Part of our brief was to create a set of illustrations showing some of the cool rewards any of us can get our hands on if we choose the best possible credit card. In the end, we settled on showing archetypal CardWiz customers enjoying some of the enticing experiences to be had by finding a card that will earn you the most rewards.

Credit card reward programs have always been a lot about the romance and excitement of travel, with stuff like flight upgrades and hotel stays among the most popular things to save up your points for. And so the image we created for the hero section of the CardWiz site showed a champagne-toasting couple taking to the skies in abundant but tastefully minimalist luxury. But oh, for the innocent days of 2019. We probably don’t need to go into the main events of the years that’s passed since then, but safe to say, alongside all the heartrending consequences of the pandemic we’re now fighting against, this also hasn’t been the kindest time for our dreams of setting sail for international adventure.

For CardWiz, this meant that pictures of happy airplane passengers were no longer a glimpse of the thrills that lie in store if you shop smart – but rather a reminder of the joys and thrills we’re now forced to put on hold. And so it was time to go back to the drawing board and imagine all the other ways that CardWiz customers could be making use of their points in the world we now inhabit. Needless to say, there are just as many ways as ever to get great experiences from the rewards you earn through your cards. Take culinary experiences – now more available than ever for home-delivery, and payable-for with your rewards. Or what about the socially-distanced outdoor adventures that could be waiting closer to home than you think? There’s actually still more out there to do than you could ever get through, even in the midst of all this.

The image you’ll now see as you arrive on the CardWiz site is a rather more conceptual take on the adventures your rewards can take you on. Not all the adventures we love are available right now, but with a bit of imagination, there are still a ton of possibilities for what you can do with the rewards you’ll get if you let CardWiz be your guide.