OREANDA-NEWS. October 12, 2012. 23.8 % of respondents to a survey conducted by Uniastrum Bank believe that cards should above all be colorful and eye-catching, while 21.2% think they should be "stylish". Just over 20%, meanwhile, say that the most important consideration in bankcard design is that it reflects the corporate style of the issuing bank. Nearly 17% would like a customized card that matches their personalities, 15.5% favor a toned-down, business-like design, and 1.6% say the look of the card is irrelevant.

As regards the depictions banks use to adorn their cards, most respondents (41.2%) prefer some type of graphic image. Cartoon characters, however, are unpopular, with only 3.5% saying they’d like a card with this kind of picture. 7.6% of respondents want a card bearing an image of an animal, while almost a quarter (22.2%) favor some famous landmark or monument. 19.8% would like to have a card depicting a landscape.

This August Uniastrum launched a competition for young amateur and professional designers to create a new-look bankcard. Entries can be submitted until the end of October. To upload a design and to view those already submitted, visit http://students.uniastrum.ru/. The 3 best entries will be chosen by a panel of judges November 1-15. The overall winner will be invited to conclude a contract with Uniastrum worth Rb 100,000; the two runners-up will each receive an Apple iPad.

"It has to be said that, by and large, the results of our survey brought few surprises: after all, cardholders are becoming choosier about the cards they use, as well their design features," notes Margarita Garasimova, Uniastrum’s Vice President of Marketing. "This is an incentive for banks to plan carefully for the future and keeps us focused on creating products with additional options and new designs, making, in turn, for greater customer convenience and more stylish banking solutions."