#6: The Palacard!

Most of my posts have been discussing design pitfalls, but I want to dedicate this post to a great object and system. I really appreciate my Palacard. It has very useful information on it, it has good uses, and it is easy to deal with. The information on this card is very relevant. It has my birth date, Furman ID, and picture. These are all great for any identification issues. I am pretty surprised the stores around here don't ask for a Furman ID when kids try to buy alcohol. The information that pleasantly surprised me is the phone numbers on the back of the card for important Furman departments such as public safety, the infirmary, and university housing. I was locked out of the tennis center once and had to call FUPO. I did not know the number but checked my Palacard and it was conveniently there. Below is the card y'all are familiar with. I blocked out my face because the picture is funny. People's pictures are actually a good source of humor because everyone picked different types of photos from high school.

One of my favorite features of this card is its versatility. This card can be both swiped and scanned by certain card readers outside secure doors. I do not know how it works. There must be something inside the card that communicates with a card reader because I do not have to take my card out of the wallet for it to work. This seems pretty fancy for a simple ID card, and it is definitely convenient. It took me a while to find this out though since a card does not afford it being read without swiping it.

This card is easy to deal with because it can used seamlessly around campus. The thing I like the most about how Furman handles these cards is that they are free to replace if you turn in an old one. It is like 20 dollars to replace a lost card, but completely free to replace a worn out one. Since the cards can wear down fairly easily, I have taken advantage of this free replacement, and it only takes a few minutes.