Various news outlets are covering the release of the new Discover credit card, like Daily Finance.com.

Discover Card Design

And, here is the card design:

It's interesting how they have completely broken from the standard way of lots of information on the front of the card. It's a really clean design with just their Discover logo/wordmark and a little orange "it" on the top right edge. The name, number, and all the other junk is on the back of the card. I haven't been able to find the design of the back of the card anywhere. Apparently the new card will be sent via expedited mail, getting it to customers in just a couple days instead of the industry standard "3-5 business days."

Their delivery box is not only going to get to you faster, it's attractive too:

Commercials: Support and better features

Discover also has several new ads to go along with the card. This first one emphasizes the human, America-based support that is someone so friendly you might just call them for fun:

And this second one emphasizes the "no change to APR for your first late payment" while still giving the human, America-based, friendly support:

Drawbacks to Discover

All in all it's a pretty compelling message. The drawback to Discover is, of course, that it's Discover. I've seen experiences where companies will say "We don't take that card" or even "We prefer not to take Discover. The generous benefits to consumers are painful to merchants because, at least in some cases, Discover charges a higher rate than Visa and MasterCard. Discover is accepted at a fraction of the number of merchants where Visa and MasterCard are accepted.

And there's the matter of qualifying - as a credit card Discover has to do a credit check on their applicants before accepting someone. Debit cards, and especially prepaid debit cards, don't have that drawback.

What about Amex Bluebird?

It will be interesting to see if this new card design and offering will really re-invigorate Discover the way that American Express's Bluebird card will open up American Express to a new group of consumers.