KPS Video Express Membership Card Recreated: Welcome back to the 1990s

The KPS Video Express membership card revived after three decades. You can make your own card too to maximise nostalgia.

KPS Video Express (金獅影視快線) was once a Hong Kong retail behemoth. It started off life renting out media such as video tapes and LaserDiscs, before moving to sell other items including software and music CDs. It moved with the times, providing Video CDs, and DVDs as they became available.

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• More on KPS Video Express
  Read about the research journey on KPS Video Express and how I wrote the Wikipedia article (here), get a copy of the KPS Logo, and take a look at original rental/sales receipts from KPS, with detailed scans of the front and back

As was customary at the time, everyone who wanted to rent tapes were issued a membership card. Although we take it for granted now, this was a fully computerised system, so you could use your card in any of the stores present throughout Hong Kong. The card had a barcode, and was laminated in thick plastic to survive the journey in wallets.

I've recreated the KPS Video Express membership card, and you can even make your own. Despite being almost three decades since its collapse, images of the membership card turns up online from time-to-time, helping us to ensure a level of accuracy.

Membership Card Design Documentation and Evolution

Not having access to an original membership card, nor to the original design files means I've had to make a few assumptions and compromises. Namely:

• Size: I've assumed that it was the size of a standard credit card (85.60 mm x 53.98 mm)
• Fonts: I sought the closest visual match possible. The "Membership No" uses the New Frank font, while the rest of the text uses Helvetica.
• Membership number label: 
• The membership number label was a sticker stuck on top of the card before lamination.
• Based on analysis, it appears that KPS used a code 39 bar code format for the membership number. It appears that really old member numbers consisted of two letters and 4 numbers (e.g. AH1729), while later they moved to a 9 digit membership number. 
• The font underneath the bar code is unknown. While it resembles a few monospaced typefaces, I have been unable to locate an exact match. It is a proprietary font I suspect, used by their systems and/or printers at the time. In this recreation, I've used OCR-B as a substitute.

The basic format and design of the card appear to have stayed consistent throughout the years. Based on the sample cards available, there appear to be have been at least three variations:

Variant 1: circa 1980s

This card was likely to have been in use until around 1989, based on the phone number format used (3-770-7709. The "3" in front was the Kowloon area code, a format which was in use until 30 Dec 1989. 

Other key differences included:

• Valid until field: This field was not present in future variations
• Membership number: the format of XX0000 was later deprecated in favour of a 9 number format. The original XX0000 format only offered 6.7 million permutations, and its subsequent change was perhaps a sign of how many future members KPS were planning to recruit.
• Membership number sticker: This was much larger than future variations
• Address: The address listed on the card was "Rm 1115-6, Park-In Commercial Centre, 56 Dundas St. Kowloon." This address is located in the heart of Mong Kok.

Variant 2: circa 1989 to 1995

Judging from the phone number, this card format was likely used from around 1989 to 1995, at which point the format changed from (3) 7xx xxxx to 7xx xxxx. Other changes include:

• Valid Until: This field was removed from the front of the card
• Address and phone number: It appears that KPS moved from Park-In Commercial Centre to New Kowloon Plaza at 38 Tai Kok Tsui Road in Kowloon. Their phone number also changed to 3981234.
• Membership number: It appears KPS moved to a 9 digit number membership number, which offers 1 billion permutations. From memory, people with existing membership numbers (e.g. EJ2931) continued to use them. The sticker also became a lot smaller.

Variant 3: 1995 until 1998

On 1 Jan 1995, the phone number format changed again, and a "2" was prefixed to all land line numbers to become eight digits. The only other change was the addition of (tm) at the top right of the KPS logo.

Sub-variant: Children's Card

Children could also be members, and were entitled to rent out tapes at HK$10. Child cards had a rubber stamp of a clown on the right of the card, using red ink.

From memory, the tapes that these card could rent were limited to items from the children's section, or basically things rated under 12 years and under. This left a loophole, as some tapes were rated 12 and under, but were not cartoons, like tapes for Star Trek. This left it at the discretion of the staff member on whether they wanted to enforce it and not allow rental, or not.

Making your own card

Download your own KPS Video Express membership card (金獅影視快線會員證件):

[## download## Download] PDF 897k

This PDF file is Adobe Illustrator compatible, and you can import it into Illustrator, or other compatible software if you wanted to make your own customisations.

Printer settings

Using 200gsm paper, print out the PDF file. This will give you enough to make 4 cards. Make sure that you set the PDF to print at actual size, otherwise it may shrink it and each card will be smaller than credit card size. Also make sure to set your printer to print at the highest quality settings, otherwise the text may not be sharp.

Choose your card era

If you want a post-1995 card, cut out the ones with phone number "2 3981234". If you want a pre-1995 card, then look for the two with phone numbers without the "2". From 1989 to 1 Jan 1995, all land line phone numbers in Hong Kong had 7 digits.

Bar code

You can customise your own membership number by generating a 9 digit bar code in code 39 format. The bar code was a sticker, and to maintain authenticity, stick the bar code onto the membership card before laminating it. Original cards appear to have had the number aligned to the left. I have included both left aligned, and centred versions, which you can chose from depending on your preference.

Gluing it all together

Ideally, you would be able to align the back and front when printing double sided. Unfortunately, it's hard to do so, so the next best thing is the glue the back and front sides together to provide a thick card, followed by the membership bar code.

Lamination

I laminated the cards using 80 micron laminate sheets. I discovered that the card was a bit too thick for the sheet, and didn't provide the smooth seal desired. Alternatives to try are to use thinner card, or alternatively thicker laminate sheets. I ended up having to feed the laminate into the machine around 6 times to get a better seal.

Cutting out the cards

Note that there were no 90-degree edges on the original membership card. Everything, from the laminate, to the bar code itself, was curved. You will need to cut the edges out. The original cards also had very generous laminate borders, so feel free to leave more, rather than less of the plastic sides on.

Nostalgia Achieved

Now you can pretend it's the 1990s again, and head out, card in hand, to rent the latest copy of whichever blockbuster has just hit the shelves. Just make sure to rewind the tape and return it on time!