About Us
Get to know more about us, what we’re all about, what we want to achieve, where we started and where we’re going.
Meet the team behind Smart Cards Architecture!
What We’re All About
Smart Cards Architecture (SCA) is a brand created to help students and board exam takers walk their way to a more effective, efficient and fun learning. We make portable decks of information for studying and collecting, perfect for students and professionals alike.
Inspired by collectible playing cards, each deck is designed to make learning architecture fun and exciting!
Making learning architecture fun and exciting
Our Mission
What We Want to Achieve
Make ALE preparation fun
Preparing for the Architecture Licensure Examination (ALE) can be exhausting at times and one thing we can do to make it bearable is to make it fun and provide something to look forward to. We strive to provide avenues to make this journey enjoyable for students and board-takers.
Make ALE materials accessible
When we opened our shop in 2020, we noticed that there is a good number of orders from provincial areas. This made us realize that there may be less study materials available in the provinces and that we should continue to make ours accessible nationwide to make these materials accessible to more people.
Help aspiring architects study architecture
Ultimately, we strive to help aspiring architects study. Whether you’re still in high school dreaming of becoming an architect, studying BS Architecture or already preparing for the board exam, we want to help you get there!
Our History
Where We Started
2019
The idea of SCA was born in 2019. After passing the ALE in January 2019, Jonie was left with all her flashcards which she made herself. After the boards, she was left with so many cards and decided to sell them online. The person who bought her cards expressed how much the cards will be of help to him as he doesn’t have enough time to make his own. Understanding how junior architects tend to balance work and review, Jonie realized how purposeful that was and decided to start designing more cards to help others save time from creating materials and just focus on actual studying and learning.
2020
After a year of ideation and planning, the first prototype was printed on April 8 and the logo was created two days after. It was called Arki Cards back then. Social media accounts were created by the end of April and on May 23, the product design was finalized and they started branding themselves as Smart Cards Architecture. On July 20, Smart Cards launched its first edition, followed by two more editions on September 5. The cards are well-received by the community resulting in frequent sellout. They also started to receive proposals for partnerships, starting with the United Architects of the Philippines Graduate Auxiliary (UAPGA) National on August 7; followed by several partnership proposals from different chapters and organizations thereafter.
Our Vision
Where We Want to Go
At present, Smart Cards Architecture (SCA) continues to help aspiring architects, having fulfilled over 2000 orders nationwide. SCA also continues to support several organizations through event sponsorships averaging about 5-10 events each month. The team holds on to the numerous positive feedback and continues to design new editions and give free educational content online.
We want to make learning architecture fun and exciting.
We want to be your go-to brand for innovative and fun educational materials for studying and collecting. We want to give value to architecture students, junior architects and licensed professionals, wherever they are in the Philippines.
Our Team
Who We Are
Jonie
Architect & Co-founder
Jonie is the Architect and Co-founder of Smart Cards Architecture. She studied BS Architecture in the University of the Philippines Diliman and graduated cum laude in 2016. She leverages her interest in research and knowledge gained from her practice to design and create helpful content, study materials and products for students, aspiring architects and professionals.
Johannah
Operations Manager & Co-founder
Operations Manager and Co-founder of Smart Cards Architecture, Johannah draws on 10 years of experience in business to drive the continuous success and unparalleled growth of Smart Cards Architecture. She is responsible for the overall management of production and order fulfillment of the shop, making sure every order arrives at your doorstep in the best condition possible.
Jobelle
Finance Manager
Jobelle shares her knowledge and skills in financial management for the long-term benefit of Smart Cards Architecture. Having strong organizational skills, she is committed to producing financial reports, developing long-term business plans and offering insights and financial advice that will allow the team to make the best business decisions for the company.
A Passion Project
“I have always wanted to create something that would give value to people and I was able to do that through Smart Cards Architecture.”
“I realized I wanted to create helpful study cards but I didn’t want to just make plain mass printed texts on card stocks. I wanted to make it fun since I know how stressful studying architecture could be. Since I am also passionate about card games and collectible playing cards. I thought, why not incorporate both?
That’s the reason behind the card design and layout of Smart Cards Premium decks that we know today. It’s meant to make familiarizing and memorizing easier by making it look like trading cards, because let’s be real, I still know my Pokémon cards until now.
More than the accomplishment of making this project come true, from conceptualization to manufacturing and all that, my favorite experience will always be receiving feedback from aspiring architects on how the cards are helping them or how excited they are to start studying. It really warms my heart and inspires me to keep on creating.”
Jonie G. Agas
Architect & Co-founder
Join our Study Community
You don’t have to do this alone! Come join us on Discord to meet new friends who are also preparing for the board exam.
Let’s share our resources, answer each other’s questions, motivate one another and really just enjoy!