"Art directed by two New York-based illustrators, a freshly designed set of 52 illustrated playing cards looks to educate the masses about some of the main contributing factors in the US to the current recession..."
The stylized Guy Fawkes mask displayed on each card next to the designers/illustrators name is now a well known symbol for 'Anonymous', an international network of activists and hacktivists. Since 2003 this group has grown in notoriety and become an internationally known group and this symbol is widely recognized as representing them. This shows that these cards are opposing censorship and support freedom as that's what anonymous stands for.
The red used in the card seems to represent blood and evil as the cards are showing the government in a negative light exposing the facts surrounding the recession. The man is in a suit which shows that he is a businessman, this has connotations of wealth, ruthless business mind, and cunning. His tie is red to pin point him as the main point of evil. His face is blacked out because it is not specific to one person and also that they hide themselves well from blame.
The fish in the background, Sharks and an Angler fish, are representative of danger, this links in with the business suit because he is to be viewed as a dangerous man. The fish are predators and strong ones so this denotes that the man is high up in power. The connotations of a predator;sly, stalking prey, dangerous, strong, fast and ruthless, give an overall sense of the impression they want us to get from the business man who in this is representing a group of accounting business men who have underhandedly worked the accounts to work in their favour, being ruthless to those who have borrowed from them and working in packs to help their own, like the pack of sharks in the background.
The glass wall separating the man from the fish is cracked and breaking. The crack originated from behind the man highlighting that he (or rather the group he represents) are the cause of this distress. If the glass were to break the sharks would be able to get the man, this shows that what they've been doing has been a delicate balancing act on the edge of getting caught.
