if you turn it sideways, the lines represent something.

Turn the card on its side, and suddenly all should become clear. Once you see it, you can't un-see it, it's that kind of thing.

the first letter or something maybe? please?

All of the letters are made up of straight horizontal and vertical lines, i.e. no curves and it makes a difference which side you turn it on

hold the card so that the three red lines at the top of the card are to the right

w or l or j or????

Try thinking of light and shade... like a red spot light!

Is this anything like card 3 - am i looking for the spaces in between the lines?

yes, your looking for the shape that would exist if a full light was shown on a raised surface.

if the light was catching on the same edges it was shining on, the light is shining from the right.

yes, your looking for the shape that would exist if a full light was shown on a raised surface.

if the light was catching on the same edges it was shining on, the light is shining from the right.

i tilted the card and the answer was staring at me

Without the thin red lines you wouldn't have the answer. I mean, if you took the thin red lines away from the average person you would also take away their ****

Since when have veins and arteries ever been referred to as thin red lines? Or thin? or red? well, maybe red. But the point is that is not the first thing I think of when I hear "Thin Red Line." There are many things that make *insert answer* possible, why narrow in on one of them and make it sound like a WW2 movie?

The thin red lines is a nice touch by mind candy, but it's not the original title that I proposed. (Mine was 'What's the meaning of this?'). Now, yes, you can make those red lines mean lots of things if you want it to. Trust me, I've heard all SORTS of answers. Any pattern can be given multiple meanings if you look hard enough for them. But none of that matters, because in my mind, one mark of a GOOD puzzle is one where, when you get the answer, you know that it MUST be right. If there's room for doubt, then there's a certain inelegance to the puzzle (I am reminded of a certain puzzle to do with a 'lexical game' in season 1).

Code:

_ _ _                                            
 _ _   equates to 21 in binary (imagine as 10101)
                                                 
                                                 
_ _                                              
 _ __  equates to 20 in binary (imagine as 10100)
                                                 
                                                 
                             3                   
                            -1                   
_____  equates to = (as in  -- )                 
                             2                   
                                                 
    _                                            
____   equates to 1 in binary (imagine as 00001) 
                                                 

the shape was the UK without Ireland. It's kinda reminiscent and the red lines could have had something to do with trains/transit lanes.

42 :)

LFE L F E Low-Frequency Effects Low Frequency Emitter

The first positive non-Fibonacci is also the length of your answer

the word 'life'?

It helped me to tilt the card almost to the point you cant see the card. Look at it from the top down

I wasn't thinking three-dimensionally enough

Life should not be the answer. There is nothing that says we should add an extra letter, and LFE in no way "represents" life. Neither do a series of broken red lines. I hate puzzles that end like this. With a little more work (adding the I) it would have been just fine. It's just sloppy.

There is no red line on the "back" (left hand) side of a letter. So the I has only a single up-and-down line.

In the end, I took it to the window where there was a lot more light, and tilted the card almost to the point at which you can no longer see the front, and there is was, clear as day.

life line/ life lines