A few memorable business cards
The often over-looked business card. It’s amazing what a little thought can do, and here some good ones catching my eye over recent weeks.
This business card for a massage therapist comes in a knot, and you untie it to reveal the contact details. Ever had a knot needing massaged? Via Quipsologies.
Studio on Fire uses these letterpress ninja business cards with card stock “thick enough to kill someone”. But it’s all fun and games until someone puts an eye out.
Great cards for the Glammer Education Institute of Hair Design. Via swissmiss.
Agrie Paint Services, a novel idea. It can only be used once, mind, but if that gets you the client, job’s a good’un.
How about an edible business card for those caught in the wilderness?
For the artists out there, this business card “stroke” easel should suffice. Via Vitaly Friedman.
The mixtape generation card. Very retro. Very cool. And no need to buy a business card holder.
But you know they’ll never top this.
A little more business card design inspiration
- Art of the Business Card
- itevenhasawatermark.com (a bit ad-heavy these days)
- Better than a plain ol’ business card on Smashing Magazine
- Unusual business card designs on Noupe
- The Four Laws of Business Card Design on [Re]Encoded.com
- 50 cards of 50 designers on The Design Cubicle
- Good or bad business cards? on davidairey.com
- Cool business card designs on davidairey.com
- My personal card (couple of years old)
Have any designs caught your eye lately?
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51 appreciated comments on “A few memorable business cards”
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Brilliant post David.
Care to add this: http://www.p-and-w.com/work/pw_work11.php?
:-)
Enjoyed this, David. My favorites are (Ah, there are two of them):
Agrie Paint Services: The card and the job matches very well. Lasting effect…
Easel Card: People will display it fondly on their desks. Longevity…
Love these! And I appreciate the thoughtful editing that went into the collection. A solid reminder that design is the business of thinking, not just execution. Thanks for sharing… love the site.
Great collection there. I think the most memorable one I can remember is a business card that is also a packet of seeds. I can’t remember the exact details, but it sure was original.
I’ve seen a fair few metal ones out there too, with various shapes cut or and details etched with lasers! I think the cost of such cards is the only thing that prohibits designers from making them. Anything is now possible.
Some great cards here, but it is definitely topped off by the American Psycho clip since I was talking about it with some designer friends today!
That American Psycho bit is brilliant. How have I gone this long without seeing it?
Great post. I haven’t seen some of these before. The knot was clever. Some inspiring cards I enjoy are: http://ljdesignstudio.com/254-75-creative-business-cards-that-inspire
Some nice ones here, but I feel like you missed the best:
http://www.moo.com/blog/2008/04/01/sneaky-peak-of-moos-latest-product-the-mightycard/ — MOO’s MightyCard.
Loving the beef jerky card.
Always nice seeing others business card, especially as I’m in the process of redesigning my own.
The cassette shaped card, and using an old case to hold them in is inspired – it would impress someone before they’re even given the card! The easel business card is also very clever. With that on a potential clients desk you’re never far from their mind.
Never seen an edible business card before though – not sure if I would want to keep it in my wallet for long!
The painting services card was really creative. There is nothing like CREATIVE problem solving…it truly is a lost art!
Some cool ideas. I still need one for my own business card. And the heat is on because Im required to make one now.
Among the lot, I liked the mixtape card the best. It has a very modern edge to it, although it is supposed to be retro. And the beef jerkey card is just pure genius. What does your visiting card look like, David?
first time come here,love your site,David.The cards above is all inspiring ,think i have to refresh my idea now.
In the times when everyone needs their own personal individual card to stand out, great ideas are getting harder to come by and when there is this peer pressure to express our indiviuality we seem to get some of the best ideas. After all your card is the first chance you have to spark the interest of a potential future client.
What ive always wondered is are business cards as important today as they once were? I myself have put off getting a reprint of my current business card, 1 because im toying with the idea of having an online/digital business card, taking inspiration from peope like http://www.timvandamme.com and 2 im considering a rebrand in the next few months.
Online is much more versatile, with the explosion of social networking over the last 6 or 7 years most people will search for you or your company online, theres only so much space on a business card to now put your website, blog, facebook, linkedin, phone, email, name, job title…the list could go on…
Why not just have 1 domain on a card which directs to an online digital business card where they can find all your business information?
This way, your saving costs on getting cars printed and saving the earth at the same time. Business cards that you have received dont get put in the wash, thrown out of your wallet by accident with receipts (ive done this several times) and anyone who happens not to be carrying theirs only have to remember a domain name to send their potential client away with.
Theres nothing really stopping you having a digital business card and a printed one but i think digital business card is the future of how we will present ourselves.
The only reason i haven’t set one up yet is that unfortunately michaelmurphy.com, .co.uk, .me, .info are all taken and trying to come up with something else so if any of Davids fellow readers do have any ideas let me know….?
@Michael Murphy → What about michael-murphy.com or michael “MIDDELNAME” murphy.com (if you have one)?
Think the best ones I’ve seen so far were shaped lenticular ones. Based on a popular casino, they were cut to the shape of a poker chip and then hologrammed different values and the guy’s details. The images were incredible and really caught my attention – ended up getting even more publicity as I showed it around hehe.
Very cool cards! They probably cost a fortune too:) Love the American Psycho clip, awesome flick…
Great examples. I love the first one, I hadn’t seen it before. All very smart ideas!
I love these business cards, some of them i have seen previously on other blogs. But its a great example of what some creative ideas and design sense can achieve!
hi David, thanks for the post, some really amazing and innovative business cards you got here. I really enjoyed the video… priceless. I had to share it on Twitter.
Emina
six26studio
@Andrew Kelsall
Ive thought about the hyphen and middle name which happens to be too long to have a justifiable domain name…
I do have one idea though, what about michaelmurphys.info *see what i did there ;-)*
What do you think?
I think anything which allows customers to remember you and your company is fantastic, I`ve seen coins, pencils (for a proofreader) and moist towelette business card`s in my time. I think the more creative the better, within reason though!
Nice collection of cards.
I’m kind of curious what it would cost to get them made in volume. I had what I thought was a nifty design for a business card some time ago and when I brought it to printer friend he said, “you know you’re gonna be handing somebody a buck every time you give them your card”. Made me consider whether I was better off with a quality versus quantity approach with leads.
I’ve been practically swarming your website, reading articles; I’ve found all of them insightful. This one in particular.
As a design student, we were encouraged to come up with business cards and no one seemed to push the envelope to far. Oh, there was always someone who decided to make a die-cut and they were the talk of the class.
Mind you, I am from West Virginia, most rural state of the United States. Everything is 10 years too late coming here.
But, I’ve grown. I’ve moved from the rural area, slightly, and started learning. I met people. I made contacts. I became involved in way-too-many blogs on typography, reading articles about the ‘cutting-edge’ of graphic design, basically learning everything I could.
I found that even from a rural town, even if you think that your work is wonderful and great, student or professional, there is always something out there, someone else, who has done it better than you. And to see these projects, these physical ideas, makes reaffirm this and look forward to outdoing myself. As we say here, “it lit a fire under me and makes me wanna design.”
Thank you.
Longtime RSS reader of yours Dave, as young designer who graduated a couple years ago but has had hard time finding work in Detroit, I enjoy your blog greatly as a way to keep informed and aware of current trends and action within the design community, keep up the good work and article writings/links =)
That said, I think this is pretty amusingly relevent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoXaRORian4
I love the massage therapists “card”. What a brilliant idea. I do not think I could get my customers to adopt something so creative though!
@Michael Murphy → Sounds good, however, if you want to get business online, .info probably isn’t the best route :(
Love the first one. Saw the business card for the institute of Hair Design before; indeed, very cool.
Always loved that example of yours, Lee.
Andrew, I know the one you’re on about, with the seeds. I show it in this old post of mine. It’s unique, but would you really grow it? And would it sit on your desk until grown? Questionable.
Michael, I second Andrew’s thoughts on the .info domain extension. There’s no substitute for .com where memorability is concerned.
Brian, that’s another great clip, and I’m glad you get something from my blog.
Thanks a lot for the comments, everyone. Great stuff.
I saw one the other day where the entire design was turned into a custom metal stamp, which was loaded with gold ink and pressed on a burgundy card. It leaves that handmade look with letterpress undertones. Beautiful. I gotta get me one for my next business card! Anyone know a good custom stamp maker?
@David → Oh yeah, I knew I saw it somewhere, it didn’t occur to me it was on your blog :D
Not sure, Douglas, but Studio On Fire will probably know. Check out these tongue depressor cards they created recently.
Nice little collection there. Not particularly practical as a biz card, but my inner hairdresser loves the one you can cut out the hairstyles on.
@Andrew Kelsall and David
i guesstimate that only 10% of my work comes from online, 90% are referrals from current clients so im not sure if my work would be affected that much
i agree that .coms are more memorable do you think going for something like michael-murphy.com would be better than trying to be snazzy with .info ?
I don’t want to sound negative, but some these wonderful creative ideas (eve more in the link above) have one big drawback: they don’t fit well into the standart business card holder. Hence they are doomed to be lost in a wallet or a purse. So – hail to the people who can create something completely unexpected on a flat 3.5 by 2 piece of cardstock.
@Michael
Sorry to drop in but I think also look at something like iammichaelmurphy.com or michaellovestomurph. I dunno something cheeky that will stick. I personally don’t like hyphens in URLs. I have a friend whos wears by .net domains for some reason.
Love love the cassette cards and I’ve seen the hair one quite some time back. I also know the seed ones you’re talking about. I definitely would plant those seeds :p whether they would grow is the question… O_o
I don’t think business cards can or should be replaced, I did live without them for my first 3/4years of freelancing and then now I just seem to enjoy giving them out – you never know where they’ll end up (most of my work also comes from referals). Everyone loves my butterflies anyway :D
Love love studio on fire!
Bet some of these cost a small fortune to have done!
Do like the cassette ones though, they do look good.
@Ebi
Never liked anything other than .com or .co.uk myself.
Im loving the iammichaelmurphy.com idea! Thanks!
Great article David, some incredible ideas and designs. Thanks
Beautiful cards. Very inspirational.
Some really creative idea. People would think twice before tossing away the cards.
Not exactly the Rolodex type, Jennifer. That’s true, but creative ideas can always be used in conjunction with the standard card size. And with some of the ideas undoubtedly costing a fair bit per “card”, it’d be a good idea to qualify contacts before passing them on (during a conversation, for instance).
Ebi, some of the Studio On Fire work is great. Couldn’t agree more. Good tip for Michael to avoid hyphens in URLs. It’s not great when you need to tell someone, “David hyphen Airey dot com”.
Gotta love the massage therapist’s card. I also love the painter’s. Fantastic post!
Nice post, some business cards always impress me and there are some good ones on this list.
Brilliant ideas mate! very inspirational!
The “Great cards for the Glammer Education Institute of Hair Design” and The mixtape generation card are so cool. I like the former a lot because it is fun and creative.
Regards
Wow- that makes me totally rethink my biz card. I can’t pick just one favorite, but the edible one is very clever!
love the edible card, the tape would have been amazing a decade or two ago given that the medium is barely used anymore (unless of course it is somehow relevant….them making tape transfers or something) overall great post, good designs
Have you seen this youtube…”the best business card ever”
kinda entertaining :)
sometimes you just gotta laugh!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YBxeDN4tbk