TwistedSifter: Contact information has gone digital but that doesn’t mean the traditional business card no longer serves a purpose. Business cards these days are used to make an impression. They can be great marketing tools for your services and a memorable ‘card’ can lead to new opportunities.
30 comments:
While many of these designs are very creative and cool looking, they don't actually seem very functional as business cards. I consider a business card as something that is kept in a wallet or some organizer and many of these can't do that. I get that having a unique business card may set you apart from the competition but if when you hand your rolled up tiny yoga mat or cheese grater to someone you meet at an event or on the street and they can't just put it in their wallet but instead have to figure out a way to transport it, risking losing it in the process, that's a problem. Many of these cards still fit in a wallet and in that case, go all out and make them as creative as you want, but don't give me a mini vinyl record because as impressed as I might be with the creativity, that doesn't mean anything if I throw it in the first trashcan I see because I don't want to deal with it.
I am all for making business cards memorable. However, I think it is important to not cross the line of being too tacky and unprofessional. Many of these business cards work because they are for creative or specialized fields. For example, the cheese grater business card is perfect because it is something that is functional for customers, but still promotes business. While I see Philip's point that business cards are meant for wallets or organizing, I think thinking out of the box and creating something that is both appropriate and usable for people in your field, the payoff can be worth it. I do think all of these business cards are really cool and work because they specifically tailor to their fields. In such a highly competitive field, creating unique business cards can only set up apart from the rest of the herd.
These are all really cool and memorable but sometimes they are a little silly. I don't really know if these should even be considered business cards. They seem more like advertising junk (some of them are useful but mostly it's junk) A business card should be something that is easily accessible and can be passed on to someone with ease. A cheese grater, a rolled up yoga mat, a plunger are neither. When you get the "card", where are you going to put it? They take up room and losing it would be really easy. When you have a card, you can put it in your wallet, tape it in a notebook or they have card holders. These ideas are cute but I think if they were going to be forward thinking designs, they need to think about the practicality and the convenience of the card. People always think that limits are, well, limiting. But I think limits show who is actually really creative/gifted/talented. The T-Make A Seat for example, took the typical business card and made it so that it can either be a business card or a little chair. The Bike tool one is also pretty cool because it fits anywhere like it should and it's useful. But the mini vinyl record, cute, neat thought, but common, you're giving a business card that has two parts to it, one being extremely tiny, I'm probably going to lose at least half of the info that a business card is supposed to give me. I think Business cards should be original, but they are to relay information, not make a person feel burdened.
There is a way of presenting information in a cleaver and creative way without being over the tope and impractical. Some of these designs are really cute, but would get thrown into my junk drawer and never seen again. The bike tool that fits into a wallet is probably one of my favorite. People who own a bike can actually use this device and think of the company every time they do a bike repair. On the other hand, you is ever going to put the time into building the cardapult that just takes up valuable desk space. The comb business card is cute and has the potential to be practical when on the road. The rest are cute gimmick ideas that will be lost or forgotten about soon after. I do believe that business cards can be more than just paper, but they have to have a clear purpose.
I agree with the above comments. Some of these designs are cool and creative, and some of them are a bit tacky and annoying. Some of these designs I wouldn't want to carry around in my pocket or something, like the flower one, or the lego one. The point of a business card is it can fit in your wallet in case you ever need it. So the designs that are the standard size of a business card, but have other purposes like the lock pick or the cheese grater, are definitely good ideas for those specific fields.
These are cool! Obviously, there was a lot of graphic design and engineering that went into these (looking at you, bike repair card), but I have to ask, how much do these cost? For me, one vital thing in creating business cards is being able to mass-produce them. Besides being well-designed, I look into getting 250 or 500 of them to have on hand. That way, at job fairs, I can pass them out without much though, spreading my contact info as far as it can go. However, with these here, it seems like cost is going to outweigh the benefits. In addition, for the tiny plunger and Lego guy, while it's going to make an initial impact on me, I'm totally going to lose that. If I can't put it in my wallet right away, I can't guarantee me keeping it.
These are really cool! I especially like the ones that have tools relevant to the business they're advertising. Besides those, however, I wonder how practical these are to the customers receiving them. Definitely memorable, but not necessarily good for those who may keep business cards in their wallets or like to organize paperwork with cards attached for reference. So while beef jerky as a survival tool/business card is really awesome, I can't say I'd be too thrilled to have it stapled to someone's file in my desk drawer. Actually, I'm not entirely sure most of these would make it to my desk drawer at all. It's hard enough to keep track of a business card and bring that home, let alone something bigger or bulkier. And if I'm in a dress and you hand me one of these? Sorry, but I'm never calling you.
My one question is how much money are they spending on their business cards and is it even worth it in the long run?
Yes, business cards should be memorable, but there's a difference between showcasing what you're about on something easily accessible and easily distributed.
If I'm speaking with someone on the street and they seem like someone who would be interested in my plumbing service, I'm not going to pull out one of my many little plungers and hand it to them, because--not only would that be extremely odd--if they throw it out after walking three feet away from me, I've just lost however much money went into manufacturing that plunger.
You want to be remembered for the right reasons, not for the ridiculous ones.
READ THIS COMMENT (not the first one I published)
How much money are they spending on their business cards and is it even worth it in the long run?
Yes, business cards should be memorable, but they're for showcasing what you're about on something easily accessible and easily distributed.
If I'm speaking with someone on the street and they seem like someone who would be interested in my plumbing service, I'm not going to pull out one of my many little plungers and hand it to them, because--not only would that be extremely odd--if they throw it out after walking three feet away from me, I've just lost however much money went into manufacturing that plunger.
You want to be remembered for the right reasons, not for the ridiculous ones.
I guess I'll hop on the bandwagon here and agree that while a lot of these cards are really cool and badass, they don't really serve the purpose or function of the business card. Yes, they might be memorable. Yes, they might look cool for 15 seconds... But then where do you put it? Where can you reference the information that's on it later? Most, if not all of these can't live in your wallet like a typical business card, so I kind of fail to see the point of some of these other than to make a statement for a few seconds. I think it would be much more effective to have this, AND a card they can reference later. Just food for thought. While sometimes less is more, I think it is the opposite way around in this instance.
Like many others have said these business cards are all highly memorable. The expert design and creativity involved in developing these cards is what makes them so effective. Contrary to what Philip said I think that all of these are incredibly functional as business cards. That is probably due my different definition of what a business card is. In my personal opinion I think that the purpose of a business card is to make your business memorable to the person you are giving it to which is something that these companies do very effectively. Despite the memorability of these cards I would have to say that many of them seem like they'll get lost due to the lack of storage logistics. However if you're somebody like me who would rather see a memorable card than something you can put in your wallet and forget about for the rest of your life then these seem like incredibly effective cards.
Everybody commented that these are cool and memorable (true) but also potentially annoying and cumbersome (also true). I pretty much agree with that, but what I find interesting about this is that the cool versus convenient trade-off ties into a larger discussion about the way you present yourself as a professional, and what you want people to take away from your image. For an artist or someone who does a lot of hip freelance work, it makes sense to want to represent yourself in a way that is fun and original, because it’s likely that those are the people you want to attract.
When deciding what type of business card you should have and what your resume will look like, it’s important to consider not only who you are and which aspects of your professional self you want those to reflect, but also who will be looking at those items. You’re selling yourself and your skills to potential employers, and who you want to be actually matters less than who they are looking to hire, if you want the job that is.
So funky business cards are cool, as long as the population you’re looking to attract will agree that these are super cool rather than dismiss it as poor professional conduct or disregard for traditional values, or whatever else old grumps might have to say about funky business cards.
I adore these designs as concepts and just for their creativity. But in practicality, some of them are quite useless and annoying. Why would anyone want a cheese grater business card? That is not safe to carry around, plus it is kind of heavy. Also, these are probably expensive to make. Most people throw business cards soon after getting them so the expense of creating the "cards" is not worth it.
I have to disagree with what a lot of people are saying here. Obviously a lot of these aren't being given out to everyone, and if I personally were doing something of this nature with my business cards I would probably reserve them for my most valuable prospective clients. Obviously a few of them are impractical, however, I think they're generally a good idea. Additionally, a few of these would be very impractical financially, so you would definitely have to find the happy medium between absolutely outrageous and just right.
I've spent a good deal of time looking at "interesting" business card designs lately, and as a result I've come across this article and others like it a number of times. And while some people might not appreciate them because they're unconventional, I think they serve a purpose in the niche market their playing too, and in most cases it probably ties into the unique selling point of their company, which is brilliant. In the entertainment industry I think you get away with a specialized business card to a point, I’ve seen some that have been laser cut or etched from wood (it looked like a little flat) or sheet metal, and they were pretty cool. For quite some time I was strongly considering have a custom stamp made, so that I never needed a traditional card. I thought it might be interesting, because then I could also use the stamp on drawings or in the corner of my resume without it being to prominent or tacky, I was okay with a little tacky… Eventually I ended up going with a more traditional card, normal contact info on one side, and then what I think is becoming my logo or symbol on the other. Still a little tacky…but unique and simple.
I always love seeing unique business cards like this, they're definitely the ones that stick. I remember one of my friends got a business card from the TOC that was really awesome. On different sides it had different coding puzzles to get emails, addresses, phone numbers, and name. It also came with an odd light that wasn't even UV that made even more coding puzzles show up. It was a good way to spread their name as well as test the potential employees.
Oh I love these types of things, even if they are't functional as business cards just to see the creativity makes me so happy! If some one can find a way to express what in their mind in a fun and somewhat functional way its just so cool! at any rate it does help with marketing and it also pushes the boundaries of what a successful business can be. If a busies card is cold and gray I feel like it can be restrictive to its employees, whereas a fun make me think just the opposite!
I'm not ashamed to say that I want all of these business cards, however silly or impractical they are. Like Sam said, if I received a card like this from a person I sought to employ I would certainly remember who they were and what their company wanted to display as advertising image. Business cards, when done right, can really exemplify someone's personality. I would rather have something a little bit odd and silly than a blank white sheet of paper with information in Times New Roman. That being said, my opinion comes from a more artistic and less professional side. I can imagine how people wanting to be 'mature' and 'concise' wouldn't like a fabric business card or a beef jerky business card. Then again, and I'm not sure if this is actually true, but business cards seem to be going out of style with all the technology we have around us. So why not take the time to surprise someone with something cool and material for a change? I know I would put half of those business cards to use or up on my wall--and because they're on my mind or in my sight, I would be more want to use those companies' services.
Man, these are crazy. And super cool and very creative. I hope one day I have the time and money to have beef jerky business cards. Essentially, you're extending your marketing of yourself to your business card even though it's mostly just supposed to be an easy tool for networking. It's still super important to be able to get the information on your business card across, and I would worry with a business card like this that the information would take work to find and people wouldn't be happy to do the work to get there. Another thing to consider is that usually people are truly interested in using your business card as a way to contact you will file your card away or scan it into a collection of contacts that they have. It's important for this to be able to happen still. people aren't going to be able to slip a piece of beef jerky into a card slot in their wallet, or a piece of foam curled up for a yoga studio. I'm not saying you have to stick to 'we've just always made rectangles before' but there is a certain level of practicality that goes along here that should at least be noted.
These are fantastic! I like all of them! The ones that aren't practical are adorable! The one's that make something are really engaging! The one's that are practical are so cool! I love the bike tool one, it's sp simple and if you go to a bike shop, you're likely to need a bike tool that is easy to carry, and it advertises your business at the same time. The one with the plunger is so clever, and the cardboard multitool is so cute. The cheese grater, musical comb, lock pick, and Tetris game are great! I kind of really want a funky business card now (and to have some of these too)!
I have mixed feelings about a lot of the examples in this article. On one hand, a business card is something thats supposed to represent you, or your business, and help someone remember you. I think many of these do that extremely effectively. They are very unique and the way the card is designed is integral to the purpose or idea of the business. On the other hand though, this "cool" part of the card may limit its use. Like if the card is too complicated or too heavy, someone might just get frustrated and throw it away, which is a worse end than just having a normal card.
I'm a traditionalist, I like Serif fonts, resumes with words, and would throw away a video resume if one came to me. The ones I thought were innovative and successful still fit into business card shapes. That is, if I were at a conference with my little binder and someone were to hand it to me, it would go in there and not get lost. While plungers, legos, and skateboards are cool, they ultimately end up as tchochkes that I then have to find a place for, which invariably is the trash. I think that being memorable is great, but it's important for me to remember you, not "I got this business lego from some random with a random name." It's cool to be creative, but you still need to be mindful about the context in which you're presenting your marketing materials.
One thing that we all should keep in mind while reading this article is; this is incredibly creative and I enjoy looking at it, but this is not for everyone in every career types. I'm sure if you apply for any companies that related to design, they would absolutely love it. For others, it might not work. My family owns a market research company and we has to interact with thousands of people. I'm not sure if my mother received a lego business card from someone she has a meeting with she would think of it as something cool or as this person is interesting. She may think as if this person may not be very mature and she may not want to work with him or treat him professionally. Again, doesn't mean being creative is bad, trying to make your business card a little more outstanding and be a tool to represents a little bit of you is always smart but there's the word "PROPER" that exists in the vocabulary. Think of the context a bit before you go with something different. My pink business card will certainly be different shade and font and design from the shade I use on the crit board for you funny example.
The extreme always seem to make an impression is a quote from my all time favorite movie Heathers that I feel relates here. We live in anm age where we are constantly bumbarded with advertisements to buy this, look at that, come spend money on this and it can be so overwhelming. With the dirrection of technology it has a llowed just about anybody to start a business and doing things the traditional way these days just doesn't work in this cynical world. According to Adnorno we work so hard we need leisure goods to allow us to escape the pressures of our hard work and find motivation to start the cycle up again. Thus this means we are constantly looked to be impressed and entertained just about any way possible since our time is so valuable. So coming up with business cards that are not only pleasing to the eye but are memorable and creative in such a way that it connects to what you want this hard working consumer to buy is a great and successful marketing tool. This allows vendors to make an extreme impression about their product or service by associating the trade in their business card in a fun and innovative way. Currently it is a very smart tool and I can only wonder what is to come when this becomes the standard.
This is such a great idea. There are so many artists and entrepreneurs competing for attention that I imagine it feels nearly impossible to stand out. People rely so much on business cards as a way to have your physical name floating around in the pockets of potential clients or employers, but now that everyone's pockets are so overflowing with cards, any single name gets lost in the crowd. (No matter how perfect your font selection was.) I think alternative business cards are a genius way to get you name into someone's brain and make it stay there. A similar approach has begun to occur with music distribution. Rather than selling CDs or relying on iTunes, forms where it is so easy to get "lost in the crowd", many musicians will sell more novelty items such as vinyl or cassettes, or they will even sell artwork or photographs with download codes on the back! This sort of innovation is really important to people who wish to successfully stand out and market themselves.
I love the concept of many of these business cards because they create a greater association with a name than a simple piece of paper. The dual functionality of these cards creates a clear association between a name and a idea. You'll never forget that little trinket or useful thing one of these businesses give you because they are super creative and cool, and that association between a unique and creative design speaks loads about the person its representing. Not only does the ingenious design show that you are innovative and take great pride in your work, but they are most importantly memorable, which is the essential purpose of giving someone your contact info, so they can remember and contact you when there is a worthwhile opportunity. I love these unconventional cards and would love to design my own like them. They have personality and are great for expressing who you are, especially for a designer.
These are so cool! I think these are a great way to stand out in a world where business cards are going out of style. With the ability to easily reach someone through the internet, physical business cards have become less common- and making these cards so unique and creative means that people are more likely to keep them because they are so cool, and less likely to discard them with the rest of the trash in the bottom of the purse. Though some are not as practical as others, for cost or common sense reasons (the cheese grater, for one) they are still so fantastically fun that they keep from becoming just another scrap of paper. Thinking out of the box in this case helps to make your business memorable, and thus the extra effort reaps rewards.
In the past having seen cards like these I have often agreed with the sentiment that seems to be common in the comments so far "cool but impractical." For me this often came down to one simple fact, it is hard to make a lot of these yourself for cheap. I realize that you could mass produce them in a factory, but I like the idea of making them myself. However, in reading this article I realized that maybe that isn't so bad any more. As it points out, business cards aren't used as much any more, with digital contact cards and sites like LinkedIn business cards are becoming more and more rare. Therefore it wouldn't be too impractical to create a few dozen of any of these for those increasingly rare occasions where you need a physical "card".
This is super cool! These are so creative and very unique, and if I were handed one of these cards I would surely remember the person. A lot of time and money had to have gone into designing and constructing these. However, as cool as they are, I begin to question if it is really worth it. The biggest reason for this is because on many of them it is really hard to read the information that the card is supposed to be giving. The ones that would probably be the most successful are the ones that allow you to get the information and then allow you to easily transform it into whatever the creative use is. Thats just my 2¢.
Last year, there was a green page article specifically on the beef jerky business card, and I was not a fan. I found that it was tacky, rather than a effective way of disseminating a tangible form of your business information. I do think that business cards can be fun and memorable, while remaining informative and professional. The cheese grater and bike tool were great examples of cards that were relevant to the business in question, tactful and useful. The catapult, stretch band and tiny record were cool, but I felt like they would be hard to get information from, which is the main purpose of a business card.
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