Business Cards Land

The idea of hand-made business cards is becoming more popular, particularly with designers who want to get “back-to-basics” with their designs. I’m starting to notice a lot of hand stamped business cards using custom rubber stamps as well as a lot of other DIY business card ideas.

color it in cards

This great little idea (above) that I saw on Overnight Prints flickr page, for instance, from designer Kenn Wilson is a  real “lo-fi” way of making your business card really personal and one-of-a-kind. He’s used traditional print methods plus colored pencil touches to create a totally unique and custom “color-it-in” business card.

This partly hand-colored business card works particularly well because it conveys a sense of “exclusivity”. No one of these cards are the same, so therefore, the person receiving the business card is treated to a card that’s been made especially for them!

Popularity: 11% [?]

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You’ve seen loyalty cards for “buy 10 get one free” offers; why not print one of your own?

The “loyalty card” is by no means a new idea, but it’s a really effective marketing technique for all small business owners. It’s cheap too – the price of a couple of sets of business cards is all it costs!

If your a coffee shop owner, then you’re probably well-aware of the benefits of creating loyalty cards to pick up repeat business. It’s such an easy, risk-free promotion. You create a business card that you can stamp everytime a customer buys a coffee – buy 10 cups and get a cup free! This same technique could also be applied to just about any other small retail business, i.e, local bakeries, frozen yoghurt stores, dry cleaners, fast food places, etc, anywhere that sells repeat business items.

This is how Gareth Blower who owns La Dolce Vita, an independently run coffee shop in Detroit, created his cards:

He designed a set business cards titled “loyalty card” – using his logo brand.  He added a little blurb about the offer (for every 10 cups of coffee the customer buys they receive a free one.) He also added a row of small block- spaces to his design, to create a place for the card to be stamped.

Gareth also purchased a stamper to mark off the coffee cups purchased. He sent me a link to the “stamper” that he uses on his customers cards.

Another really good idea is to make your business card into a coupon for a free consultation, a discount, or a free gift with a purchase. Make sure that you include an expiration date on them and  hand them out to all your customers. This technique would work particularly well for web-retailers who can add discount codes to the checkout section of their sites.

This small business furniture store created discount code business cards

Popularity: 62% [?]

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We’re halfway there!  The weekend is in sight and I’m sure given the Winter doldrums that is an extremely welcome thought.  That said, we have something that might just prove to be the medicine to your mid-week blues.  At least that’s what I’m guessing the samples of medicine themed business card look like they can do.  I’m not entirely sure what is in them though.

That’s right, look at these insanely creative business cards belonging to someone known as the Brain Doctor.  They have all of the pertinent information printed right on them and in the back is the all-too-familiar blister pack of little white pills.  While again, I can not be positive what’s In the blister packs, it does look medicinal.  I’m hoping for a sugar pill.  The fact that he’s a graphic designer makes me think it IS sugar, not some crazy brain medicine that you probably have no business taking.  That leads me to another idea, how cool would it be if you designed your blister packed medicine themed business cards with Smarties inside?!  Creative and fun!

Nevertheless, it just goes to show how far you can push the envelope and that no matter what your idea is, it’s most likely obtainable.  This guy had the idea to make his look like medicine samples and he found a way to make it happen.  What can you do?  What can you invent?  What can you decide to make great?  The sky is the limit, now start shooting for it!  Show us some of your best business cards, we can’t wait to see!

Popularity: 66% [?]

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Writing a blog in this industry, we hear a lot of words like “measure up,” “stack up” and compare.  Everyone wants to know how their business card compares to those of other people in similar industries.  If they’re using the right kind of paper, if their ink is high enough quality, how they are cut, just about every aspect of the card can be dissected and analyzed.  They are all being stacked up against the competition.  The business card we just stumbled on most likely never has to worry about how they stack up against the competition, how they measure, and you know why?  Because they can actually measure how they measure up…literally. 

Why?  Simple, take a glance above and you’ll have that question answered instantly.  Looks like Robert Gehring literally used a ruler, well 3 inches of one, and printed his details directly below the measuring lines.  In a word:  GENIUS.  I don’t know how long he’ll be able to keep this up, where he gets his sections of rulers or even if they all use the same 1-3 inches of the wood, but no matter what, these are some of the most inventive, creative and different business cards we’ve ever seen.  I have to say, we love seeing that and we love highlighting just how much you can do with a little thought power and a little attitude.

The bottom line:  When someone’s willing to go the extra mile like this on their business cards, you KNOW, for fact, that they’ll go the extra mile for you in whatever it is you need, whatever it is they do.  Think about this as you design something as seemingly small and simple as a business card.  Show how far you’re willing to go and chances are good people will believe you.

Popularity: 58% [?]

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It’s Friday!  Cue celebrations.  Now, to kick things off a bit early for your weekend festivities you may or should have planned, we dug up the perfect business card with the most perfect cutout we’ve probably ever seen executed on a business card.  Sometimes cutouts just don’t work, sometimes they seem forced, sometimes they seem superfluous and unnecessary.  Sometimes, however, the stars align and the cutout comes into existence (or is it out of existence?) and it transforms what could have been a fairly ordinary business card into something much more, well, extraordinary. 

This card, from a little place called …In A Bottle, uses a cutout to express exactly that.  The whole site is called Message in a Bottle and I have to say, the business card chronicles that perfectly.  The cutout, as you can tell by glancing above, is a cutout of a wine bottle and it’s used to show quite simply and effectively that the woman’s moniker is that exact message coming out of the cutout bottle.  In a short word:  Genius.  I’m inclined to believe that cutouts on business cards can often be overused, but when they are used properly they seriously elevate a business card into a different level of creative.  This is one of those cases and it makes us love it.

So, a tip from us to you on this fine Friday:  Think carefully when designing your business card, if the cutout fits and helps launch your card into the stratosphere of cool, by all means do it.  If, however, you have to force it on there or try very hard to find a reason for it, think twice, it’s entirely ok to leave it out.  On that note, we’d absolutely love if some of you would start sending in some of YOUR business cards to us.  We love seeing what you’re up to, and we’d love to feature some on our site!  Send in those business cards!

Popularity: 75% [?]

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Welcome back.  Monday again and this time I decided that we all needed something that reminded us of our childhood, something to break up Monday and bring us back to happier, non-work day times.  Think back to the last time you were at a circus, or a Chuck-E-Cheese, or heck even a Minor League baseball game or at worst, an arcade.  What was the thing you most looked forward to?  Yep, me too, those raffle tickets, prize tickets and little connected and perforated strips of paper that meant you could probably go somewhere and cash them in for some amazing and essentially worthless toy.

Those days, my friends, are back.  The designer of this beautiful and awesome little business card decided to take us there, and boy does it work.  The front faithfully maintains the old school charm that those raffle tickets and prize coupons always have held and the back of the card does the hard work by displaying all of the pertinent information that you will need to actually call these amazing people whose cards you’re ogling over.  Imagine being handed one of these beauties?  Can you honestly think of anything that would cause you to not share this with just about everyone else you came in contact with after you were given it?  Nope, neither can we.  That is what we call a winner of a business card and this might be one of my favorites I’ve posted in a long, long time.

So, for a Monday, you can’t do much better than being forced back into your youth and remembering days spent in arcades, dark pizza places with creepy puppets singing scary songs from a stage and baseball game 50/50 raffles where you always bought a ticket despite your age and complete knowledge that there was no chance you’d actually win.  Nevertheless, if there were more business cards like this out there, I have a sneaking suspicion that business would be a lot more fun.  Lets make that happen, can we?

Popularity: 51% [?]

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Raise your hand if you just started singing the lyrics to that Billy Joel song?  Yep, just about every single one of you, and if you’re at all like me you’re stuck on the part that beings with “Harry Truman, Doris Day…”  What can you do?  Nevertheless, today we DO have a hot business card to bring up and it actually could start a fire.  That’s right, a matchbook themed business card, and I have to say, it’s one of the most fun and unique business cards I’ve chronicled on this site!

Check it out above.  Look at the genius design.  Look at the attention to detail.  I know we JUST got done saying that simple is amazingly key, but sometimes, sometimes you hit the nail squarely on the head with a business card like this.  These are quite literally, matchbooks.  While inside there are not matches, but little cartoon versions of matches, the whole entire rest of the card is exactly a matchbook, down to the tiny staple in the bottom holding it all together.  On top of that, the entire card is themed to look like it just literally fell out of a 1950’s diner or bowling alley, and the results are pretty spectacular.

Bottom line, these might be some of my favorite cards that I’ve found while researching this site.  Everything comes together perfectly and I can guarantee that if someone handed you this card, you wouldn’t be tossing it away, giving it away or forgetting about it…this is a card you’d show everyone else, and show off For them.  Perfectly done and a perfect business card.

Popularity: 47% [?]

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Welcome back to the world of the working, the living and the non-holiday celebrating…at least for a day or two until New Year’s Eve strikes!  I hope this finds each and every one of you filled up with food, love and a great deal of holiday cheer!  That said, back to business!

Today we stumbled on one of the coolest ideas ever put into practice and being a photographer, I can particularly appreciate not only that idea, but the method that was employed to actually make this work.  The photographer in question, Jelle Akkernan, actually snapped a photo of his information, everything he needed to convey his business, what they do, where they do it and how to contact him and then developed the film of that photo to use as little business cards.  One photo snapped, a bunch of film developed and viola, you’re left with tons of business cards ready to be handed out at your whim.  What’s even more impressive, is that because they are printed on film, they are completely water resistant and won’t bleed or smudge or anything else.  And they are cheap.  Can’t do much better than that, now can you?

Remember, it’s not always the most expensive business card, using the most expensive paper and the most elaborate design that takes the cake.  Sometimes a little creativity, a little do-it-yourself ingenuity and a little elbow grease and you’re left with a business card that everyone will want, everyone will think is amazingly creative, and everyone will talk about and pass around.  In the world of business cards, that’s what we call perfect.

Popularity: 66% [?]

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Going with a plain white business card can be an extremely tricky thing to do.  We’ve all seen the hundreds of thousands of plain white business cards that do little to impress, little to impart any sense of style and little to make you actually want to hang on to it.  If, however, that plain white business card has a bit of flair on it, and perhaps some letterpressing like the amazingly detail oriented business card we found today, well that’s another story.

That’s right, if you’re going to go plain white, there ARE things you can do to make your card stand out from the pack and end up being kept a lot more often than not.  The business card above chose to add some picture perfect letterpressing that includes embossed icons of their main logo.  The entire top 3/4 of the business card is this effect and it absolutely works.  On top of that, the use of only two colors in their fonts make it work even better, and pop even more.

So what lesson can we take from this?  If you’re going to stick with a plain white business card, first make sure the paper is of top quality.  Second, if you want to try dabbling in letterpressed cards, do, but if it’s a bit out of your price range or style, think about going with a watermarked image, whitewashed background, or something similar to show that while the card is white, there is some depth to the background.

Sometimes it’s the simplest, smallest additions that make the biggest, boldest improvements.  The simple letterpressing on this business card elevates it from plain to perfect.

Popularity: 37% [?]

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Say you own a barbershop, salon or some form of hair care institution…what do you think would be the perfect way, in a business card, to portray not only who you are and what you do, but portray it in a cool way?!  Well, I think we’ve officially answered that question this fine Wednesday because the cool people behind the Bolt Barbers Barbershop have figured it out, and figured it out exactly.

From the hilarious and adorable monkeys on the front, to the perfectly chosen fonts and colors on the reverse side, to the most obvious, and best part of the card, the sharpened cut outs that act not only as the monkey’s hair but could also be used as an impromptu comb of your own once you’ve got your hands on the business card.  That’s right, a business card that actually DOES what the business being advertised on it can do for you.  Impressive?  We think so.  Taking one look at the card, you most likely will too.

We’ve said it a lot on this site, and we’ll say it again this fine Wednesday:  The moment your business card matches up with what your actual business does and specializes in, you’ve found something special.  Whether it is having a ruler on the back of a contractors business card or a comb on the back of a barber shops, when the two meet in the middle, business card magic happens.

Take that into account the next time you’re throwing around ideas for your newest and greatest cards…make them meet in the middle, see the results.  Smile.

Popularity: 39% [?]

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