Posted on WebDesign-L on 05/30/00

> After seeing at the things that I do on-line certain members of my
> family have asked me design business cards for them. As this is my
> family I cannot refuse =). My problem is that I haven't actually seen
> all that many business cards, at least ones that I like. I'd like to
> know if anyone out there has a link or two to some site that has
> examples of well designed, creative business cards.

How do you make a business card interactive?

This was the question I asked myself about a year back when I was asked to
re-design the business cards for my former employer. I hit upon a couple
ideas that I have yet to see anyone execute successfully.

The first idea was to make your business card scratch and sniff, the idea
being that every time you pass out a card, you're inviting engagement and
interaction with your recipient. Making the card unique in this way also
gives the recipient a reason to save it instead of throwing it away, which
is what happens to to most business cards I receive from people I don't
know.

The second idea is to make the card like a lottery ticket, where the
recipient can scratch off a silver area in the hopes of winning something.
Perhaps the area that is scratched reveals the card-bearer's name and
address. Or maybe every one out of a hundred cards is a winner, and the
prize is some nice company swag like a t-shirt. All the recipient has to do
is mail the card in with a name and address to claim the prize. I can even
see this idea being integrated into a dot-com promotion or something.

The concept behind these unique business cards came about because I became
frustrated with the state of business cards in the corporate world. Too many
of them are plain, boring, and don't completely fulfill the primary function
they are intended to fill. A business card's primary purpose is to present
contact information. It's second purpose is to help build the company brand.
Anything beyond that can be seen as a form of marketing.

Alas, neither one of my "interactive" business card ideas has yet been
implemented. When I presented these ideas to my former employer (a large,
multi-national corporation), they shot the idea down so fast that I shoved
it aside for more traditional business card design. I'd love to see someone
forward-thinking enough to take these ideas and implement them . I'd love to
see the reaction you get from card recipients at conferences and
conventions. If anyone does decide to create such business cards, please
send me one.

--
Cameron Barrett
Information Architect
http://www.collab.net (work)
http://www.camworld.com (play)

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