The business of business cards
In Japan, a business card is an absolute necessity for doing business. It is seen as an extension of a person, to be treated with the utmost respect, delivered with two hands and a slight bow, and studied upon receipt with meticulous interest. In Australia, a business card – if one is carried at all – is often reluctantly produced from the depths of a wallet, crumpled, dog-eared and sat on, to be used to brush biscuit crumbs from a meeting room table.
The humble business card may seem a little dated in the days of digital devices. But they just might have something to do with corporate and personal branding. So we’ve picked the best – and worst – business cards we’ve collected in recent months.
The best 10:
1. Clerehan. It shouts HER BEST when turned over. Unfold it, it shouts ESTHER CLEREHAN. Cute personal branding from a savvy recruiter.
2. BMF. The agency ranked top in the Mumbrella Creative Agency Review has a business card to match. 
3. Junior. Curious shape. Sophisticated colouring. Particulars laid out like a mathematical formula. Refined – even with a sperm on the back.
4. We Are Social. Small, cute and cuddly.
5. Hourigan International. Satisfying thickness. Off-white front with raised logo in silver. Crome back with indented logo. Enough to make Patrick Bateman sweat.
6. Christopher Doyle. Interbrand’s top designer is the man behind the Mind Your Own Business card.
7. Workshop. Dog tag format goes nicely on a key ring.
8. Lifelounge. The back looks and feels like wallpaper. Script and serif fonts are neatly aligned on the front, allowing the eye to move easily around the owner’s particulars.
9. The Loop. Banksy-esque Queeny on the decks. Quirky.
10. Leo Burnett. Distinctive, dare it be said iconic agency branding in the form of a pencil. Signature adds a personal touch.
The worst 10:
1. Kellogg’s. Pointless map of the world and generic corporate mantra on the back. Large, scary bird on the front. That it is printed on 100% recycled paper is no saving grace for this horrible thing.
2. The Online Circle. Spurious planet (must mean the internet?) on the back. The front is more car salesman than digital media.
3. Multiply. More box than business card. Cumbersome.
4. Alan McBride. A business card for a photo journalist – with a photo of a bird on it that is out of focus. Hmm.
5. Ford. Just bland. Like the brand.
6. Mumbrella. We are in the process of upgrading our business cards. This ugly thing was one from the early days.
7. MediaScope. Looks like something a religious group might hand out.
8. Evergreen. The lettering is large so people with poor eye sight can read it. Practical, politically correct, but not pretty.
9. McGlashan Media. Yes, it’s for a website for fishermen. But honestly – a business card that bites? Red on green (should never be seen) on the back. The screaming Strikezone logo belongs in a casino.
10. AVisum. Makes digital signage, LCD displays, that sort of thing. The all-seeing Avisum eye was not looking when this card was designed.
Seen better or worse? Email us, and we’ll add them to the list.
Hat-tip: American Psycho
Robin Hicks
Had a few meetings with the guys from Lego. Their business cards are awesome!
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2.....usiness-c/
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Number one for the worst business card!?! I’ve got a whole box of these things i’m going to have to burn now! I’ll write my name and number on a post-it note until we get a better design sorted.
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like that you had the balls to include your own cards Mumbrella!
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Paul @ Multiply will be gutted by getting 3rd in the worst cards.
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They all LOOK good. The challenge with most of them is that when the moment has gone and the client doesn’t remember who you are, most of these cards actually don’t do a sales job for you. If Mumbrella didn’t explain the context of the suppliers above do the cards actually work?
Some of the strap lines are all about personality and just fluff. They don’t deliver to the client’s needs.
The questions to ask – if your card was found by a stranger would it tell them what you do that is unique to your nearest competitor? Would it be compelling enough to call you when they need that service? I don’t just mean because it looks cool – but what’s in it for them?
This doesn’t have to be a whole advertising campaign but some clarity can be achieved in just 7-10 words.
My feeling is that if you can’t write it on your business card clearly like this, then you don’t have a strong enough strategic position in the market and your sales will be dwindling.
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love Chris Doyle’s mind your own business cards. the guy’s a genius. where can I get some!?
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I’m wondering what everyone’s opinions are on headshots on business cards such as number four above? I had someone ‘in the know’ recommend I do that but I personally don’t like it, especially for a PR or marketing company. Your thoughts?
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We’ve taken on board your comments and we would like you to reconsider your Top 10 list with our NEW Multiply business cards!
http://www.mcn.com.au/Private/.....Source=353
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Look forward to seeing the new one Tim, it’ll need to be a goodie.
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i like esther’s. it’s got an idea. ..and she just bought me lunch.
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Better or worse.. you be the judge…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YBxeDN4tbk
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We should also subtract points from Kellogg’s crap cards for the “passion” cliché.
I can’t believe I’m the only person who thinks anyone who gets passionate about breakfast cereal needs to see a shrink.
http://billbennett.co.nz/passi.....give-rest/
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Full credit to Marita Leuver at Leuver Design. I asked for a wanky app that would “bump” my biz details and she told me that no one would remember that. “Make a card that people will take home and punch the important bits into their phone”. She said. Or something like that. Maybe in a few years we will all be bumping and apping our smartphones. But I loved my card from the moment Marita presented it to me and I knew she was correct. And the reaction it gets when people receive it just confirms it.
BTW for print aficionados, it’s not printed ink, it’s foil. And the colour is Sydney Swans Red (and silver). Details count.
Thanks Mumbrella!!
http://www.leuverdesign.com.au
Kudos to Marita Leuver.
@Geoff – I think ‘too cool for school’. Yes, it’s creative but 6 months after the fact it doesn’t sell.
I like the bump card idea too – that actually works if you can put a category or some kind of tag/category/sort in there. iPhone needs to step up in that department though.
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I was handed a business card once with a roach sized piece missing from across the top, wasn’t a good look.
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What a wonderful article…cards truly are an artform like Haiku- easy to make, very hard to make well. Mad props to Leuver Design for the win!
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I like the McGlashan Media one with the shark – i’d always remember i had their card
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Our cards are great, got me here didn’t it? Thanks Robin!
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I’ve recently gone very simple and letterpress. Every moment is now an Amercian Pyscho moment when I give it out.
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nice work esther. you must save them for special people as you never gave me one 😉
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Wow, there are a lot of Huey Lewis & The News fans here.
Mine are off-white vellum with a crocodile skin backing and raised black-brown print.
No watermark. Helvetica.
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Further inspiration from my bookmarks:
http://www.fubiz.net/2008/06/0.....ess-cards/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d.....104389710/
http://nfgraphics.com/50-nice-.....ess-cards/
http://www.fabiomilito.com/ind.....card-comb/
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Though I’ll give you that running your own business does at times feel like a vocation, it’s been a while since I’ve been inside a church, mosque or synagogue 🙂
I will take the knock, pick myself up yet again & continue to provide a great service to MediaScope’s market.
BTW – MediaScope’s directory now links to 3,000 niche, alternative and emerging advertising options & also provides a growing range of bespoke services for advertising buyers & sellers – including planning & buying, ad sales consultancy, a new advertising centre with a range of resources, profiles, guides & information – & a weekly newsletter.
Time for a new card anyway…….
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Irrespective of design it helps not to hand over cards with a 1 x 2-3cm strip torn off/missing…… honestly was only using to roll up and wedge door/window open/shut…….
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Whoops Malcolm, did not see your post, exactly what I did, with recipient saying “there’s a bit of your card missing” 🙂
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Too funny! I’ve seen one of the cards above circulated around my office as “the worst card ever” with comments very similar to the above 😀
I miss my old lenticular cards… They were hot. Expensive, but hot.
Sadly, We re-branded when an unnamed, recently out-of-debt holding company sold us.
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I vote the workshop card a fail. I remember being given one a year or two ago.
Cards should fit into a wallet, not onto a key ring.
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