David Airey

Two memorable business cards

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David Airey
in

Poole & Hunter business card

Created for a bespoke tailor by graphic designer Greg Healy. Creative, appropriate, and if you had the time to finish a few with a craft knife, relatively inexpensive.

Something a bit more magical, Ritornell’s cards are inspired by the project’s live show.

Using laser assisted milling, nine micro compositions consisting of circles, triangles and Ritornell’s contact info were applied to a musicbox paper stripe. Before handing the “cards” to anyone interested, each individual subdivision is played back through a specially designed musical box — everyone who gets the card hears some tailor made music.

Designed by Katharina Hölzl for musical duo Ritornell.

Ritornell business card

Comments

14 responses to “Two memorable business cards”

  1. Ian Avatar
    Ian

    First one is pretty awesome.

    I think the second one is a bit gimmicky. What if you dont have a music box handy, does this mean you cant get the contact details? Comes at a great time though as I am literally about to look at the design of some music business cards with my bro!

    Hope all is well!

    Reply
  2. Josten Dooley Avatar
    Josten Dooley

    The Musical box idea for a business card was amazing. That is definitely something I have never seen before. I wonder how long it takes to complete everything.

    Reply
  3. David Airey Avatar
    David Airey

    Nothing wrong with a bit of a gimmick if it helps people remember. The music box video has more than 40K views already, so you don’t need to measure success through those who get it in person. Poul Nielsen’s rubber card is a decent example of that.

    Reply
  4. David Airey Avatar
    David Airey

    Give me a shout, Ian, if you see any good ones. Hope all’s well with you, too.

    Reply
  5. Acrobat Avatar
    Acrobat

    I’m old fashioned so I prefer the simple ideas best. To me the tailor business card is spot on – simple in message and easy to produce. The musical card is clever but a bit too complex in my humble opinion.

    Reply
  6. Matthew Storrie Avatar
    Matthew Storrie

    Being a paper craft fan, I love the Poole and Hunter card. Such a simple modification to the card makes a huge difference. An excellent example of a simple idea executed well.

    I actually like the Ritornell card an awful lot as well. If I received one it would definitely be shown off quite a bit and, in this case, I think the complexity of it just means more time spent discussing it which is no bad thing.

    Reply
  7. Christina Cruz Avatar
    Christina Cruz

    These are both really cool. I really like the music box and placing a video online was genius. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  8. Jenni Jane Avatar
    Jenni Jane

    We’re kind of in love with both the non-functional but totally effective music box, but the simplicity of the tailor’s card is so spot on. Maybe it’s a question of finding a happy medium. We’re a new-on-the-scene e-mag featuring thought-provoking just under the cool radar content and looking for a way to help keep us in people’s minds, this post was super helpful for us.

    Reply
  9. Adam Avatar
    Adam

    Don’t you just hate it when you see something so simple, so beautifully done, why didn’t I think of that ages ago? The Poole & Hunter business cards are excellent in my opinion, great work.

    Reply
  10. Alan Dunne Avatar
    Alan Dunne

    ‘Gimmicky’ is too easy a knock. I think this is too good for that! I have always loved the quirks of interactive design. In my opinion, the point of a business card is to promote. Just think of the multitude of hits a card gets on the likes of Vimeo. Surely thats worth a lot more than relying on the limited reach of standard printed media. (No disrespect to the other card — its amazing!) It is also worth noting the emotional response a piece like this has. Rare for a business card!

    Reply
  11. Sisin Avatar
    Sisin

    I can see the point in getting extra exposure with a video, but then the tailor’s card does the same with a single image. Every once in a while somebody’s still able to make a point, simply and beautifully, in such a beaten-to-death area of graphic design such as business cards… that gives a spark for me.

    Reply
  12. Fred Richards Avatar
    Fred Richards

    Wow! Two great designs. What I like about the first one, is what I don’t like about the second, and vice-versa. That’s why you have to understand your brand before you design a card. They wouldn’t work at all if you switched the brands. The inspiration came from whose card it is. The musicbox is a gimmick, if it wasn’t for Ritornell. In this case it is not only appropriate, but perfect!

    Reply
  13. Nicci Tina (aka Joanna) Avatar
    Nicci Tina (aka Joanna)

    I agree: both brilliant designs. Both capture the message of the card itself and do so expressively, and in a way that is so tactile I want to touch them, now!

    Reply
  14. Paul Johns Avatar
    Paul Johns

    The first one is cute.

    I love the second one very much as a small art piece, but I think it fails as a business card, because the person who wants to grab the business card at the end of a meeting has to wait for you to play the song first, and they can’t play it again once they heard it, unless they take it back to the person that gave it to them, but they can also just watch this video.

    A lot of time and effort goes into something that is supposed to be a quick reference to your contact details. Also, how well does it fold into a wallet? I’m of the mindset that a designed piece should enhance or improve upon the piece’s function, not make it more complicated, unwieldy or difficult to use.

    After I’ve been designing for as long as these two, I’m sure I’ll see things differently, but for now, viva ignorance!

    Reply

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