Business cards seem to be outdated. With vCards, Twitter and sites like LinkedIn who needs them. And for me, I may never see a client or potential client face to face anyways. It’s old fashion and maybe even obsolete. Somehow though I always find myself in a situation where I feel unprofessional when I don’t have one to hand out. So when I decided to make my business cards I wanted something that would be lasting. A card that on laundry day someone wouldn’t just trash while emptying their pockets. Something novel they would keep and share. And maybe even something functional.

After looking through all the various substrates and printing technologies (from embossing and foils to clear acrylics and plastic cards) I came across MyMetalBusinessCard.com. They’re a company in Fullerton, California that specializes in just that, metal cards. After some research I was sold. Now all I had to do was design my card. This took a lot longer than you would think… indecisive client.

Below is the final artwork. I wanted a design that made good use of their process (chemical etching) and the positive/negative aspect. This company actually use “jets of acid” to etch and cut through the stainless steel. Honestly, that’s the part that sold me. Nerd! Anyways, as I mentioned above, I wanted it to be functional too. I created a graphic element which doubles as a paper clip. I also left an area for a hole punch in the corner. Here I can put a ball chain through to use my metal card as a personal tag. This was my favorite function. It looks like dog tags, which is always cool and manly.

Here are other mock ups that never made it. The image on the far right was a comp of my plastic business card. It was designed to look like a credit card.