I’m just not that sophisticated to get away with that trick but very cool for the cool.

All these cards look very stylish indeed!

Wow those are some great business cards

One thing where kind I get my business cards printed like dreamten and logik – thats just sexy lol

I love the one with the messages on the back, very very cool idea!

Great post! Keep it up web god…

I am also wondering where to get business cards printed.

I’m with Andrew, I’d really like to know about good printers for specialty cards like these. Semi-transparent, plastic, metal, special cuts, etc. I always see these cool ideas or get inspired from something else but I have no clue where to go for getting something like that done.

I like ours. I have yet to print them, but they will be rounded:

http://www.clevertools.com/temp/clevertools_BCfrontsmall.gif
http://www.clevertools.com/temp/clevertools_BCbacksmall.gif

What do you guys think?

Nice! Its an honor to see my business card up there (Artifice Studios) Thanks!

Ahahahaaha.
I love the business card trick. I usually just aim for people’s perms but this is even better.

This post reminded me of the business card section in ‘DIY Design’ by Ellen Lupton. All it takes is a smidgen of creativity to leave a lasting impression. I’m loving the fortune cookie, probably because I’m a shameless glutton.

These are some awesome designs and gave me some great ideas to work on for making my business cards look a lot sharper.

Yeah I’m in the same boat on wondering where to get some of these cards

whow, great looking cards!

Ive never understood that business card trick video. Is it just me or does it seem rubbish/pointless? lol

Anyway, great business card designs though! I could have done with looking at these a few days earlier.

http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs

Same here with the printing of these specialty cards. I tend to just use Overnight Prints, but I’d love to know some reasonably priced printers for these types of cards…

Some very nice stuff there. I’m in the process of a biz card redesign myself, so thanks for the inspiration.

Cool designs! However, while the fun cutouts and irregular shapes are fun and cool (mostly to us designers) to the average business person they will just get thrown out because they don’t fit with the rest of the cards they collect.
When I get a card and it doesn’t fit in the card folder I have or the stack of cards I use regularly, I look at it, appreciate the design for a few seconds then throw it out so it won’t clutter up my desk. Then it is almost always forgotten about (Crass? yea probably… But that’s reality). So I would caution against over/undersized cards and irregular shapes. Sometimes it’s good to conform!

Those are pretty good.

Check out the prototype we did with ours.

http://fire-pixel.com/temp/fpm_card.jpg

Old School style!!!

We didn’t go with it, b/c a lot of our clients didn’t get it.

If you need great marketing, web design or hosting check out http://fire-pixel.com

How can you make a post about cool business cards and not mention Kevin Mitnick – http://www.kevinmitnick.com

I know his not a designer, but he has the coolest card

Thanks for putting my card up there, much appreciated. I’m working with an illustrator to add some additional centerpiece images to my website, which I’ll also add to the back of my card. I’m exited.

Here’s a whoppingly huge inspirational resource for more cards: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailypoetics/

My favorite card, which I can’t find an image of, was for Max Pie’s Furniture Store. The card had one rounded corner and a note next to it: “25 percent safer than other business cards”. Clever.

Those are really great designs, could anyone please suggest a website where I could get trasparent business cards?

Thanks

I am astonished by the mitnick biz card; that is amazing!!! I too am interested in the dream ten business and where to get something like that printed. Any printers out there would be wise to advertise w/ FSW

Yeah you know what… using magic to present your business card is a sure fire way for people to think you’re an unprofessional, obnoxious, asshole…

Unless you’re a magician, in which case; then they will already know you are.

sweet. i’m addicted to everything that psdtuts, freelanceswitch, & faveUp are doing. totally frickin sweet. much props.

Great posts…. I posted some of the best business cards I have found a few days ago at inspiredology.com. This is a great showcase of some great cards, congratulations to FaveUp on 1000 items of inspiration.

Those are all really great business cards: except for the fortune cookie one. It’s too gimmicky in my opinion. I mean, I guess people will probably remember you, but it seems a bit cheesy. Plus, how do you carry a bunch of them around without crushing them?

I really like the beer mat card…mostly because I love seeing different beer mats.

I see stick people

Where are folks getting the opaque and frosted business cards printed? I can’t seem to find any one company that does it, but haven’t looked too hard. Any direction would be appreciated. We’d love to go that route for our next batch.

Wow, really nice collection of business cards. I especially liked the AvantGrape one, very bold.

You might also consider this…

Regardless of the design, so many business cards get trashed because they say absolutely nothing about the only thing your potential client cares about: himself.

If you’re only at the “handing out the business card” stage in the client relationship, well, then your potential client probably has little reason to care about you at this point.

What about taking one of these neat designs and alter the content of the card to actually deliver some value to your potential client?

It’s an honor to have my card posted as well (Dreamten Studios) Thanks.

That’s a cool business card trick. You just better pull it off right or you’ll end up looking dumb!

So who prints the semi-translucent cards?

Re: the 6th card… shouldn’t the id be a class?

Thanks kindly for including our circular Hypno card. We are honored too!

To answer a few questions as to where to get these done, most commercial offset printers can handle these types of cards (custom Die stuff). The Circular Die alone will cost between $75 – $150 to make, and they’ll usually outsource the creation of that to a die specialist if it’s anything more detailed than a circle (but even good circles may be hard to get just right – believe it or not).

In our area (South Jersey, Philly, USA) we’ve used Burlington Press (Owner Rich Lewis is a great guy), and CRW Graphics in Pennsauken. Generally printing with a local printer you get a lot more hands-on input into the process. But you pay for that. The Printingforless.coms and the VistaPrint.coms of the world offer considerable value for what you pay, but the quality (in my opinion) never matches up to what you can do when working one-on-one with a good local printer (and you cannot specify custom paper / plastics / etc. which makes all the difference too!). I’d start looking in the old fashioned Yellow Pages as not all printers are up-to-date with having a web presence. Other designers will also be able to refer printers to you. Have fun!

Wow, Great stuff!

keep Rocking!

Aloke Pillai

It’s interesting how the web design card is not XHTML 1.0 Strict.

Loooooooowercase!

Makes you think about how many business cards just plain ol’ suck. Love some of the designs and the rounded corners. My wallet makes rounded corners of their own after a few days in there.

I have business card envy………

Wow, excellent. Guess I am going back to the drawing board.

And Jason, I like your designs. Will be really cool with the rounded corners.

Wow, people are really digging the rounded edges these days. I guess it’s one way to bring a 2.0-ey look to print design.

I don’t know about transparency and metallics, but you can get all this two-sided, full color, rounded edges stuff done here: http://www.hotcards.com/business-cards for, like, $60.00 per 1000 cards or something hella cheap.

Thanks Michael! Ive learned from previous experiences to not get them glossy so you can write on them. I under estimated the need to write on a business card before.

Brilliant designs. I just go nuts over the translucent ones. Mitnick’s card rules. I just got mine in yesterday. Not smokin’ hot, but serious, real business cards. Thick card stock. Clean and crisp, unpretentiously-sized logo. It gave me a little thrill to open them and hold them… and then to start giving them away to people.

It is so important to have a good business card. My first design was a disaster and before I could hand out too many, I changed my email address and fax number. Now, I’ve decided to keep it simple. I stopped writing “Freelance Writer” on it because what if I want to do some editing or something else? So I found a picture of a typewriter and just have my name, website, and email.

Collis:

Thanks for this of wonderfully creative business cards. I would imagine these types of colorful and extraordinary examples are for people in the creative world and not the staid work-a-day white collar one. Fascinating that there are so many people who step outside the borders and black-and-white print model to express a bit more about themselves. I linked to your post in my blog entry today at the Innovators-Network in hopes that some of my readers will visit FreelanceSwitch to read your piece in its entirety. Keep up the good work!

Anthony Kuhn

There some great designs here! And a lot of questions about printing. Any good local printer can do these things. Over the years I’ve found two in my market (Colorado) that do great work and love it when I send them something unique.

Also, printing on translucent paper isn’t that difficult. The trick is to design the art properly. The printing is different based on the company making the paper. The toughest thing is drying time and workability. My favorite paper is Gilbert Clearfold. A good printer can educate you tons about the possibilities and limitations. Bottom line, for high-end printing like this you really want someone to work with locally.

I hope Clayton Bellmor doesn’t use an xhtml doctype on his business card. It wouldn’t validate. Seriously though…these cards are great.

and then there are these business cards … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y

IT’s Cool Dude you have got a good collection , For Some More Business Card Design Collection

http://yugushare.blogspot.com/2008/01/27-creative-business-cards-you-shouldve.html

Nice cards, although some of them aren’t practical, just a thought with the old fashioned “rollacard holders” (you know what I mean) Being only 15, I can’t really comment on things of yesteryear, but I’m sure there will be a large percentage of businessmen/contacts that use these and are so stuck in their ways they’ll just drop the card if it doesn’t fit in there.. Thoughts?

And how much did these business cards cost? They must be worth a lot! Might as well pretend to be a client and collect these awesome business cards, have it in a picture frame and then have it locked in a vault. They really look expensive. Priceless? Wow!

But the fortune cookie… now that’s just awesome!

To Ethan:

Next time I’ll have to include a validated tag on the card. That would be hilarious.

“Oh my God… It even has a watermark.”

Wow, some great cards, indeed. Inspired me!
More?

Very Nice!

Gave me some inspiration on designs for my business cards. Great Article.

Great cards, but where does someone go to get such designs printed? Doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that can be taken care of at Vista Print or the like. Any suggestions?

nice business cards, ive seen a transparent business card before in deviantart , it was so cool !

Anne – DAMN, thank you!! HotCards’ prices are excellent and quality looks excellent; I’ve requested samples. I’ll be buying postcards in bulk for art openings in the coming year, so this is very timely.

I’m almost certain that the 8th/9th samples are Moo.com products – they’re half the height of a standard business card, very versatile and cute. I’ve bought from them and been absolutely delighted – the only downside is that they’re in the UK and so shipping is a little pricier (and takes longer) than I might like.

Wow! great business cards collections. Thanks for sharing.

From the feed: “Here’s some of the good ones!”

Here ARE some of the good ones!

Can someone recomend a good online company for ordering bussines cards? (not vistaprint please).

Delivery to europe is a must.

I agree with Michael. Cards that are oversized are easily chucked away.
Another point that many designers forget when designing a business card is one of the main purposes of a business card: to hand write on it!
Very often you have a discussion in cafe with a client and you want to draft quote or tentative value for a project or write the number of somebody else that might be able to help your customer. There are many other pieces of information that you might need to hand out.
In many trades is very common to write quotes in their cards, builders, mechanics, electricians, etc.
Designing is cool, but don’t forget of the business side! That’s why they are called “business cards”.

Wow! Just what i was looking for. Give me some ideas for a couple of clients im currently working for! Bloody brilliant. Thanks

Great Post Great work

Eating Design

All Of Design Very Extraordinary

Modelling after this post:

http://www.secretweaponlabs.com/words/2006/10/04/wozs-business-card/

it’s probably a good idea to blur out personal info on the cards.

Apologies Scratch the previous comment.

And Thanks for putting up the pictures. It is a cool site!

cool. I wonder how much the clear ones cost to print?

Some great creativity going on! Thanks for pulling these together.

I don’t think designers should reference things that only designers would understand when they’re marketing to potential clients. None of my clients have ever known what a DIV is, why put it on a business card? Just to impress other designers?

Hehe excellent thanks for showing mine Some great cards up there and on the other links posted

I really like the plastic ones, but the cheapest I’ve found them is $1 a pop. I think those clear plastic ones are the same price.

They are all great designs, and concept. My favorite is the last one.

Great collection! Thanks this cool ideas!

Hi, I was just reading all the post and my company prints all these types of business cards. Feel free to check us out and email us if you would like some additional information.

I love MOO specifically because they produce unique types of business cards and a bunch of other unique printed products. I think they can get a bit on the expensive side, though.. but I guess it’s OK because they do seem to have better quality business cards.

On another note, if you’re just looking for regular, low-cost, professional business cards.. I’d highly recommend a printing company in Los Angeles called 4FocusFX Printing .. http://www.4focusfx.com … They have the best prices and IMO they have above average turnaround times. Beware of all the other places the promise too much and hardly deliver.

rick

Recommended website:
http://www.4focusfx.com , 4FocusFX Printing

Very cool ideas!
I also recommend the unique designs at http://www.ooprint.com
I particularly like the blogger business cards (featuring a customizable tag cloud for all you techies) and the 2008 campaign cards . . . they also have a special offer so you can order 100 cards free (do you need a better reason to try their services?)
http://www.ooprint.com/us/dynamic/public/content/campaign-free-business-cards.php
&
http://www.ooprint.com/us/dynamic/public/chooser.shtml?cat_label=EN_INTERNET-BLOGS-BUSINESS-CARDS_0

Great business cards! The last one is also my favorite.

Really great ideas here, especially the

One of the greatest collection of business cards I have seen. It definitely shows off how creative some designers can be even when given a very tiny surface to work with.

A collection of transparent, frosted, metallic businesscards!
Very nice product! And high quality. Printed offset-UV.

http://flickr.com/photos/biglietti_da_visita/

Wow, I wish I could have cards like those. I live in India, most printer guys are using old systems. The once having the best things, charge a hell lot.

And ye, am surely heading write back on drawing board to get new designs for my cards.

Impressive collection. I added it to my resource page. I found this link yesterday.
It has some
http://blog.uprinting.com/smart-design/20-sample-business-card-designs/#comment-531

there are amazing examples of business cards here, very inspirational

WOW, How Beautiful,
I have selected meny card, and i will print my business card like that one.
Thanks fo sharing these card for all.

Great set here – I’ve added it to a monday morning inspiration blog post over at http://www.pallian.com

Gorgeous! With so many beautiful designs, it’s hard to choose only one as my favorite. Also, excellent photos/images. Thanks for sharing!

Nice collection!

I wont to show this little collection of transparent business cards:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/biglietti_da_visita/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkograf/

I really like the last business card, with the transparent look. I like the “hypo” one as well, but I think it would get lost pretty easily since the circle wouldn’t fit neatly into a wallet or Rolodex. All were very cool though, and all gave a totally different feel for each person and business. It’s amazing how much personality business cards have.

Here is an interesting place for BUSINESS CARD PRINTING http://www.premiumcards.net

Cool Designs. thnx

Brilliant. Love some of those designs.

Great inspiration!

here is a link to our cards – everything white is matte and the green is all spot varnish.
http://www.c2mediaservices.com/portfolio.php?pid=27

very interested in some of the clear cards – even if only to give out to my top clients as something special. If anyone happens along this post with info please email me at dave@c2mediaservices.com

thanks

The design of all cards is cute and nice.

this collection is actually realy pleasant to see. could you tell me if our business card could deserve to appear is this awsome set ?
http://www.johnbrightman.com/business-card/
thank you all !

what company did these, specifically the Magrette card (all black with white lettering)

thanks! id like to order some.

Custom business cards can be expensive, but sometimes it’s worth it. Ever work a tradeshow and pass out cards to people who are collecting hundreds of business cards? Good luck in ever getting a call from them. There are other ways to promote your business, besides custom business cards..everything from custom t shirts to logo pens to custom lanyards (work well in trade shows). Here’s a website to find a lot of custom promotional and branding items at wholesale prices: http://logodesign-printing.com.

wow thats really amazing ,I will surely use one of these design

Awesome list! It seems like there really is no limit to what you can do with business cards. Only limited by a designer’s imagination.

Great post! We linked to this on our blog!

Great designs! Fortune cookies can make a unique card, especially to leave behind at sales calls.

Very nice designs.

Just wanted to let all you business card fands know we’re running a contest where you can win Free Business Cards for LIFE

Check it out!

http://www.overnightprints.com/businesscards-for-life-contest.shtml

When you look for a printer online, the first 1000 results are those overnight digital printers. Where are the real printers who specialize in printing a quality card on great stock. You know, “Boiler Room” cards.

For anyone interested we offer business cards, full color, double sided, and custom sizes at no additional cost on a variety of stocks from different textures and thicknesses from 10pt to 16pt with a variety of finishes for only $40 for 1,000! (plus shipping anywhere in US) we also have a frosted 10pt/9pt plastic card available as well..

damn these designs are good. i get so many ideas for my business card i dont even know where to start!!!!

Excellent designs and great examples of print capabilites.

The transparent one looks very cool! Any idea how much it costs?

Dan

Hi,

Anyone can give a idea about where such cards can be printed (website of the company) as well as about the approximate costs?

How about something like this? Good if you’re working with a lot of clients.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hottomali/3821397174/

They are absolutely nice looking businesscard. I also try to create a tool that simplify designing businesscard here: http://cardxc.com. this enable visitor to print at home directly. Try it

They all are very inspiring. Great work, Colin

i do business card and this is really a great compilation and i will use it as a guide to create more professional looking business card. Thank you

OMG! these are awesome business cards! Planning to make one for myself.

These are great, too: http://giveuswork.net/works/corporate/edda-jobs/

Awesome designs, I really like them! Gave the inspiration i needed!

You have really creative collection.In feature i will think about it..

Great designs here…just goes to show how many different things you can do with a format that most people believe stays the same. Great source of inspiration!

Interesting collection!

I would like to show you my collection of business cards. Transparent business cards, metallic business cards, aluminium business cards, frosted business cards…

550 pieces and more.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/biglietti_da_visita/

Great Designs, great source of inspiration, thank you.

Artistry on a small scale. Wonderful selection.

I really like those designs, but I wish I could find a blank business card template that had the exact size of a single card with rounded corners. I have photoshop but no clue on how to design a business card on it.

Haha cool hand tricks with the business card but i’m afraid i’m too much of a butterfinger to pull that off.
Great post anyway! The cards you featured are really nice. Especially the Logik one.
I have a site on cool business cards too, come check it out yeah?

Take Care!

Cool stuff here. I’ve got some ideas for our new b.cards

I love them all! I came up with my own unique business card idea at http://www.PromoBills.com. Instead of handing out a regular business card, I can hand out “Million Dollar Bills” with all my contact info. If you’re Canadian let me know and I can make them for you too and customize them however you want

Thanks for the inspiration, will be designing my card for my newest business soon so this will help greatly.

If you have a few minutes to kill and are at all inclined towards the geeky things in life you might like http://returnvoid.co.uk.

Thanks again

thank you,thank you,thank you.
those cards are really attractive.Nice examples i think for a designer like me.

Fantastic post which we will use in our new Graphic Design course. Thanks!

Another great resource is “75 Creative Business Cards”

http://ljdesignstudio.com/254-75-creative-business-cards-that-inspire

Awesome cards!

Cool card`s indeed, nice inspiration set.Transparent cards are very interesting.

Thx for the set.

Nicely Designed……………….

Thanks!

If I wanted to have my business cards made like one of the top examples how do I get in touch with the creators?

Fantastic! Liked the business card presentation trick video! Clever!

There’s another fabulous collection here:
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/05/100-really-creative-business-cards/

Wow these cards make my cards look soooo dull.
I think it’s time to re-design!

Awesome business cards.. I need to redesign mine

Yes, really good, but i am search for ” how to do”??

Here’s my new business card with a peel to show code http://spotofcolour.co.uk/business-card.jpg

Cards like these truly make a lasting impression with a client. Very nicely done.

Wow, great collection, thanks for the inspiration

I wouldn’t really call them smoking hot but they are a nice collection. I guess my favorites would be Nicholas Dekeyser and Clayton Bellmore’s. The rest seem to be rather plain.

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

Thanks for the inspiration, fantastic cards. Love the fortune cookie one!