After so long time of evolution of business cards, not much has been changed in term of the content and interaction methods. With gaining popularity of the online websites and email services, people only start using their email address and online websites on their business cards. After so many years of existence of the concept of the business cards, there was not much of innovation other than embedding the NFC chip inside the card to share the contact information easier with just a tap on their mobile devices. The first issue of NFC business cards is some of the manufacturers limited the functionality of their devices near field communication chips for payments and content sharing and it may not be widely supported on different mobile platforms. The other issue of NFC enabled business cards is the high production cost for purchasing the cards, writing the NFC data and finally printing the design.
In 2012 with gaining popularity of the QR codes, high usage of smartphone devices and huge demand of sharing contents and information, the design of some business cards get a new feature which embeds the QR code to offer more information about the business or the person. This method does not require a hardware nor feature in the operating system. Most of the smartphones with camera and small app can recognize and read the QR codes and redirect or display the information to the users. But again a simple QR code may not be as innovative for business cards as there should be other options to explore.
Last week I wrote an article about the use of social media messaging in design of websites, blogs and applications and explained how it can be used to enhance the user experience and ease the communication. Most of new social media messaging applications and services are building and creating new ways to ease the discovery and connecting the people. The same methods can be used in the designing of business cards to ease the discovery and communication.
Optimizing for the potential market When it comes to social media services and applications, there is a wide choice and variety of applications you can choose from. If you are already using your favorite social media or messaging service try to look for the codes and visual invitations you can use on your card design. In the following you can find sample of the few popular services who offer the code for discover and communication.
The one last thing is to optimize your card design to attract the user of the social media you are targeting and looking to get followers or feedback from and make sure your already have contents and your code is working.
Designing the business card If you are not familiar with designing and the requirements of business card or any other printed material, do not try it for your professional career. There is a huge difference between your self drafted design and a work of a professional designer. Get help or hire a professional designer and get it done the right way. Some of the codes can be designed in different colors and some like Facebook Messenger code would only works with a bright or preferebly white background. So before you place your printing order, make sure the code is readable by the application and easily can be scanned. If you have decided to use some creativity and embed the code in your design, always make sure that the code is readable by the application.
