Business card collection 2.0: Cuts & edges

The Storytellings card was the first example of lasercutting I’d ever seen (in 2004), from an independent designer I learned about through her identity work for a Vancouver restaurant. I’d been trying to track down some type options and came across her work, so I asked her for samples of these great cards. It was so nice to meet my friend Marian Bantjes for the first time! This simple design is elegantly typeset, with thoughtful use of color to hide the angled burn marks that are a common occurrence with lasercutting. It’s nice to see that her love of this technology is alive and well, as demonstrated in her stunning 2010 Valentine’s Day cards, lasercut from old Christmas cards (see opening photo).

Lasercut cards by Vancouver designer Stu Ross emulate the graphic layering of his website design while visually stopping you in your tracks … depending upon which side of the card you see first. I like how each card is presumably unique on one side (I only have two of them), and yet the style and messaging won’t date as quickly as some cards do. One of his cards still has the number 7 of his phone number intact. I dare not try to pop it out, as I like it as it is.

As I said in my last post, Rethink is known for creative card designs, and this one is no exception. Several months in the making (with lots of testing and tweaking), this totally laserprinted card is one in a series of three for Blim Art Facility, a cool DIY-style creative shop in my local Chinatown where you can make your own art and design projects or learn how with one of their staff members. During the creation of this card, Blim was housed in a smaller, gentrified location where their focus was (as it remains) screen printing. Very limited quantities were produced of this award-winning design; I had to beg Blim owner Yuriko Iga for the one card I have shown here. It is evident what a difference the “burn” side (in this case, the back side) makes to the color of the paper surface.

During my time at Rethink, I designed the logo and identity for Offsetters, a Canadian-based nonprofit organization which provides solutions for those seeking to reduce their climate impact. The lasercut holes illustrate the physical removal of greenhouse gas emissions through credible carbon offsetting. The center of the business card can also be removed to pass a message on to others. As with many of the laserprinted cards shown in this article, the Offsetters card was produced by Arkwel Industries in Vancouver.

In a previous life, I hired illustrators for various packaging design and advertising projects. Chip Wass was one I desperately wanted to work with but alas, it never came to be. I did however manage to get some pretty swanky Wassco posters and promotional pieces from his (then) studio in New York. Likewise, I received the above insanely cool business card (which I suspect was diecut) that is as bright in color as in disposition. Clever, too, how the overall card dimensions are still within the North American standard of 3.5 x 2 in.

I had lunch near this local bakery when it first opened and was impressed to see something a little different from a startup business. The splash of color and diecut logotype makes this card stand out from the usual fare. Bold-weight typography was used throughout, matching well with the bakery’s big rustic loaves of bread. While the paper stock isn’t as thick or stiff as most designers would like, the chunky letterspaced typography survived the diecut well and looks sharp, all things considered.

Paul Wu, my father-in-law, is an old-school accountant. He uses an adding machine for calculations; he started with an abacus. His work is all about accuracy and demonstrating proof in the details. I wanted his brand identity to have the same approach. As I didn’t know about lasercutting at the time, nor did I think diecutting was cost-efficient or precise enough for such a fine jagged edge, I searched elsewhere. I ended up at Scrapbook Warehouse where their mini-pinking shears proved exactly what I wanted for a fraction of the cost of diecutting. I bought a couple pairs, hunkered down with box of 5000 cards in front of the TV and proceeded to watch the Academy Awards while cutting each card by hand. By the way, I’d also like to thank Band-Aid for unfailingly supporting this project.

During my final year of design school, this card caught my eye at my first design conference. I was happily soaking up all kinds of new ideas and fresh work, and here was a card with a funny shape. Printed with metallic blue ink. And it folds out. Into an exclamation mark. It’s hardly groundbreaking compared to all the incredible design produced since then, but almost 20 years ago it was great to see what was creatively possible by taking the time to craft the final output.

If cutting isn’t an option, one could consider using handmade paper made to final size without the need for trimming. It’s something I saw often during my travels in Japan. Case in point are these meishi (Japanese business cards); one is from an American friend who is a university instructor in Kyoto, and the other is a place called Nakatomi Washinosato where artisanal Japanese papers (washi) are made by hand in the city of Yamanashi. Both are roughly sized to the North American standard (which is commonly used throughout Japan) and have a red seal stamp (known as an inkan or hanko) to show authenticity or personal identification.

Machine-made papers are an attractive option for designers who want to retain the ragged untrimmed edge in their printed piece. This example from Chicago type foundry T-26 makes great use of the “deckle” edge in combination with two-color letterpressed type. (Have no fear, I’ll be covering my collection of letterpress cards in an upcoming article.)

For the kind of person who needs to carry a wad of cards with them at all times, here is one solution. Taking a nod from the humble matchbook, stapling a bunch together with a perforated cut enables one to tear out cards as needed. Factor Design’s Jeff Zwerner (now SVP of Brand Design at Palm) sent the above detachable card stapled to his letterhead, while George Fulton Photo Imagery shared a small matchbook set, below, with the tabs still intact.

Thanks once again for the opportunity to share my love of printed business card design. Next in the queue are cards that are super-thick, letterpressed or have special additions. If anyone would like to send me their creative cards for possible inclusion (sorry, they won’t be returned, and yes, they must be real printed samples), please contact me.

Nancy Wu is an award-winning designer, art director and illustrator with experience in the development of logomark and brand identity systems, packaging design, custom typography and print communications. She has over 18 years of design experience with established firms, and her talents have been recognized by Communication Arts, Applied Arts, Lotus Awards, How and Identity.

Top image: 2010 Valentine designed by Marian Bantjes. Laser die-cut from a Christmas card.