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Most business cards are dull, boring, and don’t say much about the person. These business cards tend to be forgotten, which is why then are ineffective. Here are 51 business cards that say a lot about the person:
What shows that you love giving more than a ribbon.
Red liquid inside a card is a good way to make it seem bloody.
Who wants to play a game of cat and mouse?
Some people like to save movie stubs and tickets…hopefully they’ll also save this card.
Making a business card doesn’t have to be expensive, you can use house hold items.
Good way to show what you do.
Entertaining, yet informative.
This card may look cool, but it is also sharp.
Teeth marks or a business card weaved with dental floss is a good way to show what you do.
Nice use of symbolism.
The food couldn’t have been that good if you are already starting eating the card.
Good use of shape to make the card stand out.
Good play on the sense of touch.
Not only is this card engraved with the number 5, it also looks like a floor.
Incase you don’t know what to do with all your business cards, just look at the picture.
You better hope the person remembers your contact information because once they eat it there is no going back.
If you attend conferences on a regular basis or are in the dating space, this could be a nice design for you.
Once again, nice use of symbolism.
Not only is this a cool design, but you can probably make this type of business card yourself.
You may create a cool message when you connect all of the business cards, but who is going to collect all 8.
You can definitely expect this business card to get passed around.
I wonder if it can actually be used to pick a lock.
If your store location is hard to find, you could consider creating a similar card.
This card is simplistic and stylish at the same time. It’s a good representation of the jeweler.
Not only will people remember that you mow lawns, but hopefully those seeds will make people’s lawn grow faster so they call you more often.
If you want to put your face on a business card, this is a good way to do so.
Why tell people you sell office furniture, when you can show them.
This may seem like a good concept, but people will tend to forget your contact information after they eat the peanut.
Great way to get potential customers engaged in what you do.
If you need a personal trainer the rubber is probably too strong for you to pull.
Cool concept, but not sure how useful it is.
Great way to show what you do.
Great business card for anyone in sales.
Simplistic, yet effective.
If you need marriage counseling, hopefully duct tape holds your marriage together.
This would have worked well during the live strong bracelet period.
Who doesn’t need a ruler?
Only if it was scratch and sniff.
I wonder if the business card is actually eatable?
Good design for a stamp company.
I don’t know what this card is all about, but it would work well with a company that is gender oriented.
What better way to tell time than a sundial.
Not only is the card inside a ziploc bag, but you can actually put water inside it.
Nice play on symbolism.
Hopefully Fedex doesn’t sue Ted.
This is a great way to get people to come into your church.
Not only is this card cool, but it is also fun to play with.
Only if it was an air freshener that you could hang in your car.
Looks cool, but it is hard to read. It wouldn’t work if you are looking to network with old people.
Once the balloon pops, your contact information will be gone.
At least you are upfront with your motives.
Always a big fan of the creative business cards, sweet post. What I think would be valuable though is if you listed a few companies that will actually make these. When I was trying to get biz cards made I contacted at least 10 different print shops and no one would do anything like these.
PS - The ACS biz cards are legit!
Thanks! I also can’t find anyone that makes great business cards anymore. Sadly I can’t find the number for the company that did the ACS business cards.
Actually if you go to most marketing firms (not print shops) they can design business cards like you see above.
One that I’ve dealt with in the past, that have created all sort of unique marketing promotions, business cards, etc is http://www.a-b-c.com/
Thanks for the tip!
Awesome post. I always like to see what creative ideas other people have outside the box
Thanks! Hopefully it will help you create a good business card, if you already don’t have one.
[...] 51 Creative Business Cards That Make You Look Twice These are really entertaining designs for business cards. Super creative. (tags: creativity business) [...]
I like those dog tags, They would be awesome to have for my blog haha
You should create it. There must be a business card manufacture out there that would do it for you.
I think I’ll look into it, see if there’s a company around me that would create them. I will definitely send you one when I do!
Let me know if you do and I’ll ping you my mailing address.
These business card lists are always inspiring.
Thanks! It also helps us learn what are good business cards and what are bad ones. It seems that we tend to forget that a lot.
Wow, there’s some pretty cool ones there. Now if anyone could tell me where you get cards like these made!
Most of these are custom cards. Before you find someone to produce your business cards, you first have to find a designer who can come up with a concept. Then you have to find a manufacture, pick the paper, and have them print a test run.
I’m sure they cost quite a bit, too. But if they’re really good, it may be worth it for the marketing.
Yea, good cards usually end up costing close to a dollar a piece. Sometimes they can even cost more.
some of these look like they would probably cost even a couple bucks, like the one with red liquid
Even the simple ones can cost a lot. My ACS business cards cost a dollar a piece. There is nothing special about it, other than it is on recycled paper.
Many of the diecut or embossed cards can be created pretty easily.
The first thing to do is define the original card concept. Next, create a physical mock up of what it should look like. Find a local print shop that works closely with a diecutter / embosser if they don’t do it in house and see if they can recreate your mock up.
Or, the MacGyver way:
An advanced option is to lay your artwork 6 to 8 cards up and send it out to a gang printer that prints large volume jobs. Once printed, take the final work to your local diecutter and have them do there part of the job. Finally, have the full size sheets cut down into individual cards. Voilah!
Expect to pay for die or embossing set up fees and definitely make sure everyone involved is in agreement that your request can done prior to initiating.
Thanks for the input. It seems that you would be a good hire to design some cards.
I like the TedEx one. That’s awesome.
Problem with the TedEx card is that it is a play on FedEx. I rather try and create my own brand instead of being tied to “FedEx”.
Yeah, if FedEx wasn’t aware of TedEx before this post, good chance they are now…
Hopefully I don’t get him in trouble.
Those were fun. Thanks for the break. It gave me some good ideas.
Let me know if you need anymore inspiration. I found hundreds of good ones…
Cool list. Liked almost all of them. I will come out with my wn design. This will serve as inspiration.
Make sure you don’t use the wrong business card designs for inspiration. In most cases things like metal cards won’t work well.
Curious if you recognized the name on the lockpick card - it’s Kevin Mitnick, the hacker who was jailed for several years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Mitnick
Cool card there.
I didn’t know that. Thanks for sharing the info!
Really cool business cards. Do you know about one which is good for itM
If you tell me a little bit about yourself, what you do, and your goals, I can probably help.
You can also order his business card for 5 dollars. http://www.kevinmitnick.com/index.php
[...] and boring, but here are some pictures of some amazing business cards that you won’t forget.read more | digg [...]
Neat stuff, Neil! I’m designing my own business cards as I write this, and while they will stand out from typical white cards, it’s nothing compared to this lot of ingenuity.
As Leonardo da Vinci once said, “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.
I use cardscan quite a bit and I hate when these ultra fancy types of cards do not go through the scanner. The clothesline clip would be annoying to carry around.
Yea, you probably couldn’t carry around too many of those clips. They look cool, but they aren’t practical.
I like a lot of those but if you have even checked into how much they cost it really isn’t worth it.
I agree. Unless your business has high margins, you probably shouldn’t spend too much money of fancy cards.
I really don’t understand what most people do with business cards they collect. I goto many business events and hand out my cards and a very small percentage of people make follow up contact, why is that?
Handing out business cards is a good idea, because you never know where its going to land, but more importantly collecting the other persons business card or contact information is more important in my opinion.
The day after I collect a business card, I ALWAYS send a follow up email to all the people I have gathered business cards from. Typically in the follow up email, I review the event we met at and leave the email open to see how we can help each other in the future.
People like follow ups, but very few professionals understand the importance of touching base afterwards.
I think a very small percentage follow up is because they just wanted your card to find out about your company or they received too many business cards and can’t figure out which ones to follow up with.
For the metal ones it was around $1.75 each which if you are like me and give away 20-30 at a convention minimum then it makes it hard to think you could have maybe 300-500 extra since I feel the regular paper cards do the same.
If you look around you can get metal ones at a dollar a piece. Problem with metal cards is that they are a pain to take through airport security.
Never thought how innovative a business card can be, some great ideas here.
Hopefully they inspire you to create great cards.
Great collection of cards!!! I only wish I was half that creative!! Thanks for sharing!
You can be, just put a little thought into it. If you can’t come up with anything, email me and I will help you.
Great collection. I’ll bookmark this website, stumble and visit this often to get great idea.
Thanks for the stumble!
I wish I was creative enough to come up with something like that. Back when I was a singer, I had business cards that had colorful rainbow notes on them. This was back in the 90s and I thought that was pretty cool, but these are just downright awesome!
It seems that cards are becoming more complicated. Back in the 90s business cards were more simple, which I feel is better. For example, you can’t even write on metal cards.
I agree. These are all very nice to look at and do catch the attention of people, but sometimes it seems like simpler is just the way to go!
It is as long as you have a few differentiating factors. You don’t want to be too simplistic were you blend in with other cards.
That was awesome. I love creativity- I think I’ll come up with a hybrid of these designs for my business cards.
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Just don’t get too crazy. Keep it simple and relate it to your business. And most importantly add that personal touch that makes your card stand out from others.
I think I’m going to need some business cards for my blog now that I have personalized my domain name. Still working on those dog tags Neil. haha
You should make a few if you want, but they don’t serve the purpose of what a business card should.
yeah, I’m actually in the process of designing real business cards right now, but Just as a souvenir Dog Tags.
Excellent post my man! It just shows how creative you can get when you think outside the box.
Thanks Bobby! And thanks for the link love from TSB.
Nice original set of cards, but most of them are barely usable (who would put a clothes pin in their pocket), I find the simplest ones are the easiest ones to remember, especialy the marriage counseling one.
Not just that, but if you were the one handing out a cloths pin, how many could you carry in your pocket?
The card that is on the peanuts, I can’t imagine being an actual business card. I could see that being in bulk at an event, or restaurant or something where they are tons of them available. But just the sheer nature of carrying them in your pocket for any length of time would rub the ink off - before you ever gave them to anyone.
At least you’d never starve to death while waiting for clients on that all day sales call.
LOL! In that case you may remember the company, but I still hate the concept. You can’t fit much information on a peanut.
[...] ideas if your are looking for inspiring business cards can be found here (some great ideas, the I like the clip and the nuts) - via Neil [...]
Neil, you have combined real world entity in to creative designs, that’s shows expertise. wonderful job dude.
Design is everywhere, it isn’t just in business cards. No matter what you are doing in life, look around because the basic design elements around you will affect your feelings and actions.
For example take fast food joints, they like using the colors red and yellow because it makes people feel hungry.
Hum, so people involvement and attraction would be the major factor in designing business card, just from the business card they follow your business. Thanks for explanation.
Your post prove that business start from your business card.
I am not sure if they start from a business card, but your card should carry over the same message that your business has. And the message should carry over in more than just a written format.
ok so since I work with websites… what are some creative thoughts? One that looks like a browser window with Google page showing?????
What do you do exactly?
I build websites that include SEO considerations from the start and optimize them and help my clients learn to help themselves with their SEO and internet presence. I am just getting started myself with the social networking so I’m training my current clients as I learn.
I am not sure on a concept, but you maybe able to do something with a search box. Similar to your browser idea, but something a bit more simple. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Make sure the card is made out of paper that can be written on.
2. Create a visual message… maybe you can do this through a search box image.
3. State what you do.
4. Include your contact information in readable font size and typography.
Yes, You are true but that is what your business card shows… so before starting to offering something to your clients, Convey message of your business through your business card.
Yea, if your message carries over the sale is much easier. The last thing you want is for the other person to not know what you do based off of your business card.
Great post.. I think I liked the ruler one best of all.. something you can use… a beer opener would probably be a great gimmic if that were your industry.
I think it would work as long as you did not hand them out at beer conferences because they are probably a dime a dozen there.
True true… however my husband is in the food and beverage industry and hasn’t ever gotten one? Beer openers with Corona on them or something.. but not as a business card… Hey…. maybe I should make some up with his name for all his bar owners… they probably wouldn’t ever loose his number that way…. *
That would be a good idea. It would work and people would keep his contact information for a long time.
the problem with a great business card is that that cost quite a bit and everyone wants one. You have to be really selective to who you give one out to. I wonder if you could give the nice ones to clients and the less ones to prospects. The business card will get people interested and maybe the clients would wonder why you gave them the sub-standard one if you switched it. Anythoughts?
I usually give the nice ones to prospects and clients. They both can provide an ROI, so why not give them the good cards.
With nice cards, you just don’t want to hand them out to everyone, only give them to people who really want them or should have it.
[...] to get a proper business card for real-world interactions. Neil Patel highlights a number of creative business cards that will certainly grab your attention and make you look twice. Stick out from the crowd and get [...]
[...] 51 Creative Business Cards via [...]
Awesome post, Neil. How long did it take you to collect all those photos and write this post? Very creative.
It only took 3 or 4 hours.
Those designs are amazing! I bet most of them cost a mint to make!
I think a few of them cost a few dollars per card.
slick. am rather fond of the sheep one.
The use of the cotton was a nice touch.