Dan S. Wang’s business card collection is a treasure trove of different design schemes.
In a recent essay for Core77, I looked at a discussion brewing about QR codes on business cards, and whether they make sense. I also pointed to tools that allow you to scan a card that doesn’t have a QR code.
The overall point I tried to make is that, even as our professional lives and contacts move more and more into the digital realm, we’re still figuring out ways to get business cards to interface with our digital lives. In other words, business cards are relevant, and in the most wired country on earth (Korea) they’re practically a staple of one’s work life.
I posted the article to my Facebook, and my friend Dan S. Wang, an artist and educator, commented on the enduring value of business cards (something I’ve written about previously). These cards, these physical representations of ourselves, are still relevant and necessary in so many ways. But that’s especially true for the creative set:
Dan S. Wang: The persistence of the business card can be attributed not only to the ritual exchange, but also has something to do with the collecting of cards. I have several shoeboxes of cards now and when I come back from trips with new ones to add, it is sometimes fun to sort through them.
An Xiao Mina: That’s a great point – even though Rolodexes have fallen out of favor, it’s still fun to sort through business cards. I think that’s especially true for those of us in creative professions, as people have so many different ways they choose to represent themselves on paper.
Dan S. Wang: The spectrum of quality in design is astounding. The card should represent the person, but oftentimes falls far short. Great artist, lame card-or the other way around. Because they are exchanged at the molecular, person-to-person scale, with that scale’s built in limits no matter how formal or informal the occasion or setting, it seems that the field of business cards is still a level one, allowing for tremendous diversity. All this talk, I think I might have to thumb through my cards today just to enjoy them again.
