After changing our name from Lakonic to Tangible Worldwide, we decided to take our new name literally and create a business card that would make the guys from American Psycho want to join together to slay each one of us out of jealousy. Our goals for the cards were to: make an immediate impression; reiterate our name by creating tangible texture and level differences; and, evidently, create a self-defense mechanism in the event that we needed an emergency throwing star. This last goal would have been helpful had the American Psycho people attacked.

We chose to use two sheets of 140 lb linen cover stock. Our wordmark was letterpressed on one sheet, while the contact information was offset printed on the other. The two sheets were then duplexed together and cut, which inadvertently (although until now we claimed that this was done on-purpose) created a beveled edge.

They were thick. You could only carry two, at most, in a wallet; eight in a traditional leather business card holder. And they both weighed/cost more than those fancy aluminum, dye cut cards. Every employee received at least 100 of them.

Sadly, like most business cards, they were almost a total waste. Developers don't give out cards. Account executives pretty much deal with the same handful of people every day. And art directors give them out like candy… to their designer friends. A few people were successful in using them to impress the opposite sex. At least two long-term relationships were forged by way of this card.

Time went on and we continued to hire new faces in Chicago and our new Portland office. We decided against reprinting these cards. Instead, we decided to rethink how everyone uses (or could use) business cards.

NEW GOALS: MAINTAIN COOL FACTOR, REDUCE COST, ELIMINATE EXCESSIVE WASTE

We're still a design studio at heart, so we wanted to have a clever, well-designed card. The idea of a low-run, handcrafted card soon came to mind. The handmade look would create a unique texture for every card, and the personalization capability would allow the team to leave a real personal impression. As a byproduct, considering each card would take some time to create, the process would also train them to give away cards to people only when needed and to avoid making unnecessary cards.

We still wanted to convey the "Tangible" idea, so we again opted to use a letterpress process. Our friends at Studio On Fire used a recycled 130 lb cover stock to strike a shell print on the back of just 2,000 cards. The front was left blank—with the exception of the opposite impression left by the letterpress strikes—and shipped back to us to complete the process.

Using the new icon system from our updated identity package (seen throughout this site), we created 40 stamps, and a stamp for each employee's name and contact information. The cost of the stamps ranged from $2.00 for the icons, and $8.00 per name for non-bulk orders. This means we can continue to create new names and icons at a fraction of the cost of even a generic, digital business card printing service.